World Perspectives

Backwards on TFP

While activists to Ukraine’s east decry Big Ag and romanticize about the superiority of small, inefficient farms, Kiev’s new law will enable the buying and selling of farmland beginning 1 July. The government hopes that a well-functioning land market will lead toward bigger, more efficient farming and bolster investment. Smaller, less efficient farms result in Ukraine’s yields being a third less than the U.S. in corn and a quarter less than in the EU next door.  The buying and selling of land were prohibited in 2001 and with farmers limited to leasing smaller lots, the number of agricultural workers per hectare has risen rather than fallen, hurting improvements in total factor productivity. Opponents fear that foreig...

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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.

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