The recovery by soybean futures prices from their immediate post-WASDE loss this week and the subsequent move higher seem to hint that something is going on. This prompts taking a closer look.A look at the futures screen at mid-session showed November soybeans up 16 cents. They have been as much as 18 cents higher. Immediately following the 12 September release of this month’s WASDE with its forecast of a record-large U.S. soybean crop in 2017, the new crop contract plunged 22 cents. This was largely due, at least in part, to sell orders generated by computers that instantly scan the reports’ key numbers. (We wonder if high-speed computer analytics will soon do away with human analysts.) Soybean futures have swung in a 40 cent range since t...
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.