GMO versus GHG Vietnam has delayed its decision to ban glyphosate into 2021 but Thailand has maintained its ban, which is adversely impacting U.S. commodity shipments with any residues. American officials are pressing their Thai counterparts to use science-based standards, but it is unclear how much Bangkok is influenced by the earlier withdrawal by Washington of $1.3 billion in Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) preferences. The U.S. charges Thailand with failure to protect worker rights. Meanwhile, it is also being argued that without glyphosate and other herbicides, farmers are unable to use no-till approaches and thus the Thai position will result in worse greenhouse gas emissions and thus worse global climate change. State versu...
What You Need to Know Today: The conflict between the U.S. and Iran continues to escalate with the two sides exchanging attacks over the weekend. President Trump said Iran “will pay” for recent attacks that claimed the lives of U.S. troops stationed in Jordan. There are some signs...
Key Takeaways: Russia’s diesel export ban is tightening global fuel supplies and increasing dependence on alternative exporters. Limited refining capacity and logistical constraints make diesel markets especially sensitive to supply disruptions. Diesel supply disruptions are more difficu...
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.