In asking organic shoppers for the scientific basis of their shopping decisions, it turns out their actions are largely based on intuition rather than the scientific method they presumably acquired in institutions of higher learning. Follow the Science A Wall Street Journal article noted recently that Sandy Lerner took some of the $160 million she earned helping to start Cisco and blew it on a failed attempt at certified organic/humane farming. What went wrong? The college educated are far more likely to eat organic than those with less education. Whole Foods shoppers have twice the income of Walmart shoppers, which makes it easier to accept the 25 percent higher prices they pay. The latest cookbook by the celebrity Gwyneth Paltrow touche...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
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.