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softs

Tilting at Windmills

The American Salad Belt is largely on the West Coast and Congressional representatives mostly from that region have introduced legislation (The Specialty Crops Reporting on Opportunities and Promotion Act) intended to boost the export of crops like fruits and vegetables. The political representatives complain that these products produced by their constituents confront high tariffs, burdensome labeling requirements, and other trade barriers in other countries. Their legislation would boost USTR’s reporting requirements specifically on these specialty crops. Barriers to these products and to all others are already part of USTR’s annual National Trade Estimates report on trade barriers so this bill would change little from what is...

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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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