World Perspectives

GMO’s 50 Years On

More than 50 years after direct genetic modification was first identified, and nearly three decades after GMO crop production began in the U.S., it is still a controversial technology in many parts of the world. Opposition to GMO’s remains strong in Africa where just four countries have approved the technology. The effort to adopt a pest resistant and drought tolerant maize in Nigeria remains stifled by groups making outlandish claims about harm from GMO’s. The Nigerian maize yield is less than a fifth that of the U.S., and it has the highest rate child stunting in the world. Yet opponents prevail in blocking the technology.  In the U.S., most of the corn, soybean and cotton crops are genetically modified. Opponents have n...

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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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