World Perspectives

Pandemic "Food Crisis"

Politico interviewed 11 leaders in U.S. agriculture and determined that based on the pandemic, the food system is not ready for prime time. The thrust of the article is the need to crisis-proof the food system, as if pandemics happen all the time. For example, one observation is the need to stockpile PPE equipment, a conclusion also drawn more than a decade before the pandemic. Looking back to the top news of the 2020 pandemic, it was a shortage of toilet paper due to hording.   There have been absolutely shortages of labor in harvesting and crop processing. Some will not like to solution to that problem – automation. In fact, unemployment increased the need to food, which was met with a very large increase in food assistan...

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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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