One of our most loyal customers, Feed Energy Company, was recently honored as the runner-up for the Information Technology Innovation Award for their use of one of our custom decision-making tools. The "Nth Load" model is a computational, Dynamic Risk-Based Modelingâ„¢ tool that objectively analyzes large data sets to provide...
Here are a few questions for you: Have you ever wondered how many jobs a new business brings with it when it starts? What happens when a business closes? How much new income comes with a new business? Can a business really bring more jobs to an area than it...
I have the pleasure of traveling around the state speaking to economic development groups. Often times the discussion is about how to attract jobs to a particular region. On a recent trip though the discussion was different, it turned to how to attract people to the region...
With the spring season upon us, the weather here in Iowa has really begun to warm. With this change in weather, the focus in Iowa and Nebraska agriculture now turns to planting a new crop. With this focus, the events of last year's Missouri River flooding are...
I recently attended a Biomass Crop Workshop in Creston, IA. I was interested in attending for two reasons. First, our team has developed an application for biomass mapping that takes into account land stewardship and economic factors for converting land use to production of biomass energy crops....
We recently concluded a study (forthcoming in the Journal of Environmental Quality) on water quality modeling in the Raccoon River Watershed in Iowa. Intensive agricultural production is a predominant use of a significant portion of the land in the Raccoon River Watershed and is a primary driver...
I recently had a discussion with an individual about what drives the prices of commodities, which was a good discussion, but it helped remind me about why I enjoy and get frustrated with economics and correlations. It also reminded me of the importance of asking better questions,...
The United States is a large net exporter of corn seed for planting. Seed trade, including that of corn, has been expanding, but its determinants are not well understood. One of the essays of my doctoral dissertation, which was published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics,...
The current dry spell in much of the Midwest raises some challenges the fledgling bio-products industries will face now and in the future. There are still some who believe the biomass material is just "extra" material that has no other potential use. For livestock producers and dairy...
When you think of irrigation your first thoughts are probably about the circles of green you see when flying over Midwestern states. Or, if you've driven through Nebraska on Interstate 80 you have a picture in mind of the countless pivots pouring water on tall corn and...
