Goose and the Gander President Donald Trump says he wants to make the U.S. a manufacturing powerhouse no longer dependent on China. Those in agriculture have heard this paean for decades by governments around the world. The goal of food self-sufficiency remains elusive for many but not for lack of trying via heavy subsidies. The result in food has been distorted markets, with over-production in some areas and food insecurity in others. Agriculture may be different from manufacturing from the standpoint food is a necessity and weather is a larger influence, the fundamentals of business remain the same. Separately, China objected at the WTO to Mr. Trump requiring products from Hong Kong to be labeled made in China. The politics...
From WPI Consulting
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.