Looming Conflict for Greens

Greens generally don't like genetically modified organisms when they show up as seeds, particularly if a big company like Monsanto owns them.  There's the issue of tinkering with nature, which is a no-no, and the issue of monopoly power. But greens face a conflict as GMO's show up in the bioenergy field, as discussed in this extension post.And the graph included shows farmers use of GMO seeds is continuing to increase, belying the idea these seeds are expensive and ineffective.

Words I Never Thought to Read

"Baby boomers and Generation Xers have better work ethics and moral values than those in their 20s.:

From a Post article on Gen Y. From my point of view, the boomers were the epitome of slackertude, slackerness?, slackerism? Our country has truly gone to the dogs if succeeding generations are worse.

Brad DeLong and the Long View

In this post he discusses the gains made by most people in most places in the last century and the possible causes: global communication, global transportation, and organized research.

The End of NAP?

That's my interpretation of Rep. Peterson's plans for the next farm bill as discussed in Farm Policy. He wants whole-farm insurance rather than crop-specific insurance.  The reference to USDA insuring 400 crops and the expense of handling small crops tells me the proposal would eliminate the noninsured crop disaster assistance program. He also sounds as if he'll change the loan program as well.  I wonder how much the crop insurance people will soak charge the government for such program?

I'm Not Getting Duller, You Whippersnappers Are Getting Smarter

That's the message I take away from this piece of research.  (The Flynn effect is the apparent increase in intelligence of each generation.)  I wish I could really believe it.  I owe a hat tip someone: maybe John Phipps, but my memory is going.

Michelle Plants Her Garden

Obamafoodorama has two posts on planting the White House garden yesterday.  The first is rather sugary, the second a bit official.  Some comments:

• The high falutin' White House isn't content with a plain old compost bin; they have to have a bio-recycler (which they hide).
• They use a lot of starts, both from Monticello and elsewhere. I understand the symbolism of using Jefferson's vegetables, but it's another case of the demands of a public garden overriding what's really the best for gardening. In my puritanical view, you should plant mostly seeds, with very few starts.  But using the starts enables them to have these big public occasions and delegate some planting responsibilities to less skilled gardeners, like the school kids.  Turn kids loose with a bunch of seed packets and soil and the results when seeds sprout will be amazing.
• I'm really sorry Michelle is planting rhubarb.  I've seen reports that the President has a weakness for pies, and his last medical checkup wasn't all that great.  Rhubarb pie is likely to make us begin to worry about VP Biden's readiness to assume office.  (I have fond memories of my mother's rhubarb pie, and her crusts were rather erratic.  Put her filling into some great crusts and Obama may become as addicted to such pies as he is to tobacco.) 

Freedom to Farm Revisited

The Farmgate blog of UofI sees changed farming patterns because of the Freedom to Farm provisions of the 1986 farm bill. More corn and soybeans, less wheat, barley, sorghum, and cotton. So this seems to mean FTF achieved (one of) its objectives.

I'm irretrievably prejudiced against FTF, so I have quickly to add that it did not achieve its other announced objective: phasing out program payments.

Funniest Sentence Today

From Monica Hesse's interesting piece in the Post on inductions into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame:

"(Note: It took one woman to invent a rocket thruster, and two men to invent Post-its.)"

And I Thought Liberalism Had Ruined Marriage

A sentence from a Weekly Standard piece reviewing a book on American trends: "Perhaps these trends have been buoyed by the re-establishment of marriage as society’s basic unit among America’s professional ranks. "

Greenhouse Tomatoes

I've become a bit obsessive about the myths of vertical farming, emphasizing that plants need sunlight. And I noted the White House garden was much less productive in the winter than the other seasons. So as I read today's NYTimes piece on greenhouse tomatoes I was becoming worried.  Backyard Farms, in Madison, Maine has 42 acres of greenhouse, in which they grow tomatoes all year round!

An excerpt:

 But with shoppers willing to pay a premium — even $4 to $5 a pound — for red vine-ripened ones with more flavor, greenhouse tomatoes now represent more than half of every dollar spent on fresh tomatoes in American supermarkets, according to figures from the Perishables Group, a market research firm in Chicago.

The article goes on and on describing the varieties, the culture, etc.--all of it very interesting. The tomato vines, which must be indeterminate varieties, grow to tremendous lengths.  It's only in the last third that the writer addresses the problem of light. As a side note, Leamington, Canada has 1,600 acres of greenhouses and it is further south than Madison. But the Canadians can't grow tomatoes in the winter.

I was relieved to read this:

it employs some 20,000 high-pressure sodium lights, fueled by cheap power from Madison’s town-owned hydroelectric plant. Switched on, the lights use as much electricity in 32 minutes as the average American household does in a year. 

And the writer closes by noting a British study that compared UK greenhouse tomatoes to ones grown in Spain, and found the greenhouse ones accounted for four times the carbon emissions as those shipped from a distance.