Regional News Last week, Europe was facing widespread drought conditions and one of the driest 60-day springtime periods since the 1970’s. That drought and expectations for poor crop yields initially pushed wheat and grain prices higher. However, last week also brought broad precipitation coverage across Europe’s most important wheat-producing regions and the Black Sea. The rains were timely and largely sufficient to ease near-term drought concerns. Moreover, the current 1-7-day forecast calls for widespread, light showers across Europe with scattered, light showers across Ukraine. Southern Russia will likely receive modest precipitation as well. For now, the weather forecast seems to suggest the worst of the yield-damagi...
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.