The eve of another important report from USDA, namely tomorrow’s 1 September quarterly stocks plus the final small grain production summaries, presents a good time to comment on a few analytical odds and ends of late.The eve of another important report from USDA, namely tomorrow’s 1 September quarterly stocks plus the final small grain production summaries, presents a good time to comment on a few analytical odds and ends that seem to have piled up recently.
First of all, there is Friday’s report itself. The consensus opinion is that USDA will increase U.S. all wheat production very slightly to a final estimate of 2.326 billion bushels from August’s 2.321 billion bushels. It will also likely adjust production estimates for barley and oat...
The corn and soy complex closed higher, with the wheat market mixed, as winter wheat closed up but spring wheat and livestock ended lower. Part of the strength for corn and soybeans may have been a weather premium, as crop planting has started out fast but warm weather has been slow to develop...
Real GDP grew at a 2 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2026, slightly below the consensus expectation of 2.3 percent but above the 0.5 percent growth in Q4 2025. The GDP number matches the average annualized pace of growth since the peak back in late 2007, right before the Financial P...
Reflect for a moment on what you eat. There is a lot of advice out there in the ether about what you should eat, but really, what do you currently eat and how much? The good people at the USDA have some data for you, to help you answer that question. USDA says that we eat quite a bit of meat. L...
