Europe has traditionally taken a stronger interest in its former colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa, with China becoming aggressively involved in recent years. The U.S. has limited its view to that of foreign aid assistance, despite the fact that its own population includes the largest number of educated descendants from the Continent. The U.S. is supposedly taking a keener interest in the region for actual business and trade development. If so, it will not find tremendous immediate opportunities in its major commodities. Despite more rapid income and population growth, the import share of consumption for wheat, corn and soybeans is relatively static. African governments are likely to stay focused on domestic production of maize. Wheat is agro...
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...
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.