Straw in the Wind--Biofuels?

From Agweb:

A 45-million-gallon biodiesel plant near Evansville, Wis. was planned to open this fall. But, plans have changed.

North Prairie Productions, LLC has discontinued the construction of their biodiesel project. The reason: high commodity prices.

According to information published by the North Prairie Productions’ Board of Directors on their Web site, the rising costs of the commodities needed to produce biodiesel eroded their profit margin in producing the fuel.

As corn prices set records because of the bad weather, we may see more of this. Ethanol has prospered, I think, not only because of the subsidies but because oil prices have soared. If corn prices stay high and oil recedes, ethanol might have problems. [Warning: one of many subjects about which I know nothing.]

Public Servants Publically Identified?

David Kopel at Volokh.com raises the question. As I've said before, I don't see a reason to keep this data private.

Test for All--Tobacco Program-Less

Here's an MSNBC article on tobacco farming now the government program has ended. Tobacco farmers are doing well. I've seen this mentioned before, last year, I think. An excerpt and some observations:

On the ideas of the anti-tobacco people before the program was killed:

“The hope would be that by eliminating the quotas there would be fewer farmers then engaged in growing this crop,” Mulvey said.

In fact, there are fewer farmers since the end of the program. But there is more tobacco being grown. And companies are investing in growers like Rod Keugel to a degree not seen in the past. PhilipMorris USA picked up the tab for some of his equipment and a tobacco barn. Critics say the manufacturers value these relationships even more for the political benefits than the tobacco."

I think the experience confirms the idea the program worked--that is, it kept people farming tobacco who wouldn't be farming tobacco in the absence of the program. (lWhether that's good or bad is another question.)

The program also kept new entrants out of the industry. That's an unanticipated consequence of other farm programs--particularly those which raise the price of farm land, thereby making it more difficult for newcomers to enter.

From the excerpt there's a hint of a move towards contract farming, moving away from the old auction barn ("sold Phillip Morris")?

Cuban Agriculture

Some, most recently Tom Philpott, have praised the Cuban agriculture system, its urban farming and organic agriculture. One thing to remember is Cuba is not self-sufficient, as this article indicates. It doesn't say what food is imported, but this article says:

Cuba has been importing food like rice and chicken from the United States since 2000, when cash-only food sales were permitted as a exception to the US trade embargo, turning Cuba's ideological foe into its top foreign supplier.

Cuba's food import agency, Alimport, this week signed new contracts worth $60 million with a delegation from the US state of Nebraska, to import mainly wheat, pork and soy beans.

I don't have a comprehensive picture of Cuban agriculture/food supply.

Stephen Dubner on Ice Cream and Locally Grown Food

When Freakonomics meets Michael Pollan, the comments fly. The subject is, should everyone grow their own food? Stephen Dubner says, "no". The post attracts many more commenters than they usually get.

Most Thought Provoking Line I Read Today

""It's hard to live here," says Meldin Morales. "The one thing I like about here is the work. . . . Day after day after day: work.""

This is from an article by David Montgomery in today's Wash Post about the "chain emigration" from Ipala, Guatemala to Langley Park, MD. One emigrant found work there years ago, and his relatives, friends and neighbors have followed in his footsteps. It's the sort of emigration I believe some of my ancestors engaged in back in the nineteenth, certainly it's the sort of internal migration that seems to have lead my ancestors to move from York, PA to Geneva, NY.

Presumably Mr. Morales doesn't mean just "work", but work that pays well ($10 an hour, mostly something to do with building or repairing homes). I wonder how many natives would say the thing they like best about America is the work?

A Life in Agriculture--What's the Future

Erin writes of her childhood, and her children, at "Raising Country Kids". While she has memories of her past, written better than I ever could, it seems even in Montana modernity has struck:

"Times are different now. It seems that kids are so overscheduled in the summer that they can hardly call summertime a vacation. My children are ages ten, seven, five, and two, and still we spend nine weeks of the summer in organized activities of some sort. I realize now that I will have to be cautious to ensure that my children do not perpetuate the problem of young people becoming disengaged from agriculture. After all, they won’t learn to love it unless they experience it, and summer is a perfect time to do just that."

I don't know. I really don't. "Engaged in agriculture" can mean ranching or farming--that presumably would give her children (and grandchildren) what she values. But when there's only one ranch or farm to inherit, it's hard for everyone to continue in agriculture. And why does she value it. Was it the unscheduled dreamy summers, full of work and time to read and dream? If her kids have nine weeks of organized activities, what would her grandkids have? As life gets more and more competitive, will parents have to preserve their children's options or, as with the Amish, limit their options (i.e., no school after 8th grade).

And why the organized activities? In Montana one might say (at least in my imagination--I've no idea of the truth)--it's the only way to socialize because travel is so far and, particularly these days, so costly so you have to have organized activities, you can't just try "dropping in" on people as we used to do in my day. And the pressure is on--with so few neighbors, you have to be neighborly and you can't say, well, X is not going to play T-ball this year. And you want X to play T-ball because he/she needs the socializing. "Being neighborly" is a euphemism for conformity (as viewed by a secular liberal) or for being a Christian good person (as viewed by someone else).

High Gas and Rural Life

The NY Times has an article on the impact that high gas prices have on rural areas. The focus isn't on agriculture, but on those who have to commute long distances. The data is tied to median incomes, and the percent of income represented by gas, so the poorest counties are the hardest hit. Here's a graphic, just in case the article doesn't link to it. Essentially lower New England through the Mid-West is less affected, the cotton South, NM, WY, MT are most affected (up to 15 percent of income on gas).

Lawns and the Environment

Tom Philpott at Grist points out a NASA study on lawns. It seems that we were environmentally correct when I was growing up. Never watered the lawn, never fertilized, left the grass clippings on the lawn; so the bottom line is that our lawn was a carbon sink. Flash forward and we could have gotten paid under a cap and trade policy for carbon. Best of all, from the environmental standpoint, for many years the lawn was mowed using a hand mower. I can still feel the blisters on the inside of my thumbs and in the my palms which I got every year the first time I mowed. Because there were no emissions, we were absolutely correct. (This contrasts with the rest of the country, where you need to water and fertilize, at least according to the author, and with now, when everyone uses power mowers.)

That's one difference between the Amish and the "greens". The Amish, at least some groups, will permit standalone gasoline engines to drive horse-drawn balers or milking machines. A true-blue green would never permit a gasoline engine to cross onto their property. ()

CRP's Future

Here's an article outlining the tradeoffs faced by the Conservation Reserve Program in an economy very different than that of the early 1980's, when it was pushed into law.