The railroads report that they are working on solutions to the rail backup problem for the fall grain harvest season, and BNSF projects that it is on track to have eliminated past due deliveries by mid-September. The issue is not isolated to railcars, however.Rail backups were wreaking havoc this year on the ethanol sector, pushing prices up on the coasts and down in the Midwest near production facilities. Now we're seeing some of the same issues with regard to grains. The Department of Transportation's Surface Transportation Board (the Board) requested that BNSF Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway disclose their plans for resolving the backlog of grain car orders as well as begin providing weekly progress reports. The weekly reports were...
What You Need to Know Today: Oil prices surged today following reports of tanker attacks off the coast of Saudi Arabia by Houthi rebels and renewed U.S. threats to escalate military strikes against Iran, heightening concerns over potential disruptions to Middle East energy supplies. Brent crud...
Key Takeaways: The latest UN data shows solid progress reducing global hunger and food insecurity. The geography of hunger-affected people has shifted substantially, however, and Africa is now the most affected region. To understand why hunger patterns have shifted and what policy option...
USDA’s monthly cattle on feed report for 1 July will be released tomorrow. Analysts’ pre-report consensus estimates are for the total inventory on feed to be 102.2 percent of last year. Those estimates imply an on-feed inventory of 11.327 million head. If accurate, that would be the...
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.