The larger than usual volume across many contracts puts the exclamation point on today’s market action. USDA’s Prospective Plantings and Quarterly Stocks reports provided a lot of the impetus for a raucous day on everyone’s computer screens. Corn was bullish, soybeans were bearish, and wheat was confused as it looked for psychoanalysis. As noted yesterday, the 31 March Prospective Plantings report is not the bible. Last year corn planted acres increased by 2.3 million (2.5 percent) above Planting Intentions, and corn is one of the more reliable outputs of the USDA survey. The cost of fertilizer (+130 percent) was the number one cited reason for why corn acres will be less than soybean acres for only the third...
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.