Elmar Baumann of the Association of the German Biofuel Industry warns in Euractiv that the EU’s RED II policy change is designed to fail. The assumption is that investors will pour €9 billion into advanced biofuel research, but there are several reasons why this will not occur. Spade a Spade Multilateral institutions typically tip their hat to the domestic politics that cause a policy bias toward small farms. However, a study by the Inter-American Development Bank regarding the causes of limited economic growth in the Caribbean and Latin America faults this bias toward small firms in the regions. It notes that higher taxes and stiffer labor regulations are often applied to larger firms, resulting in an effective subsidy for small entities...
Key Takeaways: U.S. soybean crushing began in 1911 and saw its most rapid expansion during the 1930s amid the broader agricultural and technology revolutions of the time. After peaking in the early 2000s, the soybean crushing industry went through a downturn as poor crush margins forced...
Key Takeaways: Total U.S. crop acres (excluding hay) are forecast to expand fractionally this year due to greater oilseed crop and winter wheat plantings. One of the key drivers of this year’s crop outlook is input costs, and crops with a lower cost profile have an advantage in producers...
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.