The actual agricultural purchases to be made by China next year remains unclear with officials in Beijing failing to confirm President Trump’s boast about huge purchases. There is a press account citing an unnamed Chinese official oddly saying that there will be more imports of American wheat and corn after the deal is signed. The official imprimatur of the agreement is to occur during the first week of January. Whatever the actual number, it is expected to bring relief to the U.S. agriculture sector. Analysts at the largest bank in the U.S., JPMorgan, are quoted saying the agreement “will drive our price forecasts into the bullish scenario.” The bank is advising customers to stay long in agricultural commodities...
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.