Sudanese officials have reportedly spoken to U.S. officials about Khartoum’s aspirations to both join the WTO, and export agricultural products to America like livestock products. The World Bank is also pushing Sudan to emphasize its food and livestock exports in the wake of collapsed petroleum prices. The country certainly has the relative resources, sporting a very small share of Africa’s population while concurrently managing large percentages of the continent’s livestock (see graph below). Of course, nothing rouses more opposition than the trade in livestock products. First, it imposes increased competition in generally lower profitability commodities. Second, the risk of transmittable disease increases, though most i...
What You Need to Know Today: Markets got a surprise with a corn yield of 181.2 bushels/acre in the October WASDE, above the average estimate of 177.6 bushels/acre and up from USDA’s September estimate of 178.5 bushels/acre. Although stronger demand is expected to absorb some of the addit...
The USDA has lowered its 2026 red meat production forecasts slightly while forecasting a slight increase in broiler production. Beef is now projected at 24.802 billion pounds, 75 million pounds less than in September. Cow slaughter is expected to be up; however, this will be offset by lower ste...
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.