Good/Bad Trade War Political analysts correctly note how the Trump trade war has “scrambled” the politics in both major political parties. Politicians do not like to be wrong, and so the most common refrain is that Mr. Trump could have used a different course to address China’s wrongful behavior. Furthermore, now that he has started a war, the best thing he could do is to “quickly negotiate the best deal possible.” The White House knows that anything but the most irrefutable good deal with China will be used against him in the 2020 campaign. Beijing’s recalcitrance only plays into Mr. Trump’s hardline approach. American farmers will continue to be the collateral damage in a trade war that is long-t...
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.