Argentina has used the differential export tax for many years to favor the export of processed soyoil and soymeal over soybeans. The policy supports an industrial base, and it allows taxation on higher value exports. However, it is not without its troubles. For one, it upsets farmers who contend there is no economic benefit that flows down to them. The government has a poor grasp on the black market and so it requires high export taxes to generate revenues for basic operations. This empowers dockworkers to demand more in wages since their work is essential to feeding government coffers. Worse, the global trade in these two products has been static at best, and in decline as a finer point. It may work for now but it is looking less sustaina...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.