Farm Programs Leave a Twisting Trail

Over the years farm programs have left their mark in many unexpected places.  For example, the price support programs in the 1950's accumulated a big pile of surplus commodities, much of which were sent overseas under the PL480 program.  Under part of the program, instead of being donated commodities were sold for the local currency, such as rupees. The accumulated rupees built up in US government accounts, and were used for various purposes, including one described in this Chapati Mystery post. accumulating research materials.

RD Takes a Hit

Rural Development loses $29 million in broadband funds in the 2-week Republican/Democrat budget deal. What's worse is the implicit criticism from both sides of the agency's capabilities.

Funny Paragraph of Feb 28

Megan McArdle scores, in an aside in her generally skeptical post about the Rolling Stone article on the military psy-ops in Afghanistan directed towards Congress:

[On a side note: really?  Someone in the military thought they needed secret psychological techniques to wrest more money for the military from John McCain?  This is like embarking on a course of anabolic steroids in order to prepare for taking candy from a baby.  But I digress.]

UK Versus US Government

Don't remember to whom I owe a hat tip, but this provides an overview of how social policy is administered in the UK.  A couple excerpts:

Local authorities are forbidden by law to do anything which is not expressly permitted by Parliament; local authorities which want to undertake any special initative need to promote a private Act of Parliament

Despite the existence of a "council tax", local government has very limited discretion in its ability to raise money, and it is not permitted to exceed central government limits. Loans cannot be taken without express sanction. Central governments can make the availability of grants conditional on compliance with their policy.

Compare this to our federal system and we see once again how weak our government really is.

How Do You Know a Blogger Is Far Gone

When he writes something like this:

"I CAN’T STOP MYSELF:  I subscribe to all the NASS California Crop Reports.  I love these, mostly because they read like poetry.

His real reason is the eminently logical one: statistics gives him a basis in reality, unlike the ephemera of the media.  And who is he: a very good blogger on water issues in California, water which grows much of our fruits and vegetables.

USDA IT a Big Loser

According to this post at Gov Loop,  the Obama administration's drive to consolidate federal data centers has one of its biggest targets in USDA, going from 46 data centers now to 5 in the future. (Only DHS has a bigger percentage drop.)  The large number of data centers is a reflection of the decentralized nature of the department, which I've referred to in the past.  The history of USDA is the development of individual agencies, each doing business its own way, and each resisting efforts by the departmental offices to consolidate. 

When I joined ASCS, we had data processing centers in New Orleans, Kansas City, and Minneapolis. In the 70's the department took over the mainframes and the Minneapolis office was closed.  But today, FSA uses centers in New Orleans, Kansas City, and St. Louis, having picked up the latter from the 1994 reorg with FmHA.  I say "uses", because the centers are run by the department, though last I knew FSA had programmers in both KC and St. Louis.  Congresspeople tend to resist closures, so whether the new Tea Partiers can overcome that chauvinism and the Obama administration can enforce its ideas will be interesting.

Announcement on Women/Hispanic Claims of Discrimination

Vilsack announcement.  Ironically, Firefox tells me the http://www.farmersclaims.gov site is untrusted. The link is now working.

Big Versus Small Farmers

Even in the UK there's tension between big farmers and small farmers.  See this post from Musings of a Stonehead on the position, as he sees it, of the National Farmers Union in the UK.  (Also see the sunset photos and the Victor Hugo poetry of the preceding post.) 

It's the old story: if government regulations apply equally to everyone, the burden is greater for the small producers and therefore the big guys get a competitive advantage.  If they don't apply at all, the little guys get the advantage.

What I Don't Understand About Crop Insurance

This quote:

For quite a few years, GRIP has had a good grip on many farmers.  It is a crop insurance policy that is easy to deal with, and it usually pays, despite how good of a crop you had.  GRIP is the Group Risk Income Policy that is based on county averages, and if calculated revenue was below the projection at the early part of the year, GRIP policy holders would get an indemnity check.

What I don't understand--how can an insurance company make a profit on a policy which "usually pays off".  

Google Goes After Farming

Just what farmers need, the world's biggest search engine going against them.  (Turns out it's something called "content farms", I've tried wikipedia but I can't figure out whether "content" is a field crop, fruit or veggie, or some kind of livestock.