Most of this week’s early rally in the grain and oilseed markets was justified by the challenging weather in Brazil. The weather has not only impacted the soybean first corn crops currently being planted, but also the planting prospects of the safrinha – or double-crop – corn crop. Since mid-week, however, Brazil’s weather forecasts have trended more favorably with wetter weather for most of the central and northern states coming next week. That sent the CBOT markets lower to end the week with funds feeling more comfortable expanding short positions in corn and cutting back on soybean longs. Too, weaker technical conditions in soymeal and wheat contributed to the day’s declines in those markets. There was littl...
From WPI Consulting
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.