To date, the one EPA action that has triggered a complaint by the National Farmers Union (NFU) is the setting of the 2014 biofuels volumes, which its letter to the EPA mentions as a catalyst to the new scrutiny over the new definition of the waters of the U.S. When being confirmed and early in her job, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy recognized that agriculture had a growing resentment toward the EPA. She said during her confirmation hearing, "I think the EPA has bridges to build with the agriculture community. I want the opportunity to change that relationship with the ag community." In keeping with that assessment, she has reached out to a number of ag groups early in her tenure, including during a key speech to the National Association o...
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...
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.