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Spreadsheet to accompany product 8B17D009.

Suncrest Agribusiness Company (Suncrest), an agribusiness firm based in the Midwestern United States, was one of the largest seed manufacturers in the world. Seed corn (i.e., the seed that farmers purchased to grow corn in their fields) was the company’s largest business segment in the North American market; yet the seed corn market was subject to both demand and supply uncertainty. Farmers chose whether to grow corn or a different crop based on the predicted prices for corn post-harvest, making the demand uncertain. The supply was similarly uncertain because the amount of seed that firms obtained from their fields was subject to random variations. In this challenging environment, Suncrest needed to develop a forecasting model that exploited available data to determine the optimal capacity to grow seed corn.

Suncrest Agribusiness Company (Suncrest), an agribusiness firm based in the Midwestern United States, was one of the largest seed manufacturers in the world. Seed corn (i.e., the seed that farmers purchased to grow corn in their fields) was the company's largest business segment in the North American market; yet the seed corn market was subject to both demand and supply uncertainty. Farmers chose whether to grow corn or a different crop based on the predicted prices for corn post-harvest, making the demand uncertain. The supply was similarly uncertain because the amount of seed that firms obtained from their fields was subject to random variations. In this challenging environment, Suncrest needed to develop a forecasting model that exploited available data to determine the optimal capacity to grow seed corn.