Public Health Covid-19 Surges Overseas, China Slow to Return to Normalcy In the past week, new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in China have risen by 2,206 for an average of roughly 315 newly infected people per day. In sharp contrast, outside of the mainland confirmed infections have surged from 3,181 a week ago to 13,980, a 439 percent increase. While total numbers worldwide at 94,250 individuals pale in comparison to seasonal influenza, the death rate of 3.4 percent is more than 2,500 percent higher than the average rate for the flu in the U.S., which has averaged .136 percent since 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control. On the positive side, recoveries now exceed 50 percent of diagnosed cases with a total o...
What You Need to Know Today: Russia rejected calls for a ceasefire in the Black Sea, including a proposal to halt attacks on civilian shipping that could help restore grain flows from Ukrainian ports. Tyson Foods announced plans to permanently close its Joslin, Illinois, beef processing facili...
The big news in the cattle markets yesterday was Tyson Foods’ move to close two more beef plants. One of them, the Joslin, Illinois, plant was shuttered immediately after the announcement. The other, in Eagle Mountain, Utah, is a case-ready plant that does not slaughter cattle. Tyson also...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday. In July, the CPI rose 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy, or the “core” infla...
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.