Summary of Futures
Dec 26 Corn closed at $5.155/bushel, up $0.07 from yesterday's close. Dec 26 Wheat closed at $6.995/bushel, up $0.0025 from yesterday's close. Nov 26 Soybeans closed at $12.2425/bushel, down $0.1525 from yesterday's close. Dec 26 Soymeal closed at $328.6/short ton, up $2.8 fro...
Market Commentary: Yield Assessments Drive CBOT Reactions; Cattle Fall on Beef Import News
What You Need to Know Today: Pro Farmer’s crop tour pegged the 2026 U.S. corn crop at 173.2 BPA and anticipated a 15.344 Bbu crop – both figures well below expectations. Pro Farmer forecast 2026 U.S. soybean yields at 53.3 BPA, above most private estimates and USDA’s August W...
Gene Editing Offers a New Path for Crop Development
Key Takeaways: Gene editing makes targeted changes to a plant’s existing DNA, while genetic modification can introduce genetic material from another organism to create traits not naturally present in the crop. Gene editing is unlikely to replace genetic modification entirely, as the two...
Cattle on Feed Report
USDA’s August cattle on feed report was released Friday, with the total number of cattle in feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 head or more amounting to 11.1 million head, 102 percent of last year and the same as last month. Placements dropped in July to their lowest total for the month s...
Cold Storage Report Summary and Analysis
July 2026 total red meat and poultry stocks totaled 2.00 billion pounds, down 0.2 percent from June and 1.8 percent below July 2025 levels. The monthly decline contrasted with the typical 0.9 percent June-July increase and reflected a larger-than-seasonal drawdown in red meat inventories. Total...
WPI Crop Progress and Conditions App (Updated 24 August)
Developer's Note 24 August 2026: WPI recently completed an exercise that updated the codebase for this app and solved some of the discrepancies between our five-year average calculation and USDA's. There are a few lingering cases where early (late) starts (finishes) to the crop cycle resu...
CFTC COT Report Analysis
Concerns about U.S. corn and soybean yields and continued disruptions in the Black Sea drove a week of bullish activity at the CBOT. Managed money traders bought 127,000 contracts across the ag markets, expanding their all-ags net long 29 percent in the process. The biggest drivers of the buyin...
Cattle on Feed - August 2026
U.S. Cattle on Feed was up 2 percent to total 11.1 million head on August 1, 2026. Placements in feedlots during July totaled 1.42 million head, 11 percent below 2025. Marketings of fed cattle during July totaled 1.62 million head, 7 percent below 2025. Other disappearance tot...
Summary of Futures
Dec 26 Corn closed at $5.085/bushel, up $0.05 from yesterday's close. Dec 26 Wheat closed at $6.9925/bushel, down $0.0075 from yesterday's close. Nov 26 Soybeans closed at $12.395/bushel, up $0.03 from yesterday's close. Dec 26 Soymeal closed at $325.8/short ton, up $2 from ye...
Market Commentary: Bullish Momentum Continues for Corn and Soybeans
What You Need to Know Today: There has already been a strong run of flash soybean sales announcements in recent weeks, but more than 1.4 MMT reported this morning is an exceptionally large single-day total with major implications for the market. If the sales to China and unknown destinations w...
President Trump Announces Move on Over Quota Beef Tariffs - Again
On Friday, at 6:57 AM, President Donald Trump announced, via a social media post, a 90-day window during which up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef could be imported outside of tariff-rate quotas—a move aimed at bringing down costs for American consumers. This is the secon...
How Much for That Bushel of Credibility?
In agriculture and food processing, we think a lot about infrastructure: transportation and storage, processing and packaging, distribution and delivery. It is a physical system of roads, railroads, and rivers; concrete and steel storage; processing plants, warehouses, and machinery; and, event...
Summary of Futures
Dec 26 Corn closed at $5.155/bushel, up $0.07 from yesterday's close. Dec 26 Wheat closed at $6.995/bushel, up $0.0025 from yesterday's close. Nov 26 Soybeans closed at $12.2425/bushel, down $0.1525 from yesterday's close. Dec 26 Soymeal closed at $328.6/short ton, up $2.8 fro...
Market Commentary: Yield Assessments Drive CBOT Reactions; Cattle Fall on Beef Import News
What You Need to Know Today: Pro Farmer’s crop tour pegged the 2026 U.S. corn crop at 173.2 BPA and anticipated a 15.344 Bbu crop – both figures well below expectations. Pro Farmer forecast 2026 U.S. soybean yields at 53.3 BPA, above most private estimates and USDA’s August W...
Gene Editing Offers a New Path for Crop Development
Key Takeaways: Gene editing makes targeted changes to a plant’s existing DNA, while genetic modification can introduce genetic material from another organism to create traits not naturally present in the crop. Gene editing is unlikely to replace genetic modification entirely, as the two...
Cattle on Feed Report
USDA’s August cattle on feed report was released Friday, with the total number of cattle in feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 head or more amounting to 11.1 million head, 102 percent of last year and the same as last month. Placements dropped in July to their lowest total for the month s...
Cold Storage Report Summary and Analysis
July 2026 total red meat and poultry stocks totaled 2.00 billion pounds, down 0.2 percent from June and 1.8 percent below July 2025 levels. The monthly decline contrasted with the typical 0.9 percent June-July increase and reflected a larger-than-seasonal drawdown in red meat inventories. Total...
WPI Crop Progress and Conditions App (Updated 24 August)
Developer's Note 24 August 2026: WPI recently completed an exercise that updated the codebase for this app and solved some of the discrepancies between our five-year average calculation and USDA's. There are a few lingering cases where early (late) starts (finishes) to the crop cycle resu...
CFTC COT Report Analysis
Concerns about U.S. corn and soybean yields and continued disruptions in the Black Sea drove a week of bullish activity at the CBOT. Managed money traders bought 127,000 contracts across the ag markets, expanding their all-ags net long 29 percent in the process. The biggest drivers of the buyin...
Cattle on Feed - August 2026
U.S. Cattle on Feed was up 2 percent to total 11.1 million head on August 1, 2026. Placements in feedlots during July totaled 1.42 million head, 11 percent below 2025. Marketings of fed cattle during July totaled 1.62 million head, 7 percent below 2025. Other disappearance tot...
Summary of Futures
Dec 26 Corn closed at $5.085/bushel, up $0.05 from yesterday's close. Dec 26 Wheat closed at $6.9925/bushel, down $0.0075 from yesterday's close. Nov 26 Soybeans closed at $12.395/bushel, up $0.03 from yesterday's close. Dec 26 Soymeal closed at $325.8/short ton, up $2 from ye...
Market Commentary: Bullish Momentum Continues for Corn and Soybeans
What You Need to Know Today: There has already been a strong run of flash soybean sales announcements in recent weeks, but more than 1.4 MMT reported this morning is an exceptionally large single-day total with major implications for the market. If the sales to China and unknown destinations w...
President Trump Announces Move on Over Quota Beef Tariffs - Again
On Friday, at 6:57 AM, President Donald Trump announced, via a social media post, a 90-day window during which up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef could be imported outside of tariff-rate quotas—a move aimed at bringing down costs for American consumers. This is the secon...
How Much for That Bushel of Credibility?
In agriculture and food processing, we think a lot about infrastructure: transportation and storage, processing and packaging, distribution and delivery. It is a physical system of roads, railroads, and rivers; concrete and steel storage; processing plants, warehouses, and machinery; and, event...