The Economic Perspective 7/24/2026

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! 

Hello and welcome back to another Economic Perspective! TBG President Valerie Seidel along with team members Alicia Barker and Elizabeth Mandell attended the Transportation Estimators Association in Tampa this week, with DOT representatives from 13 states. Valerie Seidel spoke about current economic trends impacting Construction Estimates. Team members enjoyed hearing about Texas DOT advances in using predictive analytics for incident management & traveler information, as well as how states are managing ITS supply chain challenges, material cost volatility and overestimating in an environment of lower bids.

Laila Racevskis, Allison Campbell, Lori Stanfill, P.E., and Cortney Cortez attended the 40th annual Environmental Permitting Summer School this week, where Cortney Cortez spoke to emerging transportation and agricultural developments in Florida.

Tim Lattner, FDOT Director of Construction, moderating the extremely informative Contractor Panel with Danny Carr, Southland Corp; Joel Covitz, Archer Western; Kevin McGlinchey, Superior Construction; and Christie Alvaro, Ajax Paving

Articles this week cover agricultural trade multipliers, food insecurity in Washington, investment in Newberry's wastewater treatment plant, and more. Our data visualization covers wildfire tracking in the Pacific Northwest from Washington State Department of Natural Resources. 

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Agricultural Trade Multipliers

The USDA has released information on agricultural data from 2024, specifically about agricultural trade multipliers (ATM). This data illustrates how employment and other output effects of trade in farm and food products positively impact the US economy. In 2024, agricultural exports supported 1.04 million jobs across the US and 5,854 jobs for every $1 billion in economic activity in the sector. Depending on the crop and how labor intensive they are, there are different numbers of jobs created. However, all crops stimulate administrative and financial services that are required to help support the transfer of goods in trade. Nonfarm jobs see the biggest share as 607,800 jobs out of the 1.04 million go toward jobs not directly involved in agriculture. Read and download the data here.

Food Insecurity in Washington 

Rising food prices continue to put pressure on households, especially lower income households in the state of Washington. The Washington State Department of Agriculture has released a report tracking data on food insecurity and its effect on households. Food insecurity would hurt lower income households the worst, but few income brackets are safe from the effects. The study found that even households earning $75,000-$150,000 had high rates of food insecurity at 25%, and 26% using food assistance. Further findings from the study find housing, food, and utilities to be the biggest drivers of financial insecurity among surveyed households. Further information can be read here and here.

$20 Billion AI Data Center to be Built in Georgia

OpenAI is planning to open a new data center in Effingham County in Georgia near Savannah. The property will likely be Georgia’s biggest data center and is receiving a 50% property tax abatement for 15 years. The center is projected to use 3.2 gigawatts of energy over four years from 2028 to 2032, which would be 1/3 of the planned energy expansion that Georgia Power was granted. A $500 million water treatment facility is being constructed to use 24 million gallons of water per day from the Savannah River, some of which will go to the data center, and some will go to Hyundai Motor Group’s Metaplant. Read more here

Change in Orange Juice Regulations Boosts Florida Citrus Industry

Recently, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the FDA’s decision to lower historical standards of dissolved sugar content in orange juice. The minimum Brix measure of those sugars was lowered from 10.5% to 10%, and the FDA increased the percentage of mandarin or tangerine juice in juice hybrids from 10% to 15%. With these changes, Florida farmers will now likely rely less upon imported sugar-filled juices previously used to bump up Brix levels. Some other potential benefits to citrus growers include more flexibility during environmental disruptions and an estimated manufacturer cost savings totaling to $28 million. Read more here and here

Conflict in Iran Pushes Renewable Energy Adoption

Countries in Africa and Asia are reducing their dependence on fossil fuel imports by increasing the adoption of electric vehicles, batteries, and solar energy. Since the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, electricity and heating prices in Europe and Asia have doubled compared to pre-war levels. Countries are now moving toward electric vehicles (EVs) and solar panels from China to avoid fuel price hikes. More than 2 million EVs have been exported from China between January and May, with nearly half of the exports occurring after the conflict in Iran started. According to the International Energy Agency, the global use of EVs could reduce oil consumption by 1.7 million barrels per day. Read more here.

FDEP to Help Fund Newberry's Wastewater Treatment Plant

Newberry’s regional wastewater treatment plant has received $74 million in funding from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Water Quality Improvement Grant Program. This follows with goals from the Santa Fe Basin Management Action Plan area, and represents significant stakeholder collaboration. Newberry is working alongside other communities, including Archer, to ensure the area is helping meet the growing water needs of the surrounding area. Read more about the project here and here.

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Data Visualization of the Week

Washington DNR Wildlife Dashboard

Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has released a dashboard online to tack wildfire activity across the Pacific Northwest. This dashboard has information on acreage, count, cause, location, and other important statistics to help the public understand current wildfire threats in the area. Through the dashboard you can also find links to other reports on fire weather, danger, safety, and more. Currently Washington has dealt with 932 wildfires and 236,570 acres burned. Data is pulled largely from NIFC, EGP, NOAA, and the NWCC. Read more about the dashboard here.