Experts a Skeptical Lot: WPI surveyed 32 top level experts in the Washington agriculture and trade community, several with direct trade negotiation experience. Responses were received from 66 percent of those queried. The questions and the results are in the table below. There was a fairly strong consensus of opinion on each topic, which can be expected with such a homogenous group.Respondents were most confident that there would be product exemptions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, and least confidence that Congress would bring Country Of Origin Labeling (COOL) into WTO compliance by the May deadline. There was a higher degree of confidence that negotiation of a Trans-Atlantic trade agreement would begin, but far less t...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Unlike the 2022 fertilizer shock, today’s disruption is rooted less in rerouted trade flows and more in damaged production capacity, raw material constraints and uncertain recovery timelines. That makes this a longer-duration risk for U.S. agricultural producers and retailers who must sec...
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.