The level of U.S. economic growth in the third quarter of 2016 and first two months of the fourth quarter have been attributed to the level of the country's soybean exports. Meanwhile, the EU has released data on its U.S. soy imports thus far in MY 2016/17. Lower Soybean Exports Impact U.S. Economic Growth in Fourth Quarter The U.S. Commerce Department today indicated the country’s economic growth slowed to an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter, down from 3.5 percent in the third quarter and below analysts’ forecast of 2.2 percent. Interestingly, a decrease in U.S. soybean exports was blamed for this development just as an upsurge had been credited for the high rate in the third quarter. The reality is that these exports we...
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...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.