Money Games SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is a familiar face to the agriculture community, having chaired the CFTC during the Obama Administration. He is reportedly investigating the practice of payment for order flow in the securities industry. Basically, brokers claim to be commission-free but then receive rebates on trades routed through specific clearing firms. If Gensler were as familiar with agriculture as the sector is with him, he might also look into similar backdoor practices impacting the trade in food. For example, retailers charge a slotting fee, whereby products are placed on shelves at eye-level or down at the feet of customers based on how much money the distributor/foodmaker pays upfront. Or a little more tawdry is the shelter...
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.