As Washington -- and the U.S. economy -- has been looking out over the fiscal cliff, some perspective has been lost on the economic landscape traversed in the past few years. Indeed, across the spectrum of news reports, political speeches and commentary, there are perhaps two areas of agreement: that political gridlock in Washington is a bad thing, and that U.S. economic growth is perilously weak and poised for a double-dip recession.However, there is some empirical evidence that these opinions miss the mark, at least to some extent, when considering the direction of deficit reduction.First, let's consider gridlock. According to The Washington Times' "Futility Index," the 112th Congress which adjourned on 1 January was the least "producti...
Yesterday, Alberta held a referendum on whether to begin the process toward independence from Canada. With more than one million votes counted as of early Tuesday morning, around 77 percent supported remaining in Canada, and 23 percent voted to start the process of separation, according to unof...
What You Need to Know Today: Harvest pressure in the U.S. sent corn and soybeans lower as supplies increased and there were signs USDA’s upward revisions to yields in the October WASDE could be close to right. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine escalated over the weekend, with Ukrai...
Developer's Note 24 August 2026: WPI recently completed an exercise that updated the codebase for this app and solved some of the discrepancies between our five-year average calculation and USDA's. There are a few lingering cases where early (late) starts (finishes) to the crop cycle resu...
From WPI Consulting
Weighing in on strategic realignment
WPI’s team was retained by the governing board of a U.S. industry organization to review a decision, reached by vote, to invest significant assets into the development and management of an export trading company. WPI’s team conducted a formal review of this decision and concluded that the current level of market saturation would limit the benefits of the investment. Based on WPI’s analysis and recommended actions, the board subsequently reversed its decision and undertook a strategic planning effort to identify more impactful investments. On behalf of numerous clients, WPI has not only assisted in identifying strategic paths but also advised their implementation.