World Perspectives

Food and IT Arrogance; Intentional Trade Policy

Food and IT Arrogance The EU was supposed to issue an updated “protein strategy” early this year but it has been postponed until perhaps late this summer. Its political leaders are flustered that two-thirds of the Continent’s high-quality protein and most of its soybeans are imported. They hope to use government support to quickly boost the domestic soybean production area by 70 percent. They cite food security, though they expressed umbrage when the U.S. declared national security when imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum. Europe had no trouble finding plant protein supplies during COVID, or due to the war in Ukraine. In fact, they block some food imports from Ukraine.  Now there is also a demand for AI autonomy...

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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.

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