Eyeballing the bowl of ugali lying on the rough-edged wooden table for eight, the African farmer feels once again let down by those more powerful than herself: weather, God and government. Rewinding this year’s events, the rain was unmoved by the collective prayers and tantalized villagers with an elusive appearance. With pest killers selling at […]
Reviewing the USDA Proposal to Limit Farm Program Payment Eligibility
On March 24, 2015, USDA announced a proposed rule that further restricts farm program payments to those persons who are actively engaged in farming. USDA’s proposed rule is the result of the 2014 Farm Bill; it seeks to limit the number of individuals who previously qualified for farm program payments based solely on providing management […]
How Does Changing Ethanol Capacity Affect Local Corn Basis?
Over the past decade, the United States has experienced a dramatic boom in ethanol production. The rapid expansion of ethanol was largely driven by the Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS), first introduced in 2005, which mandates that 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel are produced per year by 2022, 15 billion gallons of which can come […]
Who Benefits from Agricultural Subsidies?
Who benefits from farm subsidies? If you ask a farmer, you’ll get the answer, “I do.” Ask an economist, however, and you will get an entirely different answer. Here are quotes from some prominent economists that convey the conventional wisdom. Andrew Schmitz and Richard Just: A large share of the benefits of an agricultural subsidy […]
Growing a Sustainable Biofuel Economy: Part 1
The Environmental Appeal of Second-Generation Biofuels Second-generation biofuels from cellulosic feedstocks that were until recently thought to be always “five years away,” are now being produced commercially. In 2014, about 18 million gallons were produced, which was substantially higher than the 432,000 gallons produced in 2013. Poet-DSM and Abengoa are two of the refineries that […]
Income inequality and educational inequality: Comparing the U.S. and Brazil
In 2014, stories about rising inequality in the United States made headlines. In his 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama focused on inequality, saying “Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled.” A book by a French economist about inequality, Capital by Thomas Piketty, became an unexpected best seller. One of the most important […]
The Changing Landscape of the Organic Food Industry
The Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 authorized the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish national standards for the marketing of organically produced products. In response to this, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) developed the National Organic Program, which was issued in 2000. According to the USDA-AMS website, an organic label “indicates […]
Trading Off Fracked Natural Gas for Coal in China
By Sarah Grajdura and Mindy Mallory on February 13, 2015 in Commodities, Consumer, Economics, Energy
China’s enormous growth in the past few decades stimulated a high demand for energy that historically has been fueled by coal. However, obtaining natural gas from fracking shale formations is becoming an economical competitor to coal in China because of advances in technology and economic incentives provided by the Chinese government (Thomas, p.1). Between 1984 […]
Environmental Regulation of Agriculture: The Des Moines Water Works Issue
On Jan. 9, the Des Moines Water Works (DMWW) sent a letter to three drainage districts in Iowa providing 60 days’ notice that it intends to sue over nitrates in the water bodies that make up much of the drinking water supply for Des Moines. The threat of a lawsuit adds a new dimension to […]
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 […]