Just three weeks after the Colonial Pipeline that supplies about 45 percent of the gasoline to the U.S. East Coast was hit by cyber hackers, the largest meat packer in the world was hit by a cyber-attack over the weekend. Coincidence? Or have hackers gained an appreciation for the chaos that can be created by disrupting commodity supply chains? Details are light but according to news reports, various operations across various species have been affected to some degree in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Given that cattle slaughter was already bottled up and running below optimum levels for this time of year coupled with this being a short week due to the Memorial Day holiday, the impact will be significant. This is an un...
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.