Challenging COVID Subsidies There has been an increase in the use of agricultural subsidies by several countries and that is especially true as governments this year have been fighting the adverse impacts of the coronavirus. Increased subsidies by China and India have been successfully challenged in the WTO. U.S. dairy farmers are urging the Trump Administration to challenge the EU’s Skim Milk Powder Intervention Program, claiming it has cost them 2.2 billion in income losses. Some in Europe are questioning whether the Trump Administration’s farm subsidies due to the trade war with China and now COVID have exceeded WTO limits, and they likely have. Dispassionate adjudicators are unlikely to care about the rationale for exceedin...
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.