Beating up on U.S. wheat markets has virtually become a habit for those analysts still paying attention to them. The irony of U.S. 2017 planted wheat acreage being the lowest in about 100 years while total world production simultaneously climbed to another record high is unmistakable. U.S. wheat production in 2017/18 is historically low, but CME and KC wheat futures contracts still struggle to trade above $4.20 halfway through the crop year. There was a brief flurry and a sharp rally in MGEX spring futures early last summer when the northern Plains drought appeared to seriously threaten U.S. spring wheat production. As it turned out, there were some losses, but the overall harvest results proved to be quite a bit better than feared. Moreove...
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.