World Perspectives

Waste to Energy

It is said that the trade in agricultural products is the movement of water and energy. Plants are grown where there is water, and ultimately, they are composed of energy (calories) derived from the sun. The sun bombards the earth with 173,000 terawatts of power on a continuous basis. Humans use 15 terrawatts of energy from all sources on a continuous basis. In other words, capturing less than 0.009 percent of the supply of solar energy would satisfy all human energy needs.  The efficiency challenge is the energy return on energy invested (EROI) calculation. While solar panels receive much of the kudos for capturing the sun’s energy for human use, agriculture is the largest and more efficient converter of solar energy. The losse...

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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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