Holding the Bag With the increased focus on sustainability and third-party certification in meeting corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals, growers want to know what they can expect in the future. It is likely that banana growers are the canary in the mine. South American producers complain that fees must be paid to the Rainforest Alliance to certify their production standards at the same time European buyers are driving down the price they pay for bananas. In short, the same European retailers demanding that growers pay the cost of the CSR imprimatur are themselves unwilling to compensate growers for that accomplishment. The sustainability standards are regularly increased, and growers pay $50/hectare for the Rainforest Alliance labe...
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.