Last week, WPI published our mid-July outlook for a few – in our view – likely scenarios for the U.S. 2023/24 soybean balance sheet. To add to that effort, this article discusses our outlook for the U.S. 2023/24 corn balance sheet in the context of low/high yields and steady/weaker U.S. dollar levels. Yield Expectations As WPI frequently notes, early-season crop condition ratings have little correlation with final yields and, for corn, it is the July and August ratings that have the highest (but still imperfect) impact on yields. More importantly, heat and precipitation during pollination is highly influential with high temperatures – especially when sustained overnight – having significant negative imp...
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.