As part of its witch hunt for unfair market practices, the EU Parliament’s AGRI Committee requested a study of the major agricultural commodity trading companies and their impacts. The study may inform populists in the U.S. that also see consolidated industries as inherently harmful, but...
Ocean Freight Comments - 8 November 2024By Matt HerringtonDry-Bulk Freight Dry-bulk freight markets were weaker once again and continue the trend that has been present for the past 15 weeks. Rates for Panamax grain from the U.S. to Asia hit new yearly lows this past week and have fallen ab...
Some in the U.S. agriculture community have spent years trying to improve sales to Cuba, which have increased though from a very small base. Now there is even less reason to think they’ll succeed. Their pipedream has been a hungry population of around 11 million people just 60 miles off the Ame...
Trump’s Tariff PlanFew things attract more speculation than how President-Elect Donald Trump will model his plan to increase tariffs on imports. Some economists have taken his most exaggerated claims and predict they will cause slower economic growth and higher inflation. At least one advisor s...
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.