Organic Versus Locavore

EWG has a post on organic gains from which I take this quote:

Organic salad greens have fared even more impressively.  According to Nielsen surveys, fresh cut salad greens increased their market share from 8.3 percent in 2006 to 15 percent so far this year.  Pre-packaged specialty salads have grabbed a whopping 46 percent of that market sector, compared to 29 percent in 2006.

I observe the good news for organic isn't good news for locavores, as I'm assuming the pre-packaged greens are shipped. Once again the consumers' desires are conflicting; healthy--yes; convenience--yes.

Keepseagle and Pigford

Here's a piece on the Keepseagle class action suit, which follows in the footsteps of Pigford. Unwittingly, the author may reveal some of the Catch-22 qualities of the FSA loan program.  The farmer given the most attention in the piece cites the discrimination he encountered.  He's described as saying: "After the regional office denied him a loan at 4 percent interest, Porter said he received an 8 percent interest loan through a private bank. He purchased the acres he lives on now, but he said the high interest has put a strain on his finances."

Now FSA's lords  in Congress have laid down commandments to FSA bureaucrats, and to the Farmer's Home Administration bureaucrats before 1994, which go something like this:

• thou shall lend to the new farmers, to the historically disadvantaged, and to the needy
• thou shall never compete with private enterprise, so thou shalt not lend to someone who can receive a loan from local banks
• thou shall not lose money on bad loans
• honor the maxim, late money is worse than no money.

Now, in theory, if the local banker is prejudiced and the FSA bureaucrat is not, there are opportunities to make good loans.  Of course the FSA bureaucrat isn't usually some stranger, she's someone from the locality, or at least the state, so if the banker is prejudiced it increases the chances the bureaucrat is also prejudiced.

Or maybe the local banker runs out of money to loan.  In that case FSA bureaucrat could, in theory, step in. The only problem is the running out of money is likely to occur late in the lending season, so the FSA bureaucrat's loan is likely to be late.

Now suppose both FSA and the bank have money to loan, and neither is prejudiced.  So Jane Doe goes to the bank and gets an offer of a loan at 8 percent.  She goes to FSA  but since she has a loan offer from the local bank, FSA turns her down. Or, as in Porter's case, FSA turns him down, thinking it's likely the local banker will approve the loan. That could be the case, or it may be discriminatory intent.  It certainly feels like discrimination to the loan applicants.

USDA Cafeterias and Memory Lane

The Post's Jane Black visited various government cafeterias and rated them. She rated the USDA cafeteria a "D". I'm not sure how much it's changed in the last 10-15 years, since I last got the salad bar (with blue cheese dressing) every day.

When I started work at USDA I was in the Auditor's building, a red brick building from 1867 or so across 14th street from the South building and Administration buildings.  Back then there was a small cafeteria on the first floor of the Auditor's building, and the South building had at least 2, maybe 4, cafeterias. In the middle 70's they built a new cafeteria by taking over one of the courtyards between wings 2 and 3, big enough to serve the complex.  Once it was complete, they closed the old cafeterias, redid the space and moved my Administrative Services Division to the former site of the 6th floor cafeteria.

The old cafeterias were old-style: one line with limited choices for appetizer/salad, entrees, which were served by attendants, desserts, beverages, and payment at the end. The new cafeteria had more choices and was set up on the scramble system, with different stations for different things. Took a little getting used to.

[Added]  I think this is just a small example of the expansion of choice, particularly choice in food, over the last 50 years.  We expect lots of choices everywhere, we let and want our children to choose.  That's fine, but it also is a factor in obesity.

All Heart, Not the Shirt Off His Back, But the Tie Off His Rack

That's our President.

CRS Graphic

CRS

I mentioned the CRS report on farm programs in this post. This graphic is snipped from the report because it clearly shows the reduction in farm program payments and the increase in crop insurance. Click on it to enlarge.

Fort Bliss More Dangerous Than Iraq?

That's a headline which could be derived from a NYTimes piece yesterday on the tribulations of an Army brigade returned from Iraq to Fort Bliss, Texas

I Helped Create a Monster

Farm Policy reports on calls for simplifying farm programs. Neither ACRE nor SURE work in all parts of the country.

I'm afraid I take a little credit for this.  By participating in installing computers and software programs in FSA county offices in the mid-80's, I became an "enabler".  Essentially we enabled the idiots in Congress and the farm lobby groups to design new and more complicated programs. I apologize.

I Don't Believe the Army Recruits

From a Politico piece on changes in basic training:

" Of those who are recruited, 54 percent of males and 43 percent of females are overweight."

Of course, most of my basic training unit were draftees, but I doubt there were more than 3 or 4 who were overweight.  The whole story is interesting.

One Time I Agree With Althouse

Ann Althouse quotes from a Washington Post interview with the head of Zappos.  The last bit:

Tony Hsieh: We offer tours to the public, and our headquarters are in Las Vegas. We will pick you up at the airport, ride in the Zappos shuttle, take an hour long tour and then drop you off at the hotel.

For candidates we do the same thing: We pick them up, give them a tour, and then they spend the day interviewing. But at the end of the interview process, our head of recruiting goes back to the shuttle driver and asks them how they were treated. If they were not treated well when they thought they were off the clock then we won't hire them, it's not even a question.

There are a lot of big shots who, away from the camera and the media, are a**holes. But this is about how you create a culture in your organization. And it's good--certainly makes me more likely to buy again from Zappos, not that a retired codger needs much wearing apparel.

Elect That Man to Congress

We need the incisive insights on Capitol Hill, as displayed here: " I think home teams play better at home,"  NL manager Manuel.