World Perspectives

Reorganizing USDA for Trade

Given the importance and volatility of non-tariff trade barrier issues, the catalyst behind the reorganization was the need to have a central trade authority that can react quickly with input from across multiple agencies to resolve disputes. The Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing last week on the implementation progress of the 2014 Farm Bill. One of the topics discussed was the creation of a new undersecretary position. The enacted farm bill requires the secretary to propose a reorganization plan for USDA's international trade functions, in consultation with the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and House and Senate Appropriations Committees, and provide a report on the plan to the Congressional committees 180 days after...

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Dollar Exchange Rate Impacts on Trade

President Trump is using tariffs to rectify what he asserts is the unfair practices by other countries. He also accuses trading partners of currency manipulation. He is correct that currency exchange rates impact the competitiveness of U.S. exports. USDA’s Economic Research Service mainta...

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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.

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