Exports point to climate change as the cause of the plateauing in global crop production but no where is it more apparent than in coffee production. Brazil is responsible for 40 percent of global coffee production and around 31 percent of global trade. This year, Brazil’s coffee exports will drop 22 percent, though global trade will only fall 4 percent as other coffee suppliers fill the gap. Brazil’s four-year low in coffee output is the result of last year’s drought conditions and winter frosts. Some of this year’s crop is also seeing dryness but rains have been ample where they count. Traders can manage moving grain crops were they are needed, but only if they have sufficient caffeine to think it through cle...
The Alaska marmot (Marmota broweri), also known as the Brooks Range marmot[3] or the Brower's marmot,[4] is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. Once considered to be the same species as the hoary marmot, it is now known to be unique. Alaska marmots are found in the scree slopes of the...
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.