Grain traders from commodity fund managers to the big multinational agribusinesses have consistently complained about the lack of profitable trading opportunities during the past five years or so. Big crops and large stockpiles of corn, wheat and soybeans in both the U.S. and the world drove prices for those commodities to low levels and dampened price volatility despite record demand. U.S. trade disputes/disruptions with China and other countries have also reduced U.S. export volumes and trading opportunities. In addition to the lack of price volatility, grain traders and users have been frustrated by the growth of on-farm storage capacity that has allowed farmers in the U.S. and other major producing countries to retain their crop produc...
What You Need to Know Today: Crude oil prices extended their rally today, supported by several developments, including escalating Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabian oil infrastructure and growing concerns about supply disruptions. The Trump administration is reportedly preparing to remove 50 perc...
Key Takeaways: The agricultural trade surplus has become a sizable deficit: the balance swung from a $40.1 billion surplus in 2011 to a $40.7 billion deficit in 2025. Imports kept growing while exports lost momentum: between 2020 and 2025, agricultural imports increased 45 percent, compa...
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.