Thus far Congressional policymakers have assured that the 2012 Farm Bill will continue federal subsidies to farmers, consumer subsidies to sugar, and aid to beginning farmers and ranchers as if there were a shortage of farmers. The Senate Agriculture Committee included subsidies for fresh fruit and vegetable purchases for schools, but otherwise there is no indication the Hill will address the largest food-related issue affecting the country: obesity.A study just released by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) indicates that stabilizing obesity at the current level would save $550 billion in health care costs. Confidentially, members of Congress want to do something but, given the lack of a single, definable and unobtrusive silver bullet for t...
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.
Key Takeaways: A student group from the University of Chicago is protesting to bring back onion futures trading. Trading in onion futures was banned in 1958 following a spectacular bout of market manipulation that resulted in a corner of the physical market. The ban on onion futures led t...
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...