The story of the CBOT was the sharply lower opening soybeans and soymeal suffered overnight, thanks to heavy rains in Brazil over the weekend. Those early losses, however, were fully erased by midday and both markets posted sharp gains due to China’s import program and the long-term outlook for concerning weather in Brazil. Corn followed the soybean market to a few pennies’ gain but lacked much fundamental reason for a big rally. Wheat, of course, sold off and hit new two-year lows as the U.S. dollar remains strong and Ukraine and Russia dominate the world export market. Except for soybeans, trade was relatively muted for the day and that should be the trend for the rest of the week with the U.S. markets closed Thursday for the...
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.