Around one-half of global avocado exports are from Mexico and 86 percent of them are shipped to the U.S. The dominance of this trade is illustrated by Mexico’s avocado exports growing at 9.5 percent CAGR and U.S. imports expanding at 9.2 percent CAGR. Of the top five global avocado exporters, only Peru is showing significant growth, and again the U.S. is becoming a major draw for the trade. The trade is notable since until 1997 and the NAFTA agreement, the U.S. banned the import of avocados from Mexico. U.S. producers feared Mexico’s lower cost product. Some argued much of the California-based production was just a tax write-off for high earners. Since opening the market, U.S. production has only fallen 15 percent but a fruit t...
A microlith is a small stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically several centimeters in length and half a centimetre wide. They were made by humans from at least the Upper Paleolithic, across Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia. The microliths were used in spear points and arrowhea...
Lobelia (/loʊˈbiːliə, lə-/[4][5][6]) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Campanulaceae comprising 415 species,[7] with a subcosmopolitan distribution primarily in tropical to warm temperate regions of the world, a few species extending into cooler temperate regions.[8] They are known g...
The Alaska marmot (Marmota broweri), also known as the Brooks Range marmot[3] or the Brower's marmot,[4] is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. Once considered to be the same species as the hoary marmot, it is now known to be unique. Alaska marmots are found in the scree slopes of the...
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.