To some analysts, the current global crisis is because we have outsourced too much - labor, energy, food, national security. That has opened the pathway for bad actors to disrupt what was a delicate geopolitical balance. To others, mutual interdependence is the only option given the geographic diversity of natural and human resources. The larger problem has been a lack of investment in these critical resources. Either way, energy and food costs are determinant in elevating people out of poverty. At the same time, a healthy eco-system is critical to the long-term well-being of humanity. Politics are inevitable. U.S. farmers and Republicans are pointing to the current food security crisis and demanding easier access to chemical inputs...
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.