Many food and ag regulations/policies start off as state and/or local initiatives before spreading elsewhere. Animal welfare began with a referendum on swine production practices in Florida, and nutritional labeling on restaurant menus was a New York City requirement. Labeling of GM ingredients also started locally as did taxes imposed on such ag products and perceived health threats like tobacco and sugar. Sugar-sweetened beverage or soda taxes have been a recent trend with the first local ones mandated in Berkley, California. Last year Philadelphia became the first major city to impose a soda tax, and then Chicago (Cook County) followed suit. Moreover, voters in Boulder, Colorado as well as Albany, Oakland, and San Francisco, California...
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.