The extremely slow pace of corn planting in the U.S. was previously discussed in the 13 May analysis (click here). The eastern Corn Belt is especially affected, and the soybean planting pace is equally slow. The markets hadn’t responded to this problem up until last Monday’s crop progress report, but it certainly took notice the balance of this week. December corn futures gained more than 30 cents heading into today’s trading session. December Chicago wheat’s gains were even more impressive, gaining 40-50 cents. Funds have been building record-large short positions in corn and wheat for months without any meaningful risk. The setback in the U.S./China trade talks seemed to make them bulletproof. The problem, of cour...
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.