U.S. wheat fundamentals have been improving quickly over the past several months, although this wouldn’t be apparent by looking at prices. Some of the key changes in the wheat market involve the outlook for crops in key wheat-producing countries. Russia’s wheat crop will be at least 20 MMT (74 million bushels) below last year’s record because of weather problems. Some analysts are talking about an even greater reduction based on disappointing early harvest yield reports. They are now questioning quality because of heavy rains on a mature crop. Russia’s ability to export a large volume of cheap wheat will not exist this year. The EU’s wheat crop has also been getting smaller because of a hot, dry growing seaso...
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.
What You Need to Know Today: President Trump suspended the planned attacks on Iran and announced that the pieces for a framework for peace were in place in a weekend social media post. Iran, however, later said no efforts were underway to conduct negotiations with the U.S., though Oman indicat...
Key Takeaways: E15 expansion would support corn and ethanol demand by increasing domestic biofuel consumption and reducing reliance on petroleum-based fuels. Year-round E15 has gained bipartisan momentum, but the policy remains in legislative limbo as lawmakers continue to negotiate provisions...