Stupid Cycle Putnam Investment’s chief investment officer, Shep Perkins, says we are at the beginning of a multi-year super cycle for agricultural commodity prices. He cites the uncontrollable shocks imposed by the pandemic and adverse weather for recent price spikes. However, peering into the future he sees policymakers as a key source for continued high prices as they impose sustainability requirements (e.g. fewer chemicals) that prevent the growth needed in crop yields to feed the world. Green Limits Greens are pushing policymakers to impose harsher emissions restrictions to combat climate change, but carbon taxes are regressive. Lawmakers in France fear that doubling the price of carbon to €100/MT would reignite prot...
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.