On Thursday of this week, USDA’s National Ag Statistics Service (NASS) will issue a relatively obscure report: Farm Computer Usage and Ownership. Questions designed to collect this data started in 1997; the report is issued every two years. It provides data on farm computer usage, including computer access, ownership or leasing, farm business use, and most importantly internet access. Rural broadband has been a much-discussed topic in recent years. In fact, the 2018 farm bill created the Task Force for Reviewing the Connectivity and Technology Needs of Precision Agriculture in the United States – which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched in June of 2019, with a goal to “develop policy recommen...
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.