Researchers have combed the historical literature and warned about the impacts of COVID-19 but not all the predictions have proved accurate. As countries imposed travel bans, the WTO warned of broken supply chains. Now it says agriculture has fared better than industry with farm exports up 2.5 percent in the first half of 2020. The International Food Policy Research Institute lamented that food exports from developing countries would decline, yet U.S. food imports from developing countries have increased, while declining from the rich countries (see graph below). The latter may be the result of trade war policies, or changes in consumption for consumer-oriented foods. Imports of fruit and vegetable juices declined except orange juice...
What You Need to Know Today: President Trump claimed the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran was over, as both sides accused one another of violating the terms of the agreement. Commercial vessels are increasingly steering clear of the Strait of Hormuz as security risks escalate following Iran...
Key Takeaways: The CME Group is launching new 90 percent Lean Beef and 50 percent Lean Beef futures and options contracts in July. There are five key factors that must be present in physical markets and futures contract specifications for futures contracts to become successful. The two l...
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.