There’s been a lot of economic data released this week, most of it bearish and some of it unprecedented. Officially, the U.S. is in a recession, i.e. two quarters in a row of GDP contraction. Starting in the farm economy, the June Agricultural Prices Received Index (based on 2011) was 89.2. That was up 1 percent from May but down 4.9 percent from June 2019. Compared to May, producers received higher prices in June for milk and broilers and lower prices for hogs, eggs, and corn. In addition to prices, the indexes are influenced by the volume change of commodities that producers market. In June, there was increased monthly movement for wheat and decreased marketing of cattle. Milk prices were up on reduced supplies. The ma...
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...
From WPI Consulting
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.