News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Egypt has decided to further reduce the nighttime curfew period to 0100-0500, except on Fridays when it will begin at 1700. The curfew has been in effect since August, and the government has slowly but steadily reduced the hours as the country's security problems have greatly declined. The shorter curfew benefits grain transportation because truck transit restrictions can create severe difficulties in ports and with end users' production.The Egyptian government stated that it has fertilizer supplies on hand for the wheat season that should meet a very large percentage of the country's demand. There have been complaints in recent weeks that these supplies were either very limited or w...
What You Need to Know Today: The Trump administration announced new tariffs of 10 percent to 12.5 percent on imports from 60 major U.S. trading partners as part of a Section 301 action aimed at combating forced labor in global supply chains. Countries that have agreed to adopt and enforce bans...
Key Takeaways: Grain futures pulled back sharply in overnight trade Friday on rumors that Ukraine proposed two possible options for ensuring civilian vessel safety in the Black Sea. Both Russia and Ukraine have recently targeted civilian vessels carrying oil and grain in the Sea of Azov...
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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.