Fairness and Food Knowledge, income and food all collide in a microcosm of the larger societal issues now being confronted. Macro Influences and Fundamentals The influence of transnational economic trends on commodity markets and commodity prices has been profound during the past two years, more so than at any other time in our memory. Of course, broad economic conditions and trends have always had at least some indirect effect on commodities. Why the Global Soybean Processing Sector is Suffering The global soybean processing sector has been a rapidly-growing industry that generally earned good profits, but that has changed. Global soybean processors now are making low or negative margins. The shift to a lack of profitability has occur...
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.