Failed Rural Strategy Some Democratic Party strategists have reasonably concluded that it is easier to court rural voters than to dissipate their political influence by amending the Constitution to remove the Electoral College. However, their candidates still have a tin ear when it comes to rural America. 2020 presidential contender Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) announced her agriculture policy platform yesterday, and it involves breaking up big agribusinesses and favoring small farms. Much like the current president’s modus operandi (see Government Dis-Org below), it is a plan without any underlying data. She also shares the current president’s protectionism with her goal being to restrict foreign ownership and investment in...
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.