Political Fallout USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said yesterday, “Candidly, our view — and I’ve expressed this to EU officials — our view is that their approach may very well result in reduced production…I think our approach is better.” When asked to clarify his remarks, he demurred that he was referring to organic production incentives. However, his comment likely applies to the broader issue of conservation measures on farms. Members of Congress from farm states insist that federal pursuit of more environmentally friendly production practices need to remain voluntary – using carrots and not sticks. They are no doubt watching the political fallout in Europe over the use of mandatory obligations. ...
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...
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.