Depending on global commodity supply/demand balances, crop prices tend to decline at harvest and then rise as the marketing year progresses and surplus supplies decline. During the COVID year of 2020, commodity futures began rising ahead of the new crop harvest and then continued rising. In 2021, major commodity values tended to decline as the year progressed, with soybeans staging a rally after the new crop was cleared from the fields. Thus far in 2022, commodity values have been rising as crop stores have become depleted, but in a much more exaggerated fashion due to the potential loss of supplies from Ukraine. If there is a so-called supercycle, the super side of it is strongly influence by the war. ...
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.