The CBOT opened lower overnight as USDA’s surprise increase in the good/excellent ratings for corn and soybeans pressured the market. Wheat followed corn lower, pressured by spillover selling as well as its own good harvest statistics. The increase in crop conditions ratings seemed to spark fresh expectations for U.S. corn and soybean yields, with many traders and analysts now shifting their yield forecasts higher. A lack of daily export sales news further caused prices to slide lower, though reports are that commercial pricing was active. The U.S. corn harvest will start in the Delta in the next few weeks and provide a fresh influx of cash grain for export. Cash prices are likely to start grinding lower under seasonal harvest...
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.