World Perspectives
feed-grains wheat livestock

Growing African Food Market

Long considered a basket case, scarred by colonialism and on permanent aid dependency, Sub-Saharan Africa is receiving more attention these days for its potential as a growth market. The World Bank predicts the region will grow faster this year than last, and so will imports of key agricultural commodities. Even the Trump Administration, whose leader last year made a cringe-worthy derogatory reference to the region, has formed the Prosper Africa initiative to better focus U.S. efforts in this part of the world.  Only about 20 of the 48 countries in the Sub-Saharan region are the source of GDP growth and consequently higher commercial imports. This makes growth in those specific nations even more impressive. Major imports are wheat and...

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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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