World Perspectives

Divergence of Markets; Fear No Beer; Little Net Gain

Divergence of Markets Food away from home has been outpacing food at home as the cost of human services has written. The categories on the rise include meat, eggs, produce, and alcohol. Food prices are unlikely to descend and even food price discounter Walmart has struggled to restrain what they charge to their budget conscious costumers. Prices that have declined include bananas, salmon, pork chops and sweet potatoes. Nonetheless, one troubling result is that the number of Americans reporting that they lack sufficient food rose 25 percent in 2024. At the same time, more affluent shoppers are increasing their purchases of more expensive organic foods by 13.9 percent CAGR.  Through a combination of production hurdles and health concerns...

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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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