Rural development initiatives tend to be like the latest weight loss plan – full of promise but yielding dubious results. Weight Loss Plan Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton launched her bid for farm votes today by releasing a "Plan for a Vibrant Rural America." A quick Google search leads to President Obama's "Revitalizing Rural America," which followed George W. Bush's plan to bolster the less populated portions of the country. Rural development initiatives tend to be like the latest weight loss plan – full of promise but yielding dubious results. If elected in 2016, Secretary Clinton's plan will probably succeed like those of her predecessors. Amongst her proposals are a doubling of spending in some relatively minor prog...
What You Need to Know Today: After a period of limited activity, USDA reported a sizeable 613 KMT in soybean export sales, including 330 KMT to China and 283 KMT to unknown destinations, potentially also China. The purchases represent a meaningful pickup in demand and bring China closer to ful...
Inflation is back in the driver’s seat, and agriculture is getting pulled in two directions. A stronger dollar is pressuring grains despite fresh Chinese buying, while renewed Middle East attacks lift crude oil. Higher energy prices can support commodities, but they also raise expenses an...
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.