Factoids That Are Surprising

From the comments on a post by MAtthew Yglesias (hat tip Marginal REvolution) on the military school system:

"it’s interesting to note that DoDEA educators have a very strong union, the schools are not subject to No Child Left Behind, and there is no merit-pay system."

The Perils of CSA--Cabbages Galore

The economist Brad DeLong writes a lively blog. I didn't know until this post his family was into community supported agriculture, which this week gave them four heads of cabbage. Now in the old days, in the old country, my great grandmother would have known how to preserve it (sauerkraut), but that's a lost art these days.

Les Metiers de la Bouche

Les locavores should all emigrate to France, so as to save the les metiers de la bouche: the professions which serve the mouth is my rough translation. Our trusted guide to French mores and society, Dirk Beauregard, interviews a local butcher who won the prize for being France's best butcher.

It's a very different food culture, or it was, since the butcher admits the French are going for convenience foods during the week. As I understand it, the French housewife would visit the market every day, getting fresh and local food, saving the energy required for refrigeration (I'm still amazed to see on British television refrigerators which are half size for us).

I'm not sure what sort of regulations French butchers face. If one can trust Walt Jeffries, France must be much less regulated than the U.S. would be under this bill. I wonder why the different food cultures--has France always been more compact and urban, leading to this consumption pattern, while the U.S. has been spread out, putting a premium on food storage and therefore more centralized butchers?

Snail Mail Hurting in France as Well

Dirk Beauregard posts about the problems the French postal service is facing. Doesn't mention cutting back to 5 days a week, as USPS is considering. Would postal employees like to wear a beret?

USDA Starts Blogging

On June 25th Secretary Vilsack initiated the USDA blog. Don't know how I missed it for so long.

Maybe it's because USDA never issued a press release on it. It sort of looks as if the impetus was the Recovery Act, not a USDA initiative on its own. Whatever the cause, I'm glad to see it. Always happy when high level program people show an interest in process and technology.

[Updated: I also see the CIO of USDA, Chris Smith, started a blog. But he has only one post and no comments, whereas Vilsack's blog has a reasonable number of posts, and a few comments.]

EU Ag Payments Go to Non-Farmers

It's always nice to have company in one's problems. The NY Times reports here that EU agricultural payments often go to non-farmers and rich landowners. Even the Queen of England, who used to get payments from us as well, until the 1985 farm bill.

Books That Defeated Me--Drum

Kevin has a post with this title--the books which he started but couldn't finish--which has drawn lots of comments. It's amazing the variety of books which have defeated people. I guess people like to confess shameful secrets, such as never getting through Catcher in the Rye.

Some scholar might make something of this: what books do people feel they should read and end up failing. I didn't see anyone mentioning Jane Austin

Permanent Drought in Texas?

That's the pessimistic possibility from an A&M climatologist here.

One of the programs of government programs (and of private corporations, look at GM) is adapting to changed conditions. Texas farmers have eligibility for some program payments based, not on what they currently grow, but on what they grew in the past: 1990's. The last I looked the only way to lower a farm's base acres was if the total of the bases exceeded the cropland on the farm, plus historical doublecropping. So if a drought convinces a farmer to take land out of cropland status he might lose base.

The same applies for yields--they generally are fixed, with little likelihood to go lower. (Not true for crop insurance--their APH is similar to what ASCS had in the early 80's as "proven yields".)

Reading SCOTUS

Been following the Sotomayor hearings on SCOTUS.blog. I want to know why the 7th Circuit doesn't allow permalinks to their decisions?

And why did Senator Sessions agree to do that crack cocaine thing?

1930's Revisited

One thing that stands out about 1930's news (see here for today's post) is the greater importance of agriculture. Every day, I think, farm prices or conditions make the summary, today it's a Wall Street Journal editorial. No, not knocking federal programs but asking the Board to make up its mind. What's the odds of that happening today.

Even in the 1950's and 60's agriculture was a big deal--issues got White House attention. But greater efficiency has shrunk the numbers so agriculture's economic impact is less, meaning its news value is less.