There are both mandatory and several politically-motivated high priority items. Obviously, all of these issues have implications for the 2014 mid-term elections, and that does not make for an easy legislative session.Congress is facing its first deadline of the New Year, 15 January, which is when the current funding for the federal government expires. Congressional negotiators are working on a new continuing resolution (CR) that will provide $1.012 trillion in funding through the end of the fiscal year, 30 September. Reportedly, there are about three dozen items left to finalize before a deal is struck among the negotiators. It will then have to be unveiled for a vote in both Houses.After the CR, it will be two weeks before the debt c...
Key Takeaways: Drought remains a major threat to global agricultural production, particularly in regions with limited rainfall and growing water scarcity. Commercially available drought-tolerant traits in corn, soybeans, and wheat have generally delivered modest yield improvements, limiting th...
From WPI Consulting
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.