U.S. officials are headed to Kenya to resume free trade negotiations and while there they ought to talk about the source of Nairobi’s food insecurity this year – its ban on GMO maize. Sub-Saharan corn and wheat production have been generally outpacing the region’s growing population. Over the past dozen years, population growth has averaged 2.45 percent while corn production has grown by an average 3.28 percent and wheat by 3.99 percent. However, the most recent crops have maize production expanding by .82 percent and wheat declining by 2.6 percent. Kenya normally imports corn from Tanzania, which is experiencing a shortfall in production. South Africa has surplus exportable corn, but 80 percent of it is GMO, a tech...
Mediterranean/Middle East/North Africa/Africa – MEA Region Egypt and Algeria, in addition to Israel, are being monitored by Ukraine as possible destinations for grain taken by Russia from occupied Ukrainian regions. In April, Egypt had said that it would “stop accepting such shipmen...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. launches naval escort operations in the Strait of Hormuz as Iran attacks UAE oil infrastructure, escalating geopolitical risk and supporting energy and broader commodity markets Biofuel demand entering uncharted territory, with soyoil valuation increasingly di...
The Middle East is said to be undergoing a transformation as economic priorities transcend security concerns. This is evidenced by diversification away from oil and the UAE’s departure from OPEC. Meanwhile, the Palestine issue has been deprioritized, and Iran has emerged as more destabili...
All eyes are shifting to the Senate following the House passage of a farm bill last Thursday. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman (R-Arkansas) is targeting the end of May or early June for a bill markup. According to Boozman, the House “going ahead and passing something was re...
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.