World Perspectives

Trade Barriers or Facilitation; Ag Rises in EU; Biden Regs

Trade Barriers or Facilitiation The WTO reported that its monitoring of various countries evidences that members are introducing more trade-facilitating policies than they are trade-restrictive measures. It only seems unreal because the trade restrictive practices receive more media attention. President Biden extended and added to the trade restriction introduced by his predecessor, and now former president Donald Trump has loaded the Republican convention platform with even more tariffs and protectionism. The EU applied provisional tariffs of up to 38 percent on Chinese-made EV’s.  Separately, WTO members continue to discuss ways to get agricultural trade policy talks back on track but given the differences between the Brazili...

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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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