Love, Food and Deception More rants on the lies that are told about the agrifood system, and those who seek to deceive us. A Wheat Market Surplus The era of government-controlled wheat exports by major exporters is gone, and if we may say so, with good riddance. The evolution of the world wheat market and the disengagement of governments has meant, among other things, that a geographically dispersed private sector marketing chain extending from wheat growers to wheat users must shoulder all of the risks involved -- including, most importantly, price risk. The Continuing Evolution of Agricultural Protectionism As long as there has been international agricultural trade, countries have used some form of protectionism to safeguard their pr...
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.