Geopolitics has proven that it beats weather as a volatility driver, but agricultural markets and financials returned to fundamentals today. The truce/non-truce/truce had its influences, with the soy sector following oil higher, but wheat traded down on stocks reports while corn buyers’ eyes were on large South American crops. It was the second day in a row of higher volume across several contracts, including corn, soybeans, meal and wheat, but below yesterday’s peak movement. There was something for everyone in today’s topsy-turvy world. The truce was on, the truce was broken, the truce was pieced back together. Stocks were down; stocks were up. Ags closed higher in the overnight and opened mostly higher this...
From WPI Consulting
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.