Americans file four times as many patent applications as do Europeans, and part of the reason is a contrast in attitude. Commodity Price Outlook Consumer prices continue to fall in the Group of 20 largest economies. If protectionism were a problem, inflation would likely be rising as higher-priced domestic goods replace cheaper imports. The FAO Food Price Index has risen for the past three months, although that is from deep lows and due to a narrow set of commodities like wheat, dairy and sugar. Fracking has seemingly capped the price of oil at around $50/barrel. If the global economy continues to grow, it will provide a floor under commodities, but a recession will wreak havoc on the current system. Internet Inequality The U.S. and EU...
What You Need to Know Today: There has already been a strong run of flash soybean sales announcements in recent weeks, but more than 1.4 MMT reported this morning is an exceptionally large single-day total with major implications for the market. If the sales to China and unknown destinations w...
On Friday, at 6:57 AM, President Donald Trump announced, via a social media post, a 90-day window during which up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef could be imported outside of tariff-rate quotas—a move aimed at bringing down costs for American consumers. This is the secon...
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.