Improving trend prediction of agricultural futures price using image encoding and attention mechanisms

Abstract The volatility of agricultural futures prices exerts a profound impact on the global economy, significantly affecting the economic conditions of both agricultural producers and consumers. Accurately predicting the trends of these futures prices is crucial for effective risk management, poli...

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Main Authors: Dabin Zhang, Huiqiang Xie, Huanling Hu, Zehui Yu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer 2025-06-01
Series:Management System Engineering
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/s44176-025-00042-5
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author Dabin Zhang
Huiqiang Xie
Huanling Hu
Zehui Yu
author_facet Dabin Zhang
Huiqiang Xie
Huanling Hu
Zehui Yu
author_sort Dabin Zhang
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The volatility of agricultural futures prices exerts a profound impact on the global economy, significantly affecting the economic conditions of both agricultural producers and consumers. Accurately predicting the trends of these futures prices is crucial for effective risk management, policy formulation, and investment decision-making. However, these prices are influenced by a multitude of factors, exhibiting complex fluctuation patterns and strong nonlinear characteristics, which make predictions exceptionally complicated and challenging. This paper introduces a novel hybrid deep learning model named ImgEnc-AttNet, which integrates image encoding techniques with attention mechanisms to enhance the model’s capability to interpret agricultural futures price dynamics. By transforming one-dimensional time series data into image representations, the model employs Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Long Short-Term Memory Network (LSTM) to extract rich visual patterns and temporal dependencies from the encoded images. It incorporates two types of attention mechanisms to refine feature extraction and capture deeper patterns in price fluctuations. Furthermore, we enhance the model’s feature extraction capabilities by fusing encoded image features with original numerical features, minimizing information loss during data transformation. Experimental results across two datasets demonstrate that ImgEnc-AttNet significantly outperforms benchmark models in both prediction accuracy and robustness.
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publishDate 2025-06-01
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spelling doaj-art-c91f5589330e4d5b85937a34c4a5a8fd2025-08-20T02:06:35ZengSpringerManagement System Engineering2731-58432025-06-014112210.1007/s44176-025-00042-5Improving trend prediction of agricultural futures price using image encoding and attention mechanismsDabin Zhang0Huiqiang Xie1Huanling Hu2Zehui Yu3College of Mathematics and Informatics, South China Agricultural UniversityCollege of Mathematics and Informatics, South China Agricultural UniversityCollege of Mathematics and Informatics, South China Agricultural UniversityCollege of Mathematics and Informatics, South China Agricultural UniversityAbstract The volatility of agricultural futures prices exerts a profound impact on the global economy, significantly affecting the economic conditions of both agricultural producers and consumers. Accurately predicting the trends of these futures prices is crucial for effective risk management, policy formulation, and investment decision-making. However, these prices are influenced by a multitude of factors, exhibiting complex fluctuation patterns and strong nonlinear characteristics, which make predictions exceptionally complicated and challenging. This paper introduces a novel hybrid deep learning model named ImgEnc-AttNet, which integrates image encoding techniques with attention mechanisms to enhance the model’s capability to interpret agricultural futures price dynamics. By transforming one-dimensional time series data into image representations, the model employs Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Long Short-Term Memory Network (LSTM) to extract rich visual patterns and temporal dependencies from the encoded images. It incorporates two types of attention mechanisms to refine feature extraction and capture deeper patterns in price fluctuations. Furthermore, we enhance the model’s feature extraction capabilities by fusing encoded image features with original numerical features, minimizing information loss during data transformation. Experimental results across two datasets demonstrate that ImgEnc-AttNet significantly outperforms benchmark models in both prediction accuracy and robustness.https://doi.org/10.1007/s44176-025-00042-5Agricultural futures priceTime series analysisDeep learningImage encodingAttention mechanism
spellingShingle Dabin Zhang
Huiqiang Xie
Huanling Hu
Zehui Yu
Improving trend prediction of agricultural futures price using image encoding and attention mechanisms
Management System Engineering
Agricultural futures price
Time series analysis
Deep learning
Image encoding
Attention mechanism
title Improving trend prediction of agricultural futures price using image encoding and attention mechanisms
title_full Improving trend prediction of agricultural futures price using image encoding and attention mechanisms
title_fullStr Improving trend prediction of agricultural futures price using image encoding and attention mechanisms
title_full_unstemmed Improving trend prediction of agricultural futures price using image encoding and attention mechanisms
title_short Improving trend prediction of agricultural futures price using image encoding and attention mechanisms
title_sort improving trend prediction of agricultural futures price using image encoding and attention mechanisms
topic Agricultural futures price
Time series analysis
Deep learning
Image encoding
Attention mechanism
url https://doi.org/10.1007/s44176-025-00042-5
work_keys_str_mv AT dabinzhang improvingtrendpredictionofagriculturalfuturespriceusingimageencodingandattentionmechanisms
AT huiqiangxie improvingtrendpredictionofagriculturalfuturespriceusingimageencodingandattentionmechanisms
AT huanlinghu improvingtrendpredictionofagriculturalfuturespriceusingimageencodingandattentionmechanisms
AT zehuiyu improvingtrendpredictionofagriculturalfuturespriceusingimageencodingandattentionmechanisms