The United Nations is expected to adopt 17 "Sustainable Development Goals" (SDGs) at next week's 70th Session of the General Assembly. Included is the goal to end hunger and malnutrition by 2030 and to do so sustainably by doubling agricultural productivity. TPP Endgame A subset of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiators will meet this coming weekend in San Francisco on auto parts, followed by an all parties session in Atlanta. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is facing an election in less than a month but has nonetheless signaled he is ready to make concessions to get a TPP agreement. Other contentious issues include the tenor for intellectual property protection of pharmaceuticals, and dairy. The latter should not be an issue,...
What You Need to Know Today: A third U.S. border crossing (Columbus, New Mexico) has reopened to Mexican cattle imports following nearly two years of restrictions related to New World screwworm. The reopening could gradually improve feeder cattle availability, although more than 60 confi...
Yesterday, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released a new report of negotiated cash purchases of cattle under the mandatory price report. The report included Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. The goal of the report was to solve the confidentiality issues e...
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...
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.