French Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot today indicated his country’s government will take steps to restrict the use of non-sustainable palm oil and soyoil for biodiesel production in order to reduce indirect deforestation. U.S. Soybean Crush Rate Up Slightly in May USDA’s fats and oil report of yesterday indicated the volume of U.S. soybeans crushed in May totaled 141.55 million bushels, slightly higher than the 134.787 million bushels in April and less than the 144.775 million bushels in May 2016. The average daily crush rate in May of this year was 4.566 million bushels, up 1.6 percent from 4.492 million bushels in April. While the monthly crush was down in Illinois and the north central region, it was up in Iowa, the south, west and...
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.