SOYBEANS: In the April 2022 WASDE, USDA is forecasting increased U.S. exports and seed use, and lower ending stocks. Soybean exports are raised 25 million bushels to WASDE-623-3 2.12 billion, partly offsetting lower exports from Brazil, Ukraine, and Russia. Seed use is raised in line with record soybean plantings indicated in the March 31 Prospective Plantings report. Soybean ending stocks are projected at 260 million bushels, down 25 million from last month. The season-average soybean price forecast is unchanged this month at $13.25 per bushel. China’s soybean imports are also lowered 3 million tons to 91 million. Lower soybean exports for Brazil, Paraguay, Russia, and Ukraine are partly offset by higher U.S. shipments. The 2021/22...
What You Need to Know Today: The U.S. and Iran resumed missile strikes after a brief pause in fighting, raising concerns that the five-month conflict could expand across the Middle East. Jordan intercepted Iranian missiles, Kuwait reported a fatal strike, and drone attacks damaged two natural...
The Senate Agriculture Committee will take up the farm bill next week, and a number of amendments targeting the meat industry are expected to be offered. Two of the most potentially damaging are the Schumer amendment, based on his bill, the Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act, and mandatory co...
Oliver Goldsmith's The Deserted Village, published in 1770, is of a timeless quality. It is a 425-line lament for a disappearing rural world, where prosperous villages give way to larger estates, fewer farmers, and emigration. One passage even follows those leaving for the new colony of Georgia...
From WPI Consulting
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.