The Knowledge to Decide

Humankind’s future ability to feed itself is in jeopardy due to the concurrent degradation of land, water, climate and biodiversity on a global scale. The human population is set to reach 10 billion people by 2050, increasing the global demand for agricultural products by 70 per cent. By 2022, India will surpass China as the most populous country in the world. Will innovation in agriculture be able to feed the global population? The origins of agriculture Agriculture is derived from the late-Latin word Agricultura with ‘agri’ depicting land and ‘cultura’ meaning cultivation. Starting out as hunter-gatherers, humans have gradually learned to settle in fertile places for farming and later, started domesticating animals. The Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, which we now refer to as Egypt, Turkey, Israel and Iraq, is known as the earliest site of farming. While it is not without its detractors, the agricultural revolution has delivered benefits in term

One year since President Trump took office, what has been the impact for businesses in Asia? Leon Perera, CEO of Spire Research and Consulting, shared his thoughts in The Business Times – Views from the Top section on 27 November 2017 on the impact on global economy. Thus far, Donald Trump’s Presidency has not been bad for the American stock market and the US dollar. However, the expected infrastructure spending and tax cuts, which drove stock market exuberance in 2016, are still far from being realized and could well be at risk. Perera opined that President Trump’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has caused a strain in global trade relations and has raised the risk of trade frictions. President Trump has also overseen a decline in US influence in the Middle East and Asia. However, the basic fundamentals of the US economy remain strong thanks to its world-class universities, innovative companies, confident consumers, a strong start-up sector as well

In contrast with the US and Europe, bargaining over prices is the norm in China’s small consumer electronics retailers. Spire Research and Consulting posted a commentary on how Western brands should sell their consumer electronics products in China, published on the US Consumer Electronics Association’s blog. Chinese adults spend an average of USD917 on consumer electronics, compared to USD483 in the US. Over 60 per cent of China’s population will continue to spend more on this category. In Chinese computer and consumer electronics retailers, bargaining is a common practice. This stands in contrast to the American and European norm, where consumers are used to fixed prices, whether at large retailers or e-tailers. This is due to the saturation of retailers in the Chinese market. These retailers sell high-end consumer electronic items such as laptops, cameras, tablets, mobile phones and so forth at negotiable prices. So how do western vendors keep up with the competition?