Cultural History April Kicks Off with Annual Qingming Festival or Ancestors’ Day China’s domestic market began the first full week of April on a subdued note with the Qingming holiday or Tomb-Sweeping Day falling on Tuesday. This resulted in much of the country taking a long-weekend break to visit with family and pay respects to their ancestors who have passed on to the afterlife. The colloquial term – Tomb-Sweeping Day – illustrates exactly what occurs, as China’s citizens from all walks of life pay respect to their ancestors by sweeping their tombs and gravesites and then providing offerings of tea, food, and other gifts as an act of the Confucian tradition of filial piety. The holiday is not confined to Ch...
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.