Being involved in agriculture and agribusiness, being once a farm owner, and being a long time consumer of food, we watched with more than just passing interest the fate of California's Proposition 37 during the recent election. Proposition 37 would have required that all foods produced from genetically engineered (GE) crops and sold in the state of California carry labels identifying them as being genetically engineered. Proposition 37 generated furious and even emotional campaigns by both its supporters and opponents.Proponents of GE labeling enlisted the usual critics of genetic engineering, all of the prominent "foodie" supporters of "pure and healthy" foods, the organic food industry, which had a vested interest as producers of non-G...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Unlike the 2022 fertilizer shock, today’s disruption is rooted less in rerouted trade flows and more in damaged production capacity, raw material constraints and uncertain recovery timelines. That makes this a longer-duration risk for U.S. agricultural producers and retailers who must sec...
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.