The Chinese government announced that it will discontinue stockpiling soybean and cotton this year as a way to support farmer income. Instead, it plans to shift toward making subsidy payments to farmers when soybean and cotton prices fall. U.S. Soymeal Imports from South America in May? Trade reports indicate an undisclosed amount of Paraguayan soymeal has been contracted for import into the U.S. southeast beginning in May. My contacts in the trade indicate that it makes sense financially. This is not surprising with the U.S. exporting soybeans and soymeal in 2013/14 at a record pace. The same thing happened last year when U.S. soybean supplies were tight, particularly in the soybean-deficit southeast. It also makes sense for the U.S. to...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.