We’re half-way through the month of March, known as the ides of March on the ancient Roman calendar – marking the 74th day of the year and the traditional day in the Roman empire when debts were settled, and in 2021 America it’s the deadline to buy crop insurance (yesterday 15 March). It’s the mid-point between when the crop insurance prices are set on the first of the month, and when USDA releases its ending stocks report and planting intentions survey results on the last day of the month. Not to mention, March can be a wild weather month, so it is an intense time for planting acreage watchers to place their bets. USDA sets the crop insurance price guarantees based on the average settlement for Decembe...
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.