Technology Ignores Regulators Perhaps as expected, EU member states failed to agree to the latest compromise language on allowing the development of new genomic techniques. Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Sydney have developed a gene editing tool, seekRNA, that could provide higher accuracy and flexibility than CRISPR. A similar dynamic will play out in AI where governments will seek to control it, and especially delay its progress in competing countries, but progress does not wait for politicians. Two Records in One Year U.S. net farm income (adjusted for inflation) will drop to $116.1 billion in 2024, the largest single year percentage drop in income ever. The U.S. agricultural trade deficit will top a record $32 billion.&n...
Markets have no shortage of headlines today, but the reaction depends on what sits underneath them. Strong economic growth comes with renewed inflation pressure. Higher crude inventories do little to solve tight diesel supplies. Rain is delaying one crop while helping another, and trade expecta...
Key Takeaways: DDGS prices have been pushing higher this summer as corn, soybean meal, and other feedstuff values have surged amid strong export demand and supply concerns. WPI’s models anticipate additional gains for DDGS values heading into early 2027, with FOB plant prices reach...
Key Takeaways: China has made significant progress toward corn self-sufficiency, with production projected to reach a record 307.0 MMT in 2026/27 while imports have fallen sharply from their 29.5 MMT peak in 2020/21. Strengthening food security has become an important priority for China, with...
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.