According to the Purdue University/CME Ag Economy Barometer, farmers’ outlook is at its lowest level post COVID. The index was 113 in March, which is down 12 points from February and 36 points from March 2021. It is the lowest since April 2020 when the index was 96 – which was the only time since 2016 that the index was below 100. The March index came from a producer survey conducted 14-18 March – about three weeks after the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. A question about the impact of the war was added to the survey. Some topline take aways are below: The Barometer is based on farmers’ perspective on current conditions, expectations for future conditions, and includes a Farm Financial Performance Index, a...
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.