Rice is the second largest crop in China, behind corn, but is perhaps the most important food crop. This year, drought in south China has hurt yields and quality, driving up the price of good rice. China is also the world’s largest importer of cotton, and drought in the world’s largest supplier, the U.S., has caused the price to jump almost 40 percent. Texas produces almost half of the U.S. cotton crop and drought in the western part of the state cut its production by 55 percent this year. Add to that some rising demand for cotton as an alternative to the climbing cost of synthetic materials due to expensive petroleum. The U.S. produces just 14 percent of the world’s cotton but supplies a third of the globe’s...
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.