Food Policy Confusion The White House announced that it will host the first conference on hunger, nutrition, and health in over 50 years in September. The conference is important because it is clear that a lot of policymakers in Washington see problems but do not understand the implications of their proposed simplistic solutions. For example, Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) says the food system is broken because of concentrated agribusiness and the key is small and local/regionalized food systems. Because production is currently specialized based on agronomics, his proposal would reduce overall production and the variety of foods available. The White House says it wants to concurrently end hunger, obesity, diabetes and hypertensi...
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.