Supply/demand analyses require a considerable amount of subjectivity and guesswork, while prices and price changes are facts. All of this leads us to consider of what may have occurred to trigger the current market rally. If someone not following markets on a daily basis casually glanced at a grain/soy futures market screen at about 11:30 a.m. (EDT) this morning, he or she might have thought that U.S. and/or world crops were in big trouble or that some major unexpected source of demand had just surfaced. Soybean futures were up more than 25 cents, soymeal was up more than $10, corn was 5-6 cents higher, and Chicago wheat was up about 13 cents. Across-the-board price jumps like these frequently signal that key fundamental changes in supply/d...
What You Need to Know Today: A third U.S. border crossing (Columbus, New Mexico) has reopened to Mexican cattle imports following nearly two years of restrictions related to New World screwworm. The reopening could gradually improve feeder cattle availability, although more than 60 confi...
Yesterday, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released a new report of negotiated cash purchases of cattle under the mandatory price report. The report included Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. The goal of the report was to solve the confidentiality issues e...
Key Takeaways: U.S. soybean crushing began in 1911 and saw its most rapid expansion during the 1930s amid the broader agricultural and technology revolutions of the time. After peaking in the early 2000s, the soybean crushing industry went through a downturn as poor crush margins forced...
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.