Cultural The Year of the Rabbit Arrives The Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations began on Saturday with festive New Year’s Eve gatherings. Sunday marked the first day of the annual Spring Festival, which will continue through 1 February and then conclude with the Lantern Festival, which runs 2–5 February. This all-important holiday comes at a critical time, as the country has suffered economically, socially, and physically from a difficult and trying Year of the Tiger. In the week leading up to last weekend’s festivities, China reported 13,000 new deaths associated with the coronavirus. Meanwhile, Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Center shows a cumulative total of just over 18,590. The true number since the reopening and rapid s...
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.