Argentina -- Aqui Vamos Otra Vez: Supermarkets in Argentina have been asked by the government to voluntarily freeze food prices in 2013. Buenos Aires hopes to both placate consumers and convince the IMF that there is no inflation. Farmers in Argentina have seen this play before and warn the actual result will be food shortages. They predict that meat will be hit first, but eventually it could lessen enthusiasm for planting corn and wheat. Soybeans will be less impacted. Moreover, the IMF is unlikely to be impressed.Separately, the U.S. has restricted citrus imports from both Argentina and Uruguay for many years due to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) concerns, but USDA has just proposed lifting the ban for Uruguay. Perhaps Washington has...
Yesterday, Alberta held a referendum on whether to begin the process toward independence from Canada. With more than one million votes counted as of early Tuesday morning, around 77 percent supported remaining in Canada, and 23 percent voted to start the process of separation, according to unof...
Mediterranean/Middle East/North Africa/Africa – MEA Region Pakistan’s smaller wheat farmers have been holding protests to complain about the lack of a support price for wheat and the potential expansion of GMO crop production. They also want the reinstatement of PASSCO, the governme...
What You Need to Know Today: Harvest pressure in the U.S. sent corn and soybeans lower as supplies increased and there were signs USDA’s upward revisions to yields in the October WASDE could be close to right. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine escalated over the weekend, with Ukrai...
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.