Money for Nothing Indonesian President Joko Widodo (and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim) promised to fight environmental “discrimination” against the palm oil industry, but they may like receiving carbon offset payments as a better deal. Outside the recent G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, Brazil, and the Democratic Republic of Congo discussed forming a “rainforest OPEC” to increase the amount rich countries will pay to prevent the loss of rainforests. The gross return for palm oil is around $2,731/hectare, for soybeans it is $4,988/hectare. Meanwhile, the Center for Global Development estimates that Congo alone could earn $770 billion a year in carbon credits. That equates to around $3,809/hectare withou...
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.