Good moisture has enabled Australia to produce a record sized wheat crop. Due to proximity, Australia largely serves Asian markets and its wheat sales to China are up 158 percent. These sales have occured despite Chinese restrictions on many other Australian farm products. Trade ministers from the two countries have not met in over three years due to a diplomatic disagreement. However, China can buy Australian wheat at a 16 percent discount to wheat from the U.S. World wheat and U.S. wheat in particular looks set to get cheaper as record high prices lures increased production. Attracted by a record high farmgate price and lower input costs than corn or soybeans, a survey of U.S. farmers by Farm Futures magazine indicates they plan to incre...
ZanzibarMnemba Marine Parksouthern cassowary Mnemba Marine Park is located 10 kilometres (6 mi) from Stone Town and forms part of the northeastern Unguja Island. A marine reserve and atoll, its shallow stretch of coral reef is in the shape of an oval. It is located between Matemwe and Nungwi, w...
Kiwengwa/Pongwe Forest Reserve Kiwengwa/Pongwe Forest Reserve is located on the northeast coast of Unguja, 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the Town. The reserve is an important biodiversity spot in the coral rag zone. The forest reserve is rich both in faunal and floral species. The faunal species r...
Fabiana is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, native to dry slopes in western South America.[1] They are evergreen shrubs or subshrubs,[1] with needle-like leaves and profuse tiny tubular flowers in summer. The common name is false heath because the leaves superficially resem...
An Ankylosaurus lumbers along the shore of what’s now eastern Montana. Walking low to the ground, the dino uses its flat, leaf-shaped teeth to tear at ferns lining the water. Suddenly, a shadow looms over the herbivore—a Tyrannosaurus rex is hungry. But Ankylosaurus won’t be a...
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.