There isn’t always a common theme across markets. Sometimes a session starts amid diverse influences. Sometimes, shorts or longs will dominate an open, then be tested by participants with different ideas. Each jockeying to have their way. Today’s trading opened bearishly for major grains and bullish cattle. There was some dallying in the green, with meal and soyoil at one point trading in the green even as soybeans oddly stayed red. However, this occurred concurrent with the lowest volume trading the coproducts since early May. Then late in the session the bears began to dominate, including in the cattle pits even as hogs went the opposite route. Hogs were the sole major ag futures contract to end today’s trading in the gr...
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.