Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Egypt reports that the revenues from the Suez Canal are down by about 3 percent in 2020 to $5.61 billion. The government feels that 2021 revenues will be about the same level unless there are further COVID-19 related shipping problems to and from Asia. Egypt has also taken the first steps in allowing its main wheat buyer – GASC – to set up its own shipping company for the transport of grains – both in and out of Egypt. The company is to be named Atlantic Pacific Company for Shipping and Trade and is expected to own some vessels. Much of the wheat imported is currently shipped using the government’s National Navigation Company. Also in Egypt, the...
Weather concerns and the impacts of the war in Iran helped push wheat and corn to sharp gains Tuesday, with both markets blowing past key technical resistance levels. The weather is now coupled with geopolitical tensions that look increasingly hard to resolve, which is giving funds the perfect...
Congress is moving forward with its FY 2027 spending bills, while also still working to address FY 2026 funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which is still in a shutdown. The House Agriculture-FDA Appropriations Subcommittee marked up and passed its FY 2027 bill. The House bill prov...
Mediterranean/Middle East/North Africa/Africa – MEA Region Tunisian researchers have been able to fully sequence the genomes of two local durum wheat types that have been grown in Tunisia for generations. They say that this “could be the key to developing more climate-resistant duru...
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.