Chinese Farmers Complain About Large Soybean Imports Farmers in China's Heilongjiang province are complaining to the government that they are being hurt by the country's huge imports of biotech soybeans. Farmers claim the influx of soybeans is resulting in a contraction of the area planted to the crop in China and making the country more vulnerable to supply shortages. What they want is for the government to subsidize Chinese production of non-biotech soybeans and encourage consumers to pay more for those soybeans. They also claim it is the strategy of multinational grain companies to monopolize the Chinese soybean industry and drive Chinese soybean processing firms out of business.Most likely it is the Chinese soybean processing firms l...
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 €...
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.