Sugar is a high profile commodity this month. When the April WASDE comes out next week, it will have to factor in some developments in Mexico. The March WASDE showed sugar production in Mexico at 5,890 MMT, with exports to the U.S. at 1,360 MMT (out of 1,370 MMT total exports). But since then, the Mexican Comite Nacional para el Desarrollo Sustentable de la Cana de Azucar (Conadesuca) has upped its estimate of production to 6,247 MMT, which was an increase of 578,682 MT over its initial forecast. The sugar harvest in Mexico is running about 23 percent above the five-year average. Under the integrated market between the U.S. and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), this is a very significant shift that next week's WASDE will ha...
A microlith is a small stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically several centimeters in length and half a centimetre wide. They were made by humans from at least the Upper Paleolithic, across Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia. The microliths were used in spear points and arrowhea...
Lobelia (/loʊˈbiːliə, lə-/[4][5][6]) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Campanulaceae comprising 415 species,[7] with a subcosmopolitan distribution primarily in tropical to warm temperate regions of the world, a few species extending into cooler temperate regions.[8] They are known g...
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...
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.