As the potential for a trade war with China escalates, and the rhetoric about NAFTA continues to heat up, we thought we’d step back and talk a bit about the perception underlying current political concern regarding trade: trade deficits. President Trump’s comments early in March stated that the U.S. has a deficit with almost every […]
Author Archive | Kathy Baylis, Steve Burak and Jonathan Coppess
The Japanese beef market’s lessons for trade policy
By Steve Burak, Kathy Baylis, Jonathan Coppess and Qianting Xie on February 1, 2018 in Agriculture, Commodities, Consumer, Economics, Food and Nutrition, International
For ten consecutive years, Japan has increased its meat consumption; consumption increased by 3.4 percent last year over the previous year to produce the highest level of growth in five years. Beef consumption, in particular, is expected to grow nearly 4 percent this year after two straight years of decline. Japan is already one of […]
Can peers help improve crop revenues in villages in India?
By Tisorn Songsermsawas, Kathy Baylis and Hope Michelson on December 7, 2015 in Agriculture, Consumer, Economics, International
Why do some farmers earn more than others? Scholars have worked to explain the large observed differences in economic outcomes across firms, households, and industries. In developing countries, where small farmers often face limited access to agricultural markets, their agricultural revenues can vary dramatically within the same region, even after accounting for differences in capital […]
Does Food Cost More in Food Deserts?
Recent research has found that in the United States, limited access to healthy food is associated with a lower consumption of fruits and vegetables, and a higher probability of obesity and other dietary related health problems. Areas with limited food access and low average incomes are often referred to as food deserts. Several federal, state, […]
Preventing Postharvest Loss for Global Food Security
Last week, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack kicked off the 2015-16 International Food Security at Illinois seminar series with a talk on discuss how land-grant universities could help improve world food security. We face the global challenge to feed a world of 10.5 to 11 billion people by 2050. As incomes rise, people demand […]
How can we preserve the Monarch butterfly?
After disastrously low numbers last year, the butterfly count released earlier this week finds that monarch buttery numbers are up at their overwintering site in central Mexico. Each fall, millions of butterflies from east of the Rocky Mountains migrate to a handful of mountain tops in central Mexico where they find the unique climatic conditions […]
Evaluating Use of Conservation Policies for Pollinators
One of the suspected culprits in pollinator decline is the loss of the amount and diversity of forage habitat. This decline not only affects managed honey bees, but includes other pollinators, such as butterflies and moths. Wild bumblebees, for example, are crucial for pollinating some plants and who not only face declines in habitat but […]
The Current State of Bees
June 16-22 is National Pollinator Week! Bees are a valuable asset to modern agricultural systems pollinating approximately one third of the crops in our diets. The value added to the agricultural system by insect pollination, mainly from bees, was estimated to be US$190 billion in 2005 worldwide or about 9.5% of total agricultural production. For […]