Variations in Risk: the Case of Irrigation

Referring back to the map from yesterday, one factor which makes a difference is the use of irrigation.  I take that from this quote in Farm Policy, referring a dissent within the Farm Bureau, 3 state bureaus of which disagree with the national proposal:

“‘The problem that the three states have in common is we’re heavy in rice and cotton,’ says [Jeffrey Hall, who deals with national affairs for the Arkansas Farm Bureau]. ‘Also, we all have a lot of irrigated acreage. We have different issues with irrigated corn than the Midwest, which doesn’t irrigate (like the Mid-South does).
“‘The common thread for the three states was the ‘catastrophic deep loss’ proposal that AFBF has been talking about, the two policies passed at the convention (concerning that proposed) safety net program. We’ve run the numbers with University of Arkansas economists and it won’t provide the kind of safety net that our farmers feel they need to stay in business.’”
“‘The problem that the three states have in common is we’re heavy in rice and cotton,’ says [Jeffrey Hall, who deals with national affairs for the Arkansas Farm Bureau]. ‘Also, we all have a lot of irrigated acreage. We have different issues with irrigated corn than the Midwest, which doesn’t irrigate (like the Mid-South does).
“‘The common thread for the three states was the ‘catastrophic deep loss’ proposal that AFBF has been talking about, the two policies passed at the convention (concerning that proposed) safety net program. We’ve run the numbers with University of Arkansas economists and it won’t provide the kind of safety net that our farmers feel they need to stay in business.’”

It's a reminder of how varied our agriculture is, and how limited my imagination, because I didn't even consider it yesterday.

Faux British Hipness

The USDA blog has a post on how a new market for cotton is being created with "Under Armour".  The company was founded by a UofMD man so has gotten some attention in the Post.  But I was struck for the first time today by the British spelling of "armor". I guess he was trying to be posh and hip and all that good stuff.  Maybe the athletes he clothes "glow" or "perspire" instead of "sweat".  Farmers sweat.

Catching Up With the White House Garden

Obamafoodorama has a photo of detailees gathering greens from the White House garden (they call in people from elsewhere in the bureaucracy when there's a state dinner in the works.. I think what's in the picture is mostly over-wintered greens.  I had some collards today for lunch which overwintered.

Like any innovation, 3 years on some of the interest has waned, but I'm certainly envious of their beds and the neatness with which they plant.

Crop Insurance and Direct Payments on a Map

Via Farm Policy I found the link to this map from Amber Waves (Mar 12) which shows the ratio between direct payments and crop insurance subsidies by county (part of a discussion of "conservation compliance", except they call it "environmental compliance", tying government benefits to the swampbuster/sodbuster provisions of the 1985 Act.

The map shows why many are pushing crop insurance, given the subsidy is higher than for direct payments, but there's some interesting variations.  Oklahoma for example sticks out between Texas and Kansas.  I'm not sure why, but it does.

If I understand, crop insurance could be a higher percentage of direct payments for a number of reasons. The FSA yields or acreage bases could be low or the crop insurance actuarials could be high.  Or the number of crop insurance policies sold could be high.   I wonder if there's existing maps of such data.

Licensing for Locksmiths

Matt Yglesias often criticizes those occupations where licensing plays a part.  He's enough of a libertarian to believe that beauticians, for example, shouldn't be examined or licensed. 

John Kelly in the Post today did his column on locksmiths, which are licensed.  I wonder Mr. Yglesias' reaction?

Americans Love Red Tape

Not in the abstract, but in specific areas, as Suzy Khim reports at Ezra Klein.

The Hopes of Progress and Wheat

Via Marginal Revolution, I read an article from 1900 on how the world might end.  One of the possibilities was starvation:

"Should all the wheat-growing countries add to their area to the utmost capacity, on the most careful calculation the yield would give us only an addition of some 100,000,000 acres, supplying at the average world-yield of 12.7 bushels to the acre, 1,270,000,000 bushels. Adding 2,324,000,000 to 1,270,000,000 we get 3,594,000,000 bushels, or just enough to supply the increase of population among bread-eaters till the year 1931.

But:

"Since by the year 1931 the area of cultivation can be no further extended, the farmer must endeavour to raise the average yield per acre. If atmospheric nitrogen could only be made generally available as manure in accordance with Nikola Tesla's great scheme, then the ground might be made to bear twice as large crops as it does at present."

 The hopes for progress were rather limited: doubling the yield.

The Glories of Spring

Just pausing to note the warm spring weather, the trees are starting to bloom (red maple and now I think the pears?), the crocus and daffodils are blooming (why can't the breeders come up with a daffodil which can bloom when crowded?), the birds are around.

I wonder if those raised in suburbs and cities are as conscious of the seasons as on the farm.  I suspect not, poor souls.

Big Dairy

One fact I didn't note when looking at this report: more than 50 percent of total US production comes from dairies with more than 1,000 cows.

That's an amazing number--when I was growing up 50 cows seemed big, about all one person could handle with a bit of hired labor.  While productivity has grown, I'm sure these dairies depend on hired hands, these days probably a lot of immigrants.

Also see the ERS page.

The Perils of Blogging

From Chris Blattman, who's on vacation in Vietnam:

I only realized this by accident, when I peeked into my email Inbox for one measly second (I am still on vacation, dammit) and notice a gazillion comments and pingbacks on a post I wrote three years ago about Invisible Children. In the past three days, that post received roughly as much traffic as the entire blog in 2012.