With market attention soon shifting to prospects for the new crop year, it is worth noting some of the “big picture” fundamental similarities and differences that have developed among wheat, corn and soybeans in recent years.The statistical new 2017/18 crop year is still months away. For wheat, it begins 1 June in the U.S. and 1 July in much of the rest of the world, and for most of the Northern Hemisphere corn, other coarse grains and oilseeds, including soybeans, it starts 1 September or 1 October. However, Northern Hemisphere farmers planted the new crop’s winter wheat months ago and will begin to seed the spring planted crops for the 2017/18 crop year in just a few weeks. In fact, that process has already begun in the southern U.S. Futu...
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.