If Russia can use nuclear weapons to blackmail the world, China has the surplus food stocks to coerce its national ambitions. Global ending stocks for major food crops were already tight before Russian invaded Ukraine, and the war has only exasperated the situation. They could drop by another 30 to 60 percent, depending on how long the conflict persists. The situation is most tenuous for nations that are concurrently poor and import dependent. For example, Egyptians obtain almost half their calories from wheat and import nearly 60 percent of their needs. One former government official says the situation is worse than the food crisis of 2008/09. Some countries have begun restricting exports and hording grain, exacerbating a situation...
What You Need to Know Today: Russia rejected calls for a ceasefire in the Black Sea, including a proposal to halt attacks on civilian shipping that could help restore grain flows from Ukrainian ports. Tyson Foods announced plans to permanently close its Joslin, Illinois, beef processing facili...
What You Need to Know Today: Wholesale inflation was flat in July, with the Producer Price Index (PPI) unchanged versus expectations for a 0.2 percent increase. Core PPI rose 0.2 percent, also below expectations. The softer inflation data has reduced the odds of a September interest rate incre...
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.