Recall that soybean futures were trading below $6.00 per bushel in the fall of 2006. Within about two years, soybean contracts had rallied about $10 per bushel as U.S. ethanol policy was implemented, and there was a corresponding shortfall in global wheat production. The simultaneous rallies in the soy complex, corn and wheat contracts suddenly turned and performed a nose-dive into 2009, as traders with large positions were forced to exit due to the financial crisis and increasing production. A number of end-users of grains and oilseeds sighed with relief and assumed that the markets had just undergone an exaggerated, but temporary, spike in prices. They were glad that was over. Then prices again rebounded as adverse weather struck the U...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Key Takeaways: Argentina is on pace for a record corn crop and record exports in the current marketing year, with abundant supplies likely to keep the country highly competitive in global export markets. Argentina’s record exportable surplus is allowing it to offer highly competitive pri...
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.