For many years U.S. agriculture was able to compete as a low-cost, bulk commodity supplier. Its farms were large and consolidated, enabling economies of scale. Education and a skilled extension service meant farmers could concurrently be agronomists, engineers, and marketers. Financing was sophisticated and technology was readily adopted. Countries used tariff and nontariff barriers to slow imports from the juggernaut American farmer. Then Russia took over the wheat market and Brazil increasingly dominates corn and soybeans. America’s top five markets for agriculture each pose challenges: China: Decoupling is underway. Washington seeks to end dependence on the Middle Kingdom for solar, batteries, and previous minerals while de...
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.