The theme of the pandemic has been the need for reshoring and diversification of supply chains to strengthen future resilience from such black swan events. Europe has done a better job than the U.S. in diversifying its major sources of energy and yet it is now more burdened by the current spike in energy costs. It needs fossil fuels when the winds stop blowing, and it will need winds if the Russians stop the gas from flowing. Fossil fuels have been reliable for the U.S., but the country has under-invested in nuclear energy. Nuclear power emits no CO2, can be built on multiple small platforms to reduce the risk of major sabotage, is not dependent the vagaries of Mother Nature, and would diversify the energy supply. A science-based approach...
What You Need to Know Today: The hot, dry weather forecast continues to drive strength in grain futures with corn and soybeans hitting another day of strong gains. Monday’s Crop Progress and Conditions data were in line with market expectations and showed relatively few concerns for the...
Yesterday we wrote about the Q1 GDP numbers and the June employment reports in an article entitled Real GDP for Q1 Relying on AI Buildout, Held Back by Consumer Spending. That article mentioned that consumer spending had become a drag on GDP. Nonetheless, real GDP in Q1 was revised upward to 2...
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.