World Perspectives
livestock

Distorted Pigs

China’s new countercyclical pork production support program includes the goal of pork imports not exceeding 5 percent of production. The goal is not illegal provided Beijing does not exceed its WTO commitments for support and market access, but it does contravene the concept of free and open markets. China’s pork imports have been about 10 percent of consumption the past couple of years (see graph below). While China imports a lot of intermediate goods for further value-added and re-export, this policy is specifically intended to displace import competition. A similar policy for all goods in the U.S. would upset China’s export-led growth.  According to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, around 11 percent of U...

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biofuel energy

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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.

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