Regional News Last week initially saw hot temperatures across Southeast Europe before a slight cooling pattern set in. The early-week heat, combined with this week’s forecast for additional hot, dry weather, will likely hinder late-filling crop yields. The hot, dry weather may reduce soybean, sunflower, and to some extent, corn yields and production figures. However, the Black Sea regions of Ukraine and Russia are expected to have dry, somewhat warmer weather that will not be as detrimental to yields. Ukraine’s grain exports are setting a strong pace for the 2019/20 marketing year, up 7.3 MMT YTD. Exports have risen to 11.1 MMT, including 6.75 MMT of wheat, 1.88 MMT of corn, and 2.45 MMT of barley. For the 2019/20 crop y...
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.