Hunger for Better Facts There were some odd side notes with the International Food Policy Research Institute's (IFPRI) release of its Global Hunger Index ahead of World Hunger Day (16 October). The international research consortium's representatives correctly included poor governance among its noted causes of hunger, but also fingered foreign investment in Sub-Saharan land plus fertilizer subsidies. Asked for specific examples of where foreign direct investment (FDI) worsened hunger, Tom Arnold of Concern Worldwide said he "cannot provide precise causality" but "there are probably examples of where livelihoods have been jeopardized." We would note that there is already too much policymaking occurring based on intuition and presumption. T...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Key Takeaways: Argentina is on pace for a record corn crop and record exports in the current marketing year, with abundant supplies likely to keep the country highly competitive in global export markets. Argentina’s record exportable surplus is allowing it to offer highly competitive pri...
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.