Higher Cotton Production Could Bring Prices Down The land planted to cotton in India has increased 18.62 percent to 12.1 million hectares in 2017/18 versus 10.2 million hectares in 2016/17. Farmers shifted to cotton as they were unable to make a profit last year with other crops, mainly pulses and oilseeds. The Ministry of Agriculture, government of India (GOI) data of 6 October indicates the country is expected to produce 33.09 million bales (170 kg each) this year, up 2.53 percent against 32.273 million bales in 2016/17. However, GOI’s first estimate of the 2017/18 cotton production is much lower than that of the Cotton Association of India (CAI), which is projecting a total 37.5 million bales due to the expanded planted area. The...
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...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday. In July, the CPI rose 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy, or the “core” infla...
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.