The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently released its Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) for 2023 – that report is the Department of Energy’s equivalent to USDA’s long term baseline projection. The USDA’s report forecasts out to 2032, while the AEO forecasts to 2050. The AEO predicts that exports will become the driver of petroleum and liquid fuels. Domestic consumption is forecast not to increase through 2040 (even across high and low-price cases). Liquid fuel use is not projected to return to pre-COVID levels. While miles traveled increase, so does fuel efficiency of the vehicle fleet, offsetting aggregate fuel use. Additionally, the percentage of electric vehicles in the fleet increases. Finally, l...
What You Need to Know Today: Wheat prices surged after Ukrainian strikes on Russian vessels and infrastructure disrupted grain shipments, halting traffic through the Sea of Azov, Kerch Strait, and Black Sea. The July WASDE report offered a modestly supportive outlook for corn, wheat, and soybe...
The trade deficit in goods and services came in at $77.6 billion in May, slightly smaller than the consensus estimate of $78.4 billion. After a few months of relative stability, the trade deficit widened in May. The increase in the deficit for the month was due to both a rise in imports, which...
Every June combines begin their annual sweep across the winter wheat fields of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. At the same time, USDA releases its Acreage and Crop Progress reports, providing the first comprehensive look at the size and condition of the crop. Most years the reports simply confirm...
From WPI Consulting
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.