In many ways, human nature is fascinated with the future – predicting what will and what could be and formulating plans accordingly. This is one factor that makes commodity futures markets inherently intriguing – their role in foretelling the future. As WPI readers have likely experienced on a deep personal basis, commodity futures are both fascinating and infuriating, oftentimes simultaneously. Fascinating in their “wisdom of the crowds” approach to predicting the future and infuriating in the ever-changing nature of that forecast – changes that often defy one’s best efforts to predict the prediction. Commodity futures occupy a space that is simultaneously a “best available” forecast of a giv...
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...
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.