Fake Issue Campaign During the 2016 campaign, candidate Donald Trump manufactured many fake issues such as illegal immigrants causing a crime wave and NAFTA being the worst deal ever. His mainstream opponents avoided such hyperbole, and Trump won. Now the Democratic Party candidates are all trying the fake issue approach as they espouse a largely false narrative about the nation’s agricultural sector. Like Trump, if they win and pursue some of their campaign promises, it will be more harmful than helpful. At this past weekend’s campaign event in Storm Lake, Iowa, the candidates lamented the concentration in agribusiness and blamed it for farmers not getting a “fair deal.” They want a moratorium on mergers and to br...
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.