USDA delayed its last of the year Crop Progress report until tomorrow due to undefined “system outages.” Private analysts told Reuters that they expect the report to show 33 percent of the winter wheat crop in Good/Excellent conditions, up one point from last week’s report. Based on historical studies, a relatively low-quality condition in the fall is not determinative of yield when the crop is harvested. However, there is a stronger correlation of a lower fall quality rating and the ratio of abandoned acres. Lower quality means that when the plants emerge, fewer will have survived dormancy. However, good spring growing conditions means that those plants still growing can have good yields. There have also been years...
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.