World Perspectives

Wash and Repeat

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced at last $2.1 billion for various programs under a “Framework for Shoring Up the Food Supply Chain and Transforming the Food System to Be Fairer, More Competitive, More Resilient.” In many respects, it is a repeat of the Secretary’s policy focus during his tenure in the Obama Administration. Foodie Michael Pollan had credited the Obama Administration for recognizing “the need to reform industrial agriculture and stand up to Big Food.” That effort largely failed and so now the goal is to subsidize “farmers to process locally, sell locally…” except this is similar to the Secretary’s “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” effort in the Obam...

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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.

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