The CBOT was mixed to start the week with all eyes now solidly focused on Wednesday’s WASDE report. Corn and soybeans strengthened in early trade due to weekend rains that missed the western Corn Belt and northern Plains as well as short covering heading into the WASDE report. Wheat futures were lower under bear spreading and lackluster demand expected for the first half of the marketing year. Funds were cautious net buyers in the soy complex and corn while remaining largely neutral wheat. Tuesday’s trade is expected to be mostly sideways while traders make the final, pre-WASDE adjustments. The weekly Export Inspections report was neutral corn, wheat, and soybeans with shipments of all three commodities falling within the...
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.