World Perspectives

Inside the Food and Ag Economy

Seaboard, a relatively smaller meat processor, reported that 22 percent of its employees tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. That is not too far behind New York City where 25 percent of the population tested positive. Meat packing is the largest employer in food manufacturing, absorbing nearly 30 percent of the sector’s workers. By contrast, those in the grain and oilseeds comprise just 3.2 percent of the food and agriculture workforce.  Farmers get all the glory, but they are just 1.3 percent of the overall workforce or about 10 percent of those working in food and agriculture. But that in itself is a highly skewed number because with 4 percent of farms growing 66 percent of the output, most farms are hobby operations heavi...

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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.

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