The Economic Perspective 11/14/2025

The Latest Trending Economic, Environmental and Infrastructure News Curated for You by The Balmoral Group

The Balmoral Group provides practical, professional and precise Economics, Data Analytics, and Engineering Consulting services and is part of a globally integrated team.

Happy Friday! 

Welcome back to another addition of The Economic Perspective! This week, TBG’s Dan Dourte and Laila Racevskis facilitated the first in-person meeting of the Florida Water Resources Monitoring Council since 2019! It was held at the University of Florida’s Lakewatch facilities in Gainesville, Florida. Over 15 participants from state agencies and local government and academia attended, and had productive brainstorming sessions throughout the day on significant changes in water quality data, collection and analysis in the past several years, and identified and prioritized future training needs and opportunities.

In this edition of the Economic Perspective, we feature articles about the jobs and inflation data held up during the government shutdown, Everglades research awarded by the US Army Corps of Engineers, and in the state of Washington, we also cover the Columbia River waterfront cleanup progress. A few articles this week cover AI fronts, including a new center for agriculture at the University of Florida and our data visualization touches on the environmental side of AI data centers.

Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think would be interested. If you’d like to view previous editions please click here, or to subscribe please click here!

Thanks for reading and have a fabulous weekend!

---

UF's New AI Center for Agriculture Set Underway

A new Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture is being built at UF’s Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Wimauma to expand the use of automation and AI in specialty-crop farming. The initiative aims to address persistent labor shortages and improve efficiency in planting, harvesting, and weed management through advanced robotics and precision tools. Leaders also hope the technology focus will draw younger people into agriculture by offering more innovative, high-tech career paths. The facility will support research, development, and field testing of AI systems tailored to key Florida crops such as strawberries, tomatoes, and blackberries, with the goal of helping growers stay competitive. Read more on the development here. Image source: UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS). Artist’s rendering of the exterior of new building.

Environmental Groups Sue Alaska to Stop Bear Hunting

Various environmental groups are sueing Alaska’s wildlife authorities to stop unlimited aerial bear hunting. The goal of this hunting has been to help preserve the Caribou populations and help rebuild their herds. The Center for Biological Diversity and the Alaska Wildlife Alliance are leading the lawsuit and seek to curtail bear killings which they say include 175 grizzlies and 5 black bears since 2023. The Alaska Fish and Game Commission state that Caribou populations are currently under 15,000 and efforts to limit bear’s hunting of caribou are necessary to reach the goals of 30,000-80,000 herd animals. Environmental groups argue this strategy is not effective to helping caribou and the overall health of these environments. Read more here.

Government Shutdown Held Jobs and Inflation Data

Due to the government shutdown, economic data has not been released. Once the end of the shutdown is finalized, there will be a lag in time before agencies can begin to release the data again. Schedules of when data will be released should come out next week, with jobs reports for October expected to come quickly after the shutdown finally ends. Delays are expected to be on average about a week in all. Expectations for these reports include a slowed job market and inflation above the Fed’s comfort level. Expectations currently are 2.8% for September inflation, third quarter growth of 4%, and fourth quarter growth of 1.3%. Annual gains will be expected to be at 2% for the year. Read more here.

USACE Grant to Fund Florida Everglases Dry Season Research

The Florida Everglades are home to a variety of wildlife such as wading birds, who are facing declining population challenges, fish, and other aquatic prey. The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) awarded Florida Atlantic University a grant totaling $1,427,679 for the purpose of data collection and analysis of dry season impacts in the Everglades. The project, “Dry Season Prey Concentrations in the Florida Everglades”, will also be evaluating the impacts of restoration efforts on Everglades wildlife to inform future predictive models and best practices for management. Read more here.

6-Year Cleanup Efforts of Columbia River Waterfront Concludes

28,500 tons of contaminated earth and 10,600 cubic yards of excavated river rock later, the Columbia River public waterfront in Northport, Washington, is no longer plagued by hazardous levels of copper, lead, and zinc. After sampling and analysis that took place in 2019 revealed concerning levels of contamination in the waterfront area, Washington Department of Ecology drafted a report and cleanup plan that ultimately resulted in the removal of about 4,000 tons of waste that was federally categorized as hazardous. In addition to restoring the natural environment, built improvements also took place, including upgraded paths, a newly installed picnic table and benches, and cedar fences in various areas. 43 workers were employed and $9.4 million was spent locally over the course of the cleanup project. Read more here. Image Source: Washington Department of Ecology

---

Data Visualization of the Week

Carbon Needs for AI Servers

Projected carbon impacts through to 2030 present a large increase at even the lowest demand projections. In the lowest scenarios by 2030 data centers are expected to use 200 terawatt-hours (TWh), but upward of 500 TWh in the highest scenarios. Low scenario carbon emissions would increase by about 30 metric ton (Mt) while high scenario emission would be above 80 Mt by 2030. Water demands will also see large increases with about 1,000 million cubic meters by 2030 in the low scenario and over 2,000 million cubic meters in the high scenario. The resource demands of Artificial Intelligence and their data centers are expected to put strain on energy and water demands and have similar environmental impacts as natural resources are strained for their needs. Read more here and here.