EU Sensibilities: The European Academies Science Advisory Council doesn’t have the credibility of Greenpeace with European media, but its message carries more weight than in the past. Behind closed doors, policymakers want out from under the bootstrap of the Novel Foods Directive. The EASAC minced no words, calling current EU regulations “no longer fit for purpose” and noted all the adverse societal costs caused by fear of genome science. If techniques for genetic improvements are ignored, it will worsen climate change, disease mitigation, hunger and suffering. Insensible Waivers: South Korea and Japan have removed their respective visa waivers for receiving visitors from each other, supposedly as coronavirus control. The...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
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.