Irish Agriculture

Here's an interesting article with a splattering of facts about Irish agriculture. It seems that it's heavily subsidized by the EU and mostly dairy and beef. Farmers may rely on the EU for half their income. Irish farmland is expensive, at 60,000 euros. When one converts euros into dollars and finds that's close to $100,000, one is astounded. When one wakes up to the fact that hectare is the unit of land measure, it means that an acre of Irish farmland only costs $40,000 or so.)

The article is keyed to the possible impacts of a big cut in subsidies coming out of the Doha round on trade barriers.

On Aerial Safety and Food Safety

The Times has a review of airline safety today.

I think there's an interesting parallel between aviation safety and food safety.
Like the food industry, there's a broad variety in institutions: we have very big airlines operating very big planes, very small airlines operating very small planes, and individuals flying their own planes. Similarly, we have big companies operating big food processing plants, small companies operating small plants, and individuals processing food in their kitchens.

Now--safety. We know flying is safer than driving and we know flying today is safer than it was 50 years ago. See this. Now Wikipedia doesn't have comparable figures on food safety. However, for any reader of The Jungle it's likely the food safety statistics are similar to those of aviation. The reason: we are humans and humans learn. It may take a few airliner crashes, but we learn how to keep pilots from flying planes into the ground (most of the time). It may take some episodes of food poisoning, but we learn what preservatives to add to the food. Or we learn how to recall

Now, it's a truth not universally understood that big planes are safer than small planes, that American Airlines is safer (on deaths per million miles traveled) than Podunk Airlines, and much safer than Tom Bigshot flying his own Cessna. Might it be true that, on average, food from the large corporate plants is safer than from the smaller plants and even more safe than food from our kitchens? I think so, but without many things I can point to.

However, there is this story, where six members of a family were sickened by ingredients they put in their meal. And Down to Earth has an interesting discussion of safety of ground beef, comparing locally processed meat with that from national plants. I agree with the last sentence, because plants can learn, but we don't do that well.

The End of Food

The Times reviews the book, by Paul Roberts, in today's paper. The reviewer finds it to sound radical, but turn too moderate in recommended solutions. But, having giving the following praise, I'm not convinced of Mr. John Edge's good judgment:

Agribusiness and the industrial food it engenders have, of course, already attracted serious critics. Eric Schlosser’s “Fast Food Nation” exposed the ills of a lowest-common-denominator diet of burgers and fries. Michael Pollan’s “Omnivore’s Dilemma” traced among other things the perils of high-fructose corn syrup and grain-fed cattle. Both were works of literary journalism, well-reported and well-written meta-polemics that asked tough questions of both producers and consumers.

Constant readers know that I find Mr. Pollan to be a great writer but a less than great reporter.

I guess I'll have to read Mr. Roberts myself.

If Bureaucracies Secede, Can Countries Be Far Behind?

According to this article, Scotland will soon assume its rightful place among nations, if the answer to the title is "no". (Interesting to note, the Scottish bureaucracy is about the size of my old agency when I was young.)

Illegality of Immigrants

Story in the Times says that the illegal immigrants who worked at the kosher meatpacking plant in Iowa and who were arrested in a recent raid are spilling the beans on their employers--claiming extensive abuses. The bottom line is illegal immigrants aren't in a good position to protest ill treatment.

One of the insights of the Founders, as explained in the Federalist, and as expounded upon by the great Scotch-Irish Canadian, John Kenneth Galbraith, is the need to checks and balances, for countervailing power. That's absent with illegal immigrants.

As a knee-jerk bleeding heart liberal my heart is wrung by stories of the hardships of immigrants. And as someone who sometimes is swayed by the blandishments of free-market economists, I like to believe immigration is good for the nation and doesn't really exaggerate inequalities or hurt low-income workers. So I'm tempted to react--let them all in.

But, there's two lines of argument against an open-door policy which seem weighty: the danger of abuse of illegals, as exemplified in the Times story, and the unfairness to those who wait in line for legal entry.

That's why I'd prefer a policy of universal identification--everyone physically within the U.S. needs to be IDed and legalization by history. Once we have identification, then people who wish to work must agree for their history to be tracked: keep your nose clean and you can move up the ladder to citizenship; screw up and be sent back.

Local Farmers and Ups and Downs

The Post has an article on the problems of local truck farmers--last year was drought, this year not. This bit is significant:

Chef Loic Jaffres of Café des Artistes in Leonardtown relies on local products for his dishes, which requires coordinating with at least three farmers, cooking only seasonal dishes and being ready to change menus at the last minute. Last month, he had to order most of his produce from California and Florida because local farm produce was not ready or plentiful. Lately, Jaffres said, he has been able to rely more heavily on his local suppliers.

And this:

And the big vegetable harvests, the kind that help pay the tuition for the five Turner kids, will probably hit in mid-August, right when many of their high school workers return to school or their customers take last-minute vacations, Turner said. But she's hoping the delay won't cost the family too much in profits.

"I say to my husband, 'Why don't we just go to Atlantic City and gamble?'" Turner jokes. "Farming really is that kind of gamble."

Bubbles and Speculation

What's the difference?

I know some of the economists I follow say speculation has played no role in the rise of the price of oil. I can probably accept that. They've got good arguments, no increase in inventories, whatever. (Actually, the "whatever" is shorthand for saying I'm too old to spend my time analyzing these arguments: they sound good, so I'll buy them, at least tentatively.)

But then I remember the tech stock bubble and the housing bubble. It seems as if in each case people bought, thinking they could resell at a profit. And as long as the bubble lasted, they could. Isn't that the same thing we have with oil--the speculative money has rushed in sensing an opportunity for profit--i.e., buy now and sell for a profit later?

Maybe the point is that such activity is good and proper, as Megan McArdle might argue, it represents the market trying to deal with uncertainty. I just wish the invisible hand wouldn't shake so much as it tries to play chess with our lives.

Tracing Tomatoes

This AP story discusses the problems in tracing tomatoes from dirt to consumer. As I've said before, the desire for safe food doesn't observe the distinction between animal (National Animal Identification System or NAIS) and vegetable.. The further tomatoes advance, the more pressure on NAIS. Although there are those who fight tooth and nail against NAIS, IMHO they'd be better off to fight for graduated id--let the big producers be required to identify their animals, small producers not, unless they sell to a national distributor. It's a bureaucratic failing to apply the same rules to all, even when technology permits making finer distinctions.

A Depressing Sentence for Agrarians

The Post has an article on "The New American Voter". In 1960 political scientists wrote "The American Voter", an exhaustive analysis of the knowledge and characteristics of the voters. Now the subject has been revisited, using the same methodology. (Short summary: Americans are as uninformed about political issues today as they were 48 years ago.)

But, as Libby Copeland writes: "(They had to eliminate the chapter on the agrarian vote, though, because there aren't enough farmers left anymore for a usable sample.)"

Creative Capitalism

John Quiggin at Crooked Timber links to, and argues against, Judge Posner's opposition to "creative capitalism". Posner says that corporate management has a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders to maximize profits.

Seems to me Posner lacks faith in the free market. I'm aware of few suits by stockholders against management for failing in their fiduciary responsibility. I'm reasonably sure such suits would be criticized by the right for reflecting a litigious society and relying on trial lawyers, the running dogs of the Democrats. The market solution is, obviously, sell the stock. So whether Bill Gates and Prof. Glaeser are right or wrong, the market will determine.