And ‘everyone’ includes the organic certification companies, who, on their own admission, do not conduct on-site inspections of either fields or harvests, because they are not legally obliged to do so. “If the certifying company nonetheless expresses some reservations, it will quickly be replaced by one of its more indulgent competitors,” explains Teresa Ropelewska of Agro Bio Test. Worse still, overzealous certifiers may even risk court action. As a result, discipline and discretion have become watchwords for companies that want to keep their customers.
Saturday, October 04, 2014
Who Polices the Police: Organics in Poland and Junk Bonds Here
When I read this piece at Vox on how the organic certifications and EU subsidies work in Poland, I was reminded of how the securities ratings firms work in the US (as in assigning AAA ratings to various securities leading up to the 2008 crash).
Friday, October 03, 2014
Thursday, October 02, 2014
The End of the World (also Post and Times) as I Know It
Saw my doctor today for an overdue physical and checkup. Somewhere I've lost about 1.5 inches in height over the years--has anyone seen them around? I'm also losing my subcutaneous fat--i.e., I'm looking old and wrinkly (funny how looking in a strange mirror reveals something not seen when shaving every morning.
Finally, ran across (and lost) the results of a survey of expenditures on various forms of reading matter. The piece was focused on the idea we spend about the same amount on ebooks as on physical books, but it had a breakdown by age. Essentially no one under 45 spends anything on newspapers--it's people like me who still subscribe to the physical paper. So much for the future of the NYTimes and Post--the end of a 300 year history.
Finally, ran across (and lost) the results of a survey of expenditures on various forms of reading matter. The piece was focused on the idea we spend about the same amount on ebooks as on physical books, but it had a breakdown by age. Essentially no one under 45 spends anything on newspapers--it's people like me who still subscribe to the physical paper. So much for the future of the NYTimes and Post--the end of a 300 year history.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Surprise of the Day--London's Canals
London has twice the mileage of canals as Amsterdam, according to this article in the NYTimes.
Apparently housing prices in London have become the highest in the world, and some people are finding houseboats on the canals to be an alternative.
Apparently housing prices in London have become the highest in the world, and some people are finding houseboats on the canals to be an alternative.
SSA and Field Offices
SSA's field office structure has gotten some political attention recently, as they've closed some offices and have a study which recommends further changes Their unions, and AARP, are up in arms. They still have 1250 field offices.
It seems to be a similar problem to USDA and its field offices. The logic of computers and internet and declining populations in some ares leads to office closures, while the logic of serving the public and not further undermining the economics of localities lead to preserving the status quo.
SSA may have a better case for consolidation and online service than USDA: their programs don't need local data. Presumably if you're disabled for work in Deaf Smith County, TX you're also disabled in Fairfax County, VA, and vice versa. If I need to apply for SS benefits it shouldn't matter if I'm in Florida on a vacation or not whereas USDA programs are tied to geography.
It seems to be a similar problem to USDA and its field offices. The logic of computers and internet and declining populations in some ares leads to office closures, while the logic of serving the public and not further undermining the economics of localities lead to preserving the status quo.
SSA may have a better case for consolidation and online service than USDA: their programs don't need local data. Presumably if you're disabled for work in Deaf Smith County, TX you're also disabled in Fairfax County, VA, and vice versa. If I need to apply for SS benefits it shouldn't matter if I'm in Florida on a vacation or not whereas USDA programs are tied to geography.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Rail Cars and the Capital Beltway
The Dakotas, that is their politicians and farm leaders, are upset over a shortage of rail cars to transport the big crop of grain, blaming in part the Canadians for mishandling and in part the transport of oil from the Bakken formation.
To those like me who live in the past, this seems familiar. Sometime after I joined ASCS but before the end of the 70's there was a similar shortage of cars--I remember because the county ASCS offices were required to do a survey of their local rail facilities and report up the line. If memory serves it was a one-time deal.
What's my point and how does the beltway come into it? I'd ass u me that there are cyclical surges and valleys in the demand for rail cars, and railroads are reluctant to spend money on more cars until they see a sustained demand (and until they have the money--which may have been a problem in the 70's--lots of big railroads going broke (NYCentral, Penn Central, etc.). And of course there are surges and valleys in grain harvests, so there's the likelihood that sometimes railroads won't have enough cars, simply because it's easier to absorb a public beating once every few years than to have dollars sitting idle. For the same reason we won't usually have superhighways, like the Capital Beltway, free of traffic. When we do, it's likely to be something named after a recent politician, a pork barrel project, not something like the Beltway.
To those like me who live in the past, this seems familiar. Sometime after I joined ASCS but before the end of the 70's there was a similar shortage of cars--I remember because the county ASCS offices were required to do a survey of their local rail facilities and report up the line. If memory serves it was a one-time deal.
What's my point and how does the beltway come into it? I'd ass u me that there are cyclical surges and valleys in the demand for rail cars, and railroads are reluctant to spend money on more cars until they see a sustained demand (and until they have the money--which may have been a problem in the 70's--lots of big railroads going broke (NYCentral, Penn Central, etc.). And of course there are surges and valleys in grain harvests, so there's the likelihood that sometimes railroads won't have enough cars, simply because it's easier to absorb a public beating once every few years than to have dollars sitting idle. For the same reason we won't usually have superhighways, like the Capital Beltway, free of traffic. When we do, it's likely to be something named after a recent politician, a pork barrel project, not something like the Beltway.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
More Farm Divisions Coming?
This article suggests two reasons for dividing multi-tract/multi-owner farms: allows landowners to make separate decisions on the new farm programs (ARC & PLC) and allows operators to put some farms in one program and some in the other, hedging their bets.
Maybe we have a sort of Platonic ideal of what constitutes a farm, perhaps based on Jefferson's image of a nation of yeoman farmers? If we do, our reality doesn't match the ideal. When I joined ASCS it took a while to figure out that agriculture in some areas, the north and west, differed from that in the South, specifically in the balance between landownership and farm operation. Big landowners in the South, who often called the shots for the producers; small landowners in much of the rest of country, renting to operators who farmed multiple ownership tracts.
As the emphasis in ASCS/FSA programs changed over the years, the incentive for operators to combine or divide changed. Production adjustment programs meant combinations so you could designate the poorest land to be taken out of production. Disaster programs meant divisions so a loss on one tract wouldn't be offset by production on other tracts.
Maybe we have a sort of Platonic ideal of what constitutes a farm, perhaps based on Jefferson's image of a nation of yeoman farmers? If we do, our reality doesn't match the ideal. When I joined ASCS it took a while to figure out that agriculture in some areas, the north and west, differed from that in the South, specifically in the balance between landownership and farm operation. Big landowners in the South, who often called the shots for the producers; small landowners in much of the rest of country, renting to operators who farmed multiple ownership tracts.
As the emphasis in ASCS/FSA programs changed over the years, the incentive for operators to combine or divide changed. Production adjustment programs meant combinations so you could designate the poorest land to be taken out of production. Disaster programs meant divisions so a loss on one tract wouldn't be offset by production on other tracts.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Farm Prices Collapsing?
Prices for corn and soybeans in the US have fallen recently, by 40 percent or so if I remember correctly. But what struck me in today's Farm Policy was this succession of notes:
"The French government said Wednesday that it would provide aid for the country’s farmers, in a bid to appease fruit and vegetable producers whose frustration with falling revenues has culminated in violent protests." (from WSJournal article)Of course the good news for animal farmers is that the cost of feed will be down.
“Cotton futures fell to their lowest level since October 2009 on Wednesday, as investors worried about a growing global glut." (from WSJournal article)
“Global milk prices have fallen more than 40 per cent in 2014 from record highs last year. Strong production globally, high inventory levels in China and a supply glut caused by Russia’s ban on milk imports from the EU have prompted the decline.”(from Financial Times article) (New Zealand has been hit and the NYTimes has a piece on Lithuanian dairy farmers hurt by the Russian ban.)
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Labor of Mind and Body
Strange how physical work takes away my motivation to blog or do much other work with my mind--except read, I can always read.
The last 10 days or so I've been doing some needed maintenance on the house, maintenance required to keep the Reston Association happy. Granted that I've not worked very hard or very long (a couple hours a day max), I still have found my willpower to blog drained. This fits with the idea which seems popular in today's psychology--willpower is a scarce resource. Anyway, I'm nearing the end of the work, I hope, so maybe my reservoir of willpower will fill up again.
The last 10 days or so I've been doing some needed maintenance on the house, maintenance required to keep the Reston Association happy. Granted that I've not worked very hard or very long (a couple hours a day max), I still have found my willpower to blog drained. This fits with the idea which seems popular in today's psychology--willpower is a scarce resource. Anyway, I'm nearing the end of the work, I hope, so maybe my reservoir of willpower will fill up again.
Feeding the World and Burying the Lede
"Bury the lede" is an expression meaning the big news in a story isn't highlighted. That's my reaction to this NYTimes story, which includes the sentence:
"Feeding the world is no longer a question of growing more food"
"Feeding the world is no longer a question of growing more food"
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