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White Commodities Focus

White commodities is an American euphemism for three crops, cotton, rise, and sugar, that are all white in color and each have statutory programs considered complex or unique. They are generally produced in the U.S. south, and their traits include: Cotton: A chemically intensive crop with the largest subsidy on an area basis, and with a mostly non-food use except for cottonseed oil. The more valuable Pima variety is grown in Arizona and California. Rice: A water intensive crop with methane emissions and strong competition from Asian varieties.  Sugar: A dubious nutrition profile that is subsidized by consumers via strict import limitations. India is the largest rice exporter, and its crop is down due to a late monsoon, and its suga...

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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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