USDA's quarterly stocks report was bearish for corn and soybeans and slightly friendly for wheat. The table below shows the report numbers compared to a year ago and trade expectations: Corn The trade just can't seem to reach any consensus with USDA's corn stocks numbers. Today's USDA 1 September number was 136 million bushels above the average of the trade estimates, but, more importantly, was also well above even the highest of the estimates. As we wrote last Friday, this stocks number should have been clean because of the small stocks, plus there were few 2013 crop bushels in the bin as of 1 September. One client referred to the corn quarterly stocks reports as the "Wheel of Fortune". The corn stocks estimate isn't a huge deal for th...
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...
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.