Against Corporate Farming

From Blog for Rural America, what do Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa all have in common?

It might seem that they are the homes of big corporate farms. But no, they all passed laws restricting corporate farms within the last 100 years.  The post explains some of the challenges to such laws.

Love It--the Eternal Silos of FSA and NRCS

Just realized I hadn't heard from NASCOE in a while so I checked the website, which has been completely redone.

Here's what I love.

NATIONAL OFFICE RESPONSE: (combined sources)
At this point, FSA employees with access to existing systems can access FSAfarm+ using their employee eAuth Level 2 login; however, we have not added NRCS employees to the list of authorized users. The website was built as a customer self-service portal and FSA employee access has been authorized so employees may assist our customers with questions regarding the website. NRCS FSAfarm+ access has been discussed with leadership and they are looking into obtaining the required approvals.

They've got a new process for submitting field office concerns and getting responses from DC.  This response is to a request that FSA give NRCS access to their records.  This was Sec. Madigan's concept back in 1991.  As you can see from the response, those silos are still standing tall.

The Revenant Is an Oscar Favorite?

Just saw the movie.  Maybe an old geezer doesn't have the patience for 5 minute shots with nothing much happening, but I did not like it.  Yes, DiCaprio's efforts must be respected and I wouldn't have a problem with him getting best actor.  And the picture making is fine, though the scenery is cold.  But a movie is supposed to tell a story and there wasn't much there, certainly not enough for 2 hours 30 minutes.  Maybe chop an hour out and it would play, but there's no way I see it as a best movie candidate.

Great Work--NRCS

"Agriculture’s “Natural Resources Conversation Service dropped 13 places to rank 25th overall in the 2016 Index – no other agency fell further,” the analysts said"

This is from a Government Executive article on a survey of plain language in government websites.

Not sure how well done this is--the study dings USDA generally, but only NRCS is listed in the detailed results table.

How Government (Congress) Doesn't Work

Politico has an article on unauthorized agencies.  The books say Congress sets policy and authorizes an agency to carry it out in legislation developed by the legislative committees.  Then the appropriations committees allocate the money in yearly appropriations bills.  The reality is the policy committees may shirk their duty.  Why?  It's explained in the text.

Times on Cover Crops and Finance Industry Logic

NY Times has an article on increased use of cover crops by farmers to build soil, increase water retention, and reduce erosion.  Author cites big farms--3K to 10K acres.  The cover crops seem to be a mixture.  And spring planting is really no-till, though that's not clear in the article, where no-till is rather dismissed.

I remember in Nash County, NC, I think it was during my fall visit to get oriented to ASCS field operations, the CED went out to a sawmill.  They were shaving logs to make the thin wood strips used in making baskets (this was before plastics).  The CED signed up a couple of the workers to cover crop practices which were cost-shared under the old Agricultural Conservation Program.  Under cost-sharing ASCS would pay a part of the per-acre cost for installing the practice  while the farmer paid the rest. Nixon and Earl Butz tried to kill the ACP, but eventually settled for eliminating some practices, They focused on the one which increased production, which included cover crops.  Their logic was similar to Greenspan's logic in supporting deregulation in the finance industry:  rational financiers wouldn't take irrational risks; Butz said rational farmers would spend their own money to install cover crops. 

Globalization--LED Lamps

Ordered two LED lamps from Amazon along with some other things.  Specified free delivery as we weren't in any hurry for any of the items.  All but the lamps have arrived so I just checked Amazon to see where they were.  They're in transit from China with a 3-5 week travel time.  That amazes me, just seeing globalization and automation working in practice.  (Why it's more amazing to see an order delivered directly from China than the same order delivered from a warehouse in the US which originally came from China, I don't know.)

Why the Left Dominates the Humanities?

Consider this excerpt from the conservative Republican get-together, as transcribed byMichelle Cottle in the Atlantic:

" During the Freedom Caucus Q&A, a young man stood up—prompting moderator Fred Barnes to crack, “You’re the only one under 60 who’s going to ask” a question—to say he would soon be graduating with his master’s degree and wanted the panelists’ thoughts on how to improve job prospects for his generation.Mulvaney responded by asking the guy what he’d studied. “U.S. history,” the young man replied. Solid, patriotic, non-multi-culti degree to make the likes of conservative icon and history professor Newt Gingrich proud, right? Not any more. Representative Mark Meadows promptly teased, “That’s the problem!” Everybody laughed. Mulvaney then launched into a lecture about how, back in his day, banks wouldn’t give a guy a student loan unless the applicant offered assurances that he would be able to pay it back some day. But now that the federal government just hands over the money, nobody bothers worrying about whether or not they’re pursuing a worthless degree. “This is not to denigrate or demean folks who want to study philosophy or U.S. history or anything,” Mulvaney assured the young scholar. “But you need to sort of consider job prospects when making those decisions.” It’s all well and good to go study “sub-Saharan African basket weaving,” quipped Mulvaney, but afterward “don’t come looking to us and say, ‘Where are the jobs for sub-Saharan basket-weavers?’”

  Discriminattion against conservatives in the academy is one theory offered to account for a perceived dominance by liberals.  This response is an anecdote pointing to two other explanations: conservatives disdain academics and put money first.  Of course what makes the anecdote special is a conservative calling US history a worthless degree.

McGovernism Is Not Progressive?

A piece on the definitions of "progressive" in Slate.  I'm bemused by what the movement from Clinton's work for McGovern in 1972 to the current state of the party says about our politics and our society.

McGovern, for those too young to remember, ran on a platform of, among other things, ending the war in Vietnam and a guaranteed minimum income.  He also got defeated in a landslide, losing his own state IIRC.  Hillary and Bill Clinton were Texas organizers for McGovern, may even have been the state chairs but memory fogs.  Also for "amnesty [for draft dodgers], abortion, and legalization of pot|".

I'd forgotten, but McGovern beat Eugene McCarthy, Shirley Chisolm, the first black presidential candidate, and Patsy Mink, the first Asian-American candidate.

Cottonseed Revisited

Chris Clayton reports on the cottonseed/oilseed question--Vilsack says OGC says he doesn't have authority to decide that cottonseed is an oilseed eligible for farm programs.  Chris quotes some of the law which he reads as supporting the cotton position.  In my experience, whenever politicians exert enough pressure, the lawyers find a way to justify what they want done; that's what they learn in law school.

How Do You Remember the 1990's?

A discussion over on this site about teaching the history of the 1990's.  I'll copy my answer here:

FWIW: The long decade perhaps goes from the fall of the Berlin Wall to 9/11, from the rise of the personal computer into 50 percent of households to the start of Google and the release of the iPod, the decade in which Walmart went nationwide. In my memory it wasn’t a difficult decade, it was a hopeful decade (for straight white males), something like I imagine the 1920’s to have been, with lots of froth (the tech boom). AIDS was the big cloud.

  Beloit College does a yearly list of what college freshmen know and don't know.  Here's the 2016 list.

I don't know how you categorize the 2000's-- from 9/11 to 2016 maybe, or a short 9/11 to 1/20/2009?

Prediction

I predict the tickets will be Hillary Clinton/Julian Castro versus Marco Rubio/John Kasich.

[Update 1--that was Feb 2.  New prediction:

Clinton/Castro versus Kasich/Rubio.   :-) ]

How Much Does a Professor Earn?

Find out here, for at least one professor.  I agree with the theory, salaries for public employees should be available.

Historical Landmark: End of White Male Tickets

Looking back I think we can say that 2004 marked the last time that the two major parties will present white male tickets to the voters.  They didn't in 2008 or 2012, and I'm sure they won't in 2016. I'm comfortable they won't in future years.  I'd even suggest it will take a big change in our politics for even one of the parties to present an all-white-male ticket in 2020 or beyond.

Allocating Goods

There are a number of economic goods (I love to play like I'm an economist) with a price, but a price which is less than the value which an ideal market might place on them.  The goods aren't sold in a free market, but some hybrid of the market and an allocation process. To my eye, these goods usually get allocated on the "who you know" principle.  Examples:

• tickets for playoff games go to relatives of the players, the staff, the owners.  I understand there's a set allocation for teams, but within the allocation getting a ticket is less a question of money than of influence or the strength of the relationship.
• IPO shares go to those connected with the underwriters of the offering.  Again I understand the bank will allocate shares to their best customers.
• many jobs. 

Companies Leaving Crop Insurance

Bloomberg has a post on companies (Wells Fargo, Cargill, Deere) leaving crop insurance.

That development somewhat counters the argument that government subsidies to crop insurance are too high.  On the other hand, given the size of these companies, it may be that the hassle is too much for the potential profits, particularly since prices have declined.

Cottonseed Equals Oilseed?

Illinois extension has a discussion on the possibility of cottonseed being added to the list of oilseeds covered by farm programs.  Up to now, even though cottonseed is more than 50 percent by weight of the product of the cotton plant, the fiber has been considered the crop, with cottonseed a useful by-product, like milk is the product of the dairy cow, with the meat being a by-product.  Apparently there's a push on to implement a provision of the farm bill to add it as an oilseed, but there's budgetary implications (maybe one billion dollars, almost real money) and trade-offs in terms of program provisions and encouraging/discouraging crops. 

The Economics of Commodities--Almonds

As Yogi said, deja vu all over again.

My mother, a woman of decided opinions, which I'm just now realizing, would rail at the stupidity of the poultry.  Egg prices would go up, people would buy chicks and raise layers, the supply would increase, the prices would go down to the point people were losing money.

The same logic has been followed over and over, with variations, with respect to different commodities.  Most recently it's been oil.  Remember the days of peak oil, of $130 a barrel? 

Now it's almonds, as described in the linked article. 

Big Farm--In Russia, Not Texas

NY Times has an article on American ranchers from Wyoming teaching Russian how to handle cattle. There's an operation with 1.5 million acres*, which seems bigger than any Texas operation (the King ranch is under a million).  The Russians are amazed at how hard the Americans work, and the fact they don't do it on vodka.

*  Granted, this isn't contiguous acres, which makes a bit of difference.

Hard To Foresee the Future--Farm Programs

Agriculture.com reports new CBO projections: higher outlays under the FSA farm programs PLC/ARC and lower outlays under crop insurance.

Gentrification of the Neighborhood

The Post magazine has an article on the proposal for a bridge park in DC, modeled somewhat on the High Line in NYC.  It would cross the Anacostia river on old bridge piers, connecting the poorer Anacostia neighborhood with the richer Capitol Hill neighborhood.  One of the big concerns is the likely gentrification of Anacostia, the driving out of lower-income dwellers and replacement by richer yuppies.

It strikes me that this gentrification is the story of America.  Developers, like the English, see land which isn't being used to its maximum given current economic and technological conditions, acquire the property by hook or crook, and resell it to new people for a profit. 

8 Inch Floppies

The mention of 8 inch floppy disks in this Govexe post (on outdated technology in our nuclear weapons military/industrial complex) brings back memories of the IBM System/36

What a 74-Year Old Can Do

I'm about 7 months older than Sen. Sanders, so for a little while longer we're both 74 years old.  I've just spent 2 days doing a lot of snow shoveling.  Based on that experience, I don't believe Bernie is up to the demands of the Presidency.  While there are and have been examples of elderly leaders, it doesn't make sense to elect someone whose second term would end when he's 82.  Even 79 is a bit old for me.

Privacy and Genealogy

Made a run to the store, first for Starbucks, then for food. (My priorities). 

The brain cells are clicking just enough to comment on genealogy and privacy.  I subscribe to ancestry.com, and have several family trees there (mostly trees for people who might be related, partially to help my cousin in her researches).

Today Ancestry published their first ever Transparency Report, describing the times they have been asked for data by law enforcement and the times they released it. They also revised their policies. My brain's not up to reading it, but they refer to the EU's rules on moving personal data.  Just one more straw in the wind of future concerns on data.

Snow Days

About 28 inches here in Reston.  That's enough I think that our usual snow plow (pickup truck with blade) won't be much use.  The cul-de-sac has cars on both sides.  Usually the plow can scrape snow to the ends, leaving a ridge behind the cars that you have to shovel.  With this much snow I don't think the approach will really work.  We'll see--I remember an early snowstorm, maybe late 70's, where we waited and waited until finally a front loader came in.  That may be necessary this time.

The ethics of snow are interesting--to dig out your car you can either throw the snow into the drive path behind the car or carry it to the front of the car.  The first hurts the rest of the people in the cul-de-sac, particularly those who live further up the cul-de-sac, making it harder for them to get out.  The second hurts the back.

So far I've seen two four-wheel drive vehicles, one pickup, one jeep, make it out to the road, both after significant trouble; two other four-wheel SUV's  tried and failed to make it out.  Wife and I are reconciled to being house-bound for another day.

Comments

Over the years there've not been many comments on the blog, no doubt a tribute to the validity of the positions I take and the logic of my arguments.  More recently, say over the last few years, I've had a problem with understanding Google's rules on comments and their interaction with Google+, meaning any comments wouldn't show up on the blog.  Hopefully now I've corrected the problem.