White wheat is being heavily purchased by China, but not for its usual purpose. The U.S. has five major wheat classes. Hard Red Winter (HRW) is the largest by production and has high protein and strong gluten. Durum has the lowest production but is also a high gluten product. Two-thirds of wheat futures contracts are traded in Soft Red Winter even though it is a relatively minor wheat class. It serves as a proxy for overall wheat. Soft white, or white wheat is predominantly grown in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and has two sub-classes plus two different growing seasons, both winter and spring varieties. It is heavily used in Asian-style noodles, and bakery products like sponge cakes and pastries. But China has been buying larger amount...
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.