The very wet conditions across the eastern Corn Belt have caused other problems in addition to lost acres. Corn is or has been standing in water in many areas, and plant development has been stunted.Last week's USDA acreage and quarterly stocks estimates coupled with some ongoing weather problems across the eastern Corn Belt will tighten the U.S. and world corn balance sheets. U.S. corn carry-in supplies will likely be trimmed by the 100 million or so bushels lost in the 1 June corn stocks number. The 300,000 acre reduction in planted acres from the March planting intentions numbers will also have to come out of the planted/harvested acres numbers. In addition to the decrease in planted acres, we are also assuming the super wet conditions a...
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.