On Not Knowing Your Farmer

James McWilliams writes at the Times of the pros and cons of farmers markets. There are some extroverts who want a social interaction with their vendors; others of us want an arms-length transaction.

The Sudan Contributes

This is the best slogan for my blog.

Affirmative Action Works?

It does, at least for women judges, and under one theory. See this Slate article reporting on academic paper.

While women selected to be federal judges generally had lesser qualifications (based on some metrics), once selected they performed as well or better than male judges (based on some metrics).

And We Return to Where It All Began, Oilwise

"Pennsylvania is at the forefront of the nation’s gas drilling boom, with at least 4,000 new oil and gas wells drilled here last year alone, more than in any other state except Texas."  From Propublica article on the problems caused.

Another EEO Review at USDA

According to this announcement (they're hiring a firm to do a review).

Meanwhile the Hispanic farmers lawsuit is raised again:

There is still a law suit that dates back years ago with thousands of claims from Hispanic farmers saying they were discriminated against. A similar case was settled for African American farmers, resulting in $2.5 billion. Hispanic farmers want to know where's their money and what's wrong with their case. However, because of logistics and the fact that the case was not certified as a class-action lawsuit there are too many separate claims and Vilsack said it's not so easy.
“If it were up to me, I could,” said Vilsack. “But I need direction from congress, either to set the process up or give me money and say go figure the process out. I don't have either one of these right now.”

 

The Image of China

The Times and the Post both feature the same picture on their front page, above the fold: an image of Chinese sailors marching in the parades commemorating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese People's Republic.(Here's the slide show, I think the photo was different than slide 3, but same subject.  See this video of other images via The Best Defense.)  It's striking partially because it's overexposed, so the white trousers of the sailors blend together.

It's also striking to me as a former civilian in the military by how well dressed the lines are.  For those who never had the duty of serving, "dress right, dress" is the command sergeants use to tell their troops to align on the person to the right.  If everyone aligns well, you get a straight line of troops.  The military components of the ceremony must have spent days and months of dressing right.

The other striking thing also plays off the symmetry and geometry on display: the uniformity of the troops.  Not just the spotless uniforms, but everyone is the same height and weight, give or take a couple pounds and an inch.  That's what 5,000 years of history as a relatively common culture will do.  Supposed 9 of 10 Chinese citizens are of Han descent.  Even in the other photos in the Times slide show there's great uniformity: the leaders are male and roughly the same height and weight.  Even when I reflect back, remembering a photo from early in the Bush II years, of a signing ceremony (maybe tax cuts) where it was striking the uniformity of white male faces, you'd never get that uniformity in the U.S.

While I'm sure the commanders of the ceremonial troops look for uniformity--if I recall, the members of the ceremonial Old Guard at Arlington cemetery have height and weight restrictions--the difference between the two societies is still notable.  But there is one photo in the slide show showing Chinese civilians watching the ceremonies.  In my youth, even my middle age, they would have been dressed the same.  But no more.  There's still an impression of physical sameness, but dress and grooming are now individual.

Hypocrite of the Year?

A shoe-thrower in Turkey protesting globalization and the IMF may have tossed a Nike? From the NYTimes

Idealistic Dreaming by a USDA Official

From Farm Policy

Reuters writer Roberta Rampton reported yesterday that, “The U.S. Agriculture Department could get better results from its agricultural research spending if it focused on a narrower list of priorities, the USDA’s top research official said on Wednesday.

“Rajiv Shah, the USDA’s undersecretary for research, education and economics, told a Congressional hearing that ‘the next six months will be a time of great organizational evolution’ as he reviews research conducted by USDA scientists as well as grants it gives to external research bodies.

“‘To do agricultural research really well, and to do it in a way that generates real benefits for people, we really believe that you have to focus for a long time on a specific, narrow set of scientific problems,’ Shah told Reuters after the hearing of a U.S. House agriculture subcommittee.”

The problem is, you've got to distribute the money among the states and crops. And note he was testifying to House Ag, not the appropriations subcommittee.

Whatever Happened to Employee Suggestions

That's my reaction to the use of Web 2.0 techniques to elicit ideas from employees.  Back in the olden days, when typewriters existed and were made of wood, ASCS had an employee suggestion program--write up an idea, send it up the line, to some near-sighted bureaucrat who would turn it down with all the reasons why it wouldn't work, was too expensive, was inappropriate, wasn't invented in DC, etc. etc.

A few suggestions were approved--but that was tricky.  Personnel had a formula for determining the award amount for approving a suggestion.  Something that would apply nationwide was worth more than something just for a state or commodity.  So you had to figure out how to slot an approved suggestion into the mix with other suggestions so as to get an award amount that made sense.

One that was approved was for field employees to use the IBM data handling utilities  (originally it was the Data File Utility, then upgraded to Query/36.) on the System/36  to do things without waiting upon DC and the Kansas City programmers. We had a struggle to get the right award amount approved for that.  So it's nice to see DC is still occasionally using the software, even 20 years later.

The Problems of Farmers Markets for the Poor

From the experience of an LA market:

"On a recent visit to the Harambee site, there were few visible signs of a vibrant farmers market. There were only three booths, with only one — Williamson’s — providing fresh fruits and vegetables.
Several years ago, the area was booming with Black farmers and produce. But according to Williamson, who set up shop there three years ago, many of the farmers either died, were too old to continue farming, moved on to flourishing farmers markets like the one in Hollywood, or simply could no longer afford it."

In part it's the old problem of a vicious circle, one problem feeds on another which feeds on another.  Minorities don't have the income, so they focus on the cheapest calories, which are unhealthiest, meaning more sickness, and since they are less likely to have health insurance (except Medicaid in some cases) they get worse, meaning they're less reliable workers, meaning more likely to be fired, meaning less income, meaning no cars, etc. etc.  All of which means poor returns for those who try to serve the minority market.

And, in today's Times, there was an article on a development in the Bronx, where there's a fight over including a supermarket.  As best I can tell, a supermarket is needed, but there's already a small chain in the Bronx which has cemented alliances with community activists, and is opposing the additional competition.