Corn Argentina’s corn harvest continues to progress at a solid pace and has reached almost 15 percent of the planted area. This is slightly below the average of recent years. At the same time, the average number of trucks arriving at ports remains high and sufficient to fill the current vessel lineup of 1.8 MMT. Argentina’s corn exports during March finished slightly below 3 MMT, with Vietnam as the main destination, followed by Peru, Algeria, and Korea. There are two important items to follow closely right now. The first is the diesel shortage, which is being driven by the Argentine government’s policy of freezing fuel prices. Both harvesters and truckers are having difficulties obtaining diesel, and this c...
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.