World Perspectives

Election Snapshot and the Farm Bill

With the 2018 midterm election three weeks away, the Democrats need a 23-seat pickup in the House of Representatives to reach the 218 seats (of 435) necessary to gain majority control, and all seats are up for election. RealClearPolitics, a polling aggregator, currently has the “over/under” pickup odds at plus 24.5 seats for Democratic candidates (see below).

Based on the above, 101 seats are in play to some degree with 29 rated as toss-ups. All of the latter are held by Republican incumbents, which stacks the odds in the Democrats’ favor. In the Senate, 51 seats are needed for a majority. With the vice president as the tie-breaking vote, however, Republicans would only need 50 seats for the next two years. There are 3...

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Sugar Supply and Demand Situation

Mexico’s 2025/26 sugar production is estimated to be 5.024 million MT, reflecting about a 6 percent increase from 4.7 million MT after the past two years of weather-affected output, including both persistent drought and ill-timed rains. Nonetheless, production remains near the low end com...

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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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