Tomorrow night will see the usual array of Independence Day fireworks displays across the U.S. (except where they are cancelled due to heat, extreme dryness and fire risks), but grain and soy markets have already been setting off fireworks of their own. At the risk of becoming overly dramatic, we might say that current grain and soy markets and the wildfires raging in Colorado, Idaho, Montana and South Dakota are symbols of what is happening to crops throughout much of the Midwest. Timber is burning and crops are firing under blazing heat, moisture sucking winds and very limited rainfall.There is no doubt that U.S. corn and soybean yields are in increasingly rapid retreat. USDA's weekly crop condition reports are mostly based on visual ob...
What You Need to Know Today: Cattle futures extended their sharp selloff Friday as weakening cash cattle prices, deteriorating feedlot profitability, and reduced packer demand continued to weigh on the market. The inability of futures to sustain a rally following last week's bullish Cattle on...
As predicted, the Federal Reserve held rates steady at the last meeting before the midterm elections, likely in part because of the election (see WPI 19 October and 22 September). The decision comes at the tail end of a midterm election cycle that has been marked by the two parties campaigning...
Key Takeaways: WPI’s new EU rapeseed crushing margin models point to weaker processing returns over the next four months due to higher rapeseed procurement costs and weaker product values. Statistical forecasts call for German crushing margins to decline from €181/MT to €...
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.