There is a lot of discussion around energy use and emissions from the agriculture and food sectors. There are three types of emissions that various models seek to measure and report. Scope 1 are the direct emissions from a single company – such as manufacturing use of energy and related emissions, or a transportation company’s vehicle fleet. Scope 2 are the indirect emissions that are created in producing energy that a company uses, such as electricity, fuel oil or natural gas for processing or transportation fuel for a transportation company. Then there is the Scope 3 category: these are also indirect emissions – meaning those not produced by the company itself. They differ from Scope 2 as they cover those produced...
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.