Greenhouses Versus Vertical Farms

 This Post article on AppHarvest illustrates the difference between the two:

• Greenhouses are horizontal, basically relying on the sun for the energy to warm the house and grow the plants. Because they're land intensive, they aren't typically found in cities.  Like self-storage facilities they need to be close to their markets but far enough away to enjoy lower land costs.  Because their energy cost is low(er) as is their construction cost, they can be used to grow more nutrient intensive plants (as tomatoes in the piece).
• Vertical farms are vertical, basically relying on electricity for the energy to warm the facility and grow the plants. Because they minimize land costs, they can be sited in cities, minimizing the cost of transporting their produce.  But because of the cost of electricity and construction, low nutrient greens and herbs are their sweet spot.

Both types of facilities can benefit from technological advances, like computer management of the growing and harvesting process.  They can both appeal to producers by offering pesticide and insecticide free produce. They both are vulnerable to disease/pests from their concentrated production.

Multiple Communication Channels--CFAP

 Back in the day I remember catching flak from state specialists when the various agricultural media outlets--magazines and radio--came out with program announcements and details before our procedures from DC had hit them. 

I suspect the problem has become even more complex.  An example:

My twitter feed is announcing a freeze of CFAP:

Biden just froze CFAP aid to farmers program. https://t.co/dOx5Lf6B62

— NYFarmer (@NYFarmer) January 28, 2021

The farmers.gov site has the notice:  

I'm sure the FSA directives system will take a while to catch up. 

Siloed Covid Data

 I posted about registering for an appointment for the vaccine shot through the Fairfax county site.  Then Sunday I got a shot from Kaiser Permanente.  Today I got an Invitation to Schedule Appointment from Fairfax county.  Unlike the Kaiser site, I can't find a way to update Fairfax's data to show I've been vaccinated.  I've emailed them with the problem.  If it's not solved, the vaccination data for Fairfax county residents will be inaccurate. 

[Update: got a nice response from Brian at the Fairfax site suggesting using my appointment ticket to cancel.  Responded that I tried, but couldn't see a way to do so. Amanda at the Fairfax site replied she'd tell the IT people to do it. 

I guess the stats could be handled by taking the population of Fairfax and comparing it to the sum of those vaccinated by various providers in the county.  That would assume that every provider identifies the residence of the people they jab.] 

Drezner Has a Long Sentence

Dan Drezner writes a column in the online Washington Post.  Here's his penultimate paragraph is yesterday's piece: 

This is mostly nonsense. How a thrice-married, twice-impeached, single-term ex-president accused of serial adultery, casual bigotry, rank misogyny, sexual assault, tax fraud, campaign finance violations, acceptance of foreign emoluments, obstruction of justice, abuse of power, incessant lying, attempted electoral fraud and the incitement of violence advances a coherent and conservative set of values is beyond my meager comprehension, unless “American Restoration” means restoring the values of the Colonial era, when slavery was totally legal and a corrupt monarchy controlled America.

A Salute to Kaiser

Got my covid-19 vaccine shot on Sunday through Kaiser Permanente.  I have to salute their efficiency:

• I got an email notice from them which included a ticket with which to make an appointment.  I assume this was based on screening their database for people over 75 residing in Virginia.
• I selected my appointment time with a little problem--used my laptop which didn't display the whole signup page, so initially I missed a popup notice which appeared at the top of the page.  Figured that out when I tried again on my desktop.  I think they were doing appointments at 10 minute intervals, but I might be wrong.
• Got a confirmation from KP, together with the message of not to arrive more than 15 minutes before the time.
• Drove to Tysons and read a book in the car until 15 minutes before time.
• Walked into the building. Was greeted by staffer1 and was directed to staffer2, who in turn directed me to an empty intake station (I'm guessing they had 6 intake stations, each with a staffer3 to confirm my identity and appointment and record the intake, completing a card and scheduling me for the appointment for the second shot. 
• Was then directed down a hallway by staffers3 and 4 to an empty vaccination station (one of several) with staffer5, perhaps a nurse, who asked about allergies and previous experience with vaccinations and gave me the jab. 
• Was then directed to a waiting room, where staffer6 gave me a note showing the time I could leave (i.e. 15 minutes after I arrived). 
• Then got in the car and left.  I didn't check my watch, but I'd guess I spent 25 minutes in the process, 15 of which were post-shot waiting.

So, bottom line--I had no unnecessary waiting time and everything went smoothly.

I got the shot in the mid-afternoon, so I don't know how the process operated early or late, but from my experience it seems they did a great job of matching resources to demand.  They used lots of staff--half the people I interacted with were traffic police--but that was because they were using three different rooms and weren't able to organize a straight workflow.

USDA Appointments

 The Livingston County News picks up a CQ piece on the appointment of Jewel Bronaugh as deputy secretary for USDA. It notes the criticism of Biden's nomination of Vilsack to return as secretary due to the Sherrod firing.  Includes an endorsement from the VA Farm Bureau, and hopes from John Boyd.

FSA employees may be pleased that she was previously FSA state director in Virginia under the Obama administration.

[Updated: DTN piece on the same.]

Will Trump Be Our Worst President?

 It's popular now to say he's one of the worst, but I've lived too long.

I think part of the answer is going to depend on how things work in the future. If the Trumpites continue their dominance of the Republican party, and if they're able to win in future elections, and/or if some of Trump's actions/policies turn out well, it's possible his reputation will be higher than we think now.

I point to the instances of Grant, Truman, and Nixon, all of whom were disdained when they left office but whose reputations have revived since.  Elizabeth Drew had a Post Opinion piece on Nixon's path back. I'd forgotten but she says he'd regained respect by 1980. 

Grant used to be thought a terrible president, mostly because of corruption.  But these days his handling of the South during Reconstruction has gained him a lot of respect, particularly from historians and the recent biography by Chernow has cemented it.

Truman when he left office was very unpopular, regarded as someone who had diminished the presidency by his demeanor, his fight with MacArthur, his Korean war "police action".  IIRC Nixon called it an administration of crime, corruption, and communism. But as the Korean war faded and his civil rights policies came to the fore his reputation has gained.

Trump could experience similar gains, but I hope not during my lifetime. 

[Updated--Post has a piece on changes in reputation here.

Vaccine Appointment

 I have one for tomorrow at Kaiser.  I didn't apply, just got notified of the availability and provided a "ticket" to use in making appointment.  Kaiser says to notify them if I've already gotten a shot from somewhere else, which is good. Now the question is whether Fairfax county site will allow me to report my vaccination from Kaiser.  Will see after I actually receive it.

Burley Tobacco Growers Co-op

 Al Cross at the Rural Blog notes the Burley co-op is going out of business.  From the website:

• A partial settlement has been reached that would result in dissolving the Co-op and paying between $2000 and $6000 each (estimated) to certain tobacco growers in Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, or Missouri that are members of a settlement class certified by the Court.
• The settlement class is made up of those individuals or businesses that were a landowner, operator, landlord, tenant, or sharecropper growing burley tobacco in Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, or Missouri during at least one of the 2015–2020 crop years.

I don't know the story behind this--apparently there was a class-action suit claiming it didn't serve any purpose these days.

The co-op movement was strong in agriculture in the last century, both on the producer side and the supply side. The tobacco, peanut, and cotton co-ops were precursors and enablers of the New Deal farm programs.

[Updated:  Wendell Berry's brother on its history.]

Our Short Memories

I've seen several articles comparing the difficulties faced by Biden/Harris in 2021 to the problems facing FDR in 1933 or Lincoln in 1861.  The problems Obama/Biden faced in 2009 are usually ignored, or dismissed.  I think this reflects our short memories, as well as the success of the administration.  

 I recognize the economy is worse today than in 2009, but it's worse because of the pandemic. The assumption now is when we fix the pandemic by vaccinated the country the economy will revive. (I think the assumption is wrong--the pandemic will have caused changes in society and the economy which will be revealed as our health gets back to normal.)  In 2009 we knew the economy had systemic problems which needed fixing.  We also "knew" a big stimulus would lead to inflation, which seems to have been disproved.

Meanwhile Trump boasts of not getting the country into a new war, which is true enough. Obama faced two wars--the dying one in Iraq and the endless one in Afghanistan. 

I think our memory of the euphoria of electing a black president clouds a realistic perception--the division in the country which was revealed by the rise of the Tea Party movement (and Occupy Wall Street on the left) was there on January 20, 2009, even if we did not realize it until later.