Countries with lower GDP complained that wealth alone did not adequately measure a society’s relative success. Thus, was born the OECD’s Better Life Index, the World Happiness Report and many other indices. Other indices measure the societal components that lead to relative success, such as the Economic Freedom Index, the World Bank’s Doing Business report, and in today’s example, the Legatum Prosperity Index. The Doing Business report enables governments to focus on components in which they score low. In some respects, the Legatum index is similar but less specific. Looking at the 47 countries that scored highest in Legatum’s 2020 assessment, the number one determinant of scoring higher, as usual, is th...
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.