The CBOT started the week with some risk-off trade after Russia and Ukraine reached a deal to extend the Black Sea export corridor agreement over the weekend. The two countries are still arguing over the details of the agreement, but the major takeaway was that Ukraine can still ship grain in relative safety. The news sent global wheat futures sharply lower for the day and initially pressured CBOT soybeans and corn futures too. Both those markets, however, rallied back from a weaker start with corn paring losses and soybeans ending the day with small gains. Trouble for the Argentine crops, despite recent rains, continues to support CBOT trade, despite the massive Brazilian crops that will be marketed this year. Amid the volatility in macroe...
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.