There is no denying that grain and soy markets have been, and continue to be, driven by a barrage of bearish supply/demand fundamentals. However, when markets seem so completely locked into a bearish (or bullish) mode, a different sort of risk arises.Followers of grain and soy futures markets as well as those of many other commodity markets ranging from energy to metals have been regaled with a constant flow of commentary about their thoroughly bearish outlook. Analysts have had difficulty finding anything that might provide fundamental support for prices of oversupplied commodities in the face of flat or declining demand. End-of-2015 synopses have emphasized a pattern of growing supplies and falling commodity prices, and forecasts for 2016...
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.