The CBOT saw muted and mostly lower trade to open the week of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. The day’s trade was predominantly weaker as technical factors and a lack of news immediately relevant to the grain markets prompted fund selling. Monday’s news did include USDA confirmation of another large export sale of soybeans to China and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins’ claim that the Trump administration will finalize a U.S. farmer aid deal and a Chinese soybean purchase agreement in the next few weeks. Those headlines, however, failed to trigger much enthusiasm for traders ahead of the holiday-shortened week. With markets closed for Thursday’s holiday and Friday’s post-holiday trade being a historically low-volume...
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.