General Comments The up-down-up-down pattern of futures market price action continued with both corn and soybeans reversing yesterday's rally. Late though it may be, we are in a weather market and services that stream weather radar images are definitely in vogue. Overnight and this morning, those radar images showed big blobs of rain over eastern Nebraska, northern Iowa and southern Minnesota pushing eastward into Illinois and Wisconsin. This brought rain to some of the driest areas of the Midwest. Amounts varied widely, but it all was most welcome especially since some of the warmest temperatures of the summer are due early next week.The rains encouraged longs to cash out and discouraged shorts from covering. The result had both the c...
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 €...
Key Takeaways: The tariff burden rose sharply in 2025 and 2026: the effective rate on imports in HTS Chapters 1–24 increased from 1.53 percent in 2024 to 6.11 percent in 2025, before averaging 5.68 percent in January–August 2026. Headline rates tell only part of the story: exemptio...
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.