The U.S.– China trade war has had a far more dramatic impact on American agriculture than it has had on farmers in the Middle Kingdom. In fiscal year 2017, the U.S. had a $16 billion agricultural trade surplus with China. In percentage terms, U.S. food sales to China that year were 142 percent greater than PRC agricultural sales to America. By 2019, that advantage had shrunk to just $3.5 billion. As U.S. food sales to China slipped by $8 billion in fiscal year 2019, the Middle Kingdom managed in the middle of the trade war to boost its food sales to the States by nearly $500 million. However, just as the U.S. has had more to lose in a trade war with its largest customer, it has more to gain from the normalization of trad...
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.