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Blame the Rice Boogey Man

Rice is the top staple food crop in Asia and the third largest global crop after corn and sugarcane. When rice production is in trouble, people pay attention. This year’s crop is suffering from flooding in Thailand, the sixth largest producer and second largest exporter. Plus excess rain in India, the second largest producer and largest exporter. Some are blaming climate change and demanding compensation from rich country emitters. This requires ignoring several factors including: India is a fast-growing emitter of greenhouse gas emissions and unlike the U.S., EU, or China, has no plans for reducing them. This is still the third largest Indian rice crop in history, and the fourth largest level of ending stocks.  India’...

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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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