Tecnology Review and Food

Since I don't get the hard copy version of Technology Review, I'm not sure whether it's one issue, but this is the notation they attach to the beginning of a number of posts on their website:

"This story is one of a series about how hidden innovations produce the foods we eat at the prices we pay."

The big story seems to be: How to train a weeding machine. Does the work of 30 people. It broadens into a discussion of the problems of digitizing vegetable production, starting with Landsat back in 1972 (I remember ASCS had a guy in Houston working on Landsat for a while--big dreams back then.) 

There's also  one on GMO maize in Kenya A comment here--the farmer notes in passing:

"But I still have more crops than some of my neighbors, who sometimes recycle seeds and don’t have very much at all."

That one sentence seems to me to encapsulate the challenges for the small farm/food movement people.  It points to an evolution over decades which will lead to modernized production ag growing the bulk of our calories, with smaller operations producing for the niches. 

Thomas Jefferson and Hemings

 Reading "Most Blessed Patriarch:Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination" by Gordon-Reed and Onof.  It reads well, discusses his ideas more than his deeds.  

I'm just part way through it, but I wanted to note an observations which struck me:  the authors write that in his own time, his contemporaries viewed his relationship with Sally Hemings as one of love, which was dangerous to the social structure;  while in our time most critics refuse to believe it was love, rather a relationship of power which was the essence of slavery.

Self-Driving Cars Revisited

Technology Review posts a puff piece written by Baidu, a Chinese firm which seems to be progressing well in developing a self-driving car, with emphasis on steps they've taken trying to earn the trust of potential customers. 

US firms are making progress as well.  The pandemic has severely limited my driving, so it seems as if a self-driving car could  fulfill my needs soon.

FSA Goes to the City

 It seems if you can't keep them down on the farm, FSA has been directed to follow them to the city.

Apparently the 2018 farm bill included provisions for establishing county committees for urban areas.  I missed the first announcement in August of the establishment of committees for these cities:

• Albuquerque, N.M.
• Cleveland, Ohio
• Philadelphia, Pa.
• Portland, Ore.
• Richmond, Va.

I did see the notice for these additional cities:

• Atlanta,
• Dallas,
• Minneapolis-St. Paul,
• New Orleans,
• Phoenix,
• St. Louis

Apparently Sen. Stabenow was the force behind the effort.  I'm not sure of the logic of stretching USDA agencies into the city, as opposed to stretching HUD into agriculture.  Lots to learn her.

Views of an Old Grump

 A collection of gripes, with no particular theme and no sources.

• FSA is one step further along to treating hemp as just another crop--a recent notice covered NAP's provisions relative to it.  I guess that's okay, but
• When I see the legalization of marijuana, I recall vividly my HS science teacher, a Mr. Youngstrum, cautioning us never to use marijuana.  The vivid memory stems from his vehement emotion, unusual to see in any teacher in that era.  I guess I know the arguments, and don't really oppose the trend; it's just a big change since my youth.
• I heard on the radio something, an ad I guess, which was anti-tobacco.  I think the woman said we could eliminate smoking in 12-15 years.  Hadn't been paying enough attention to follow the argument or her reasoning.  As a reformed 2+ pack a day smoker (long ago) that wouldn't be bad, although I'm skeptical of our ability to do so.  And it jars a big when contrasted to our position on marijuana.
• I saw a reference to "authentic self"--the idea being that achieving one's authentic self was the proper goal of living/education/something.  Hogwash and poppycock, to use expressions common in my youth. The idea renders me speechless/wordless.

The Labor Theory of Property: Parking Places

 If I recall my John Locke correctly, his theory of property was that the owner established a claim to property by intermixing his labor with natures. (My memory seems to be close according to this.)

The snowstorm expected tomorrow will offer the chance to create property.  While my home owners association provides two parking spaces per townhouse, a lot of people also park along the side of Greenrange Drive. After the snow ends, they'll have to shovel their cars out (assuming there's more snow than the 1-3 inches currently predicted).  In doing so they'll feel they've established a property right to the space, and a few will try to exclude others by putting traffic cones, folding chairs, or whatever in the space when they pull out. 

Justice for Black Farmers-- A Systemic Problem

 One of my problems with the draft legislation S.4929, JBF, is it is piling new programs on old programs. (The text has been posted on Congress.gov.)

In a rational government Congress would evaluate the success or failure of existing rural development and farm loan programs, change the law where needed, and reorganize the bureaucracy. If current programs are successful we could add resources, if they have weaknesses we could reform them, if they're too bad we could kill them.  But such changes wouldn't convince the advocates that reforms were real  and therefore wouldn't reward the Congressional sponsors. So instead we get more programs, with somewhat different approaches, 

Bottom line: it makes life more difficult for the bureaucracy.

How To Distribute the Vaccine

The Volokh Conspiracy had a post urging adoption of a point system to fairly distribute the Covid-19 vaccine.   I like the idea.  The military used a point system for demobilizing troops after World War II which seemed fair.  It's a way to handle cases where multiple factors are at work (i.e., an essential worker with underlying condition).

Gripe With the Met--Membership Accounts

 I've a gripe with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, specifically its website, and more specifically the way it handles membership.  I know I've run into similar problems elsewhere; I think one was the Wolf Trap website, possibly the New Yorker as well.  And my guess is that it's a result of hidden silos: when they got into the internet, separate departments did separate developments.  For the Met, the website is focused on visitors, describing exhibitions, how to visit, etc. and how to become a member.  What's missing is any focus on existing members--to find your member account info you have to go to the shopping option.  

It makes sense that the accountants would worry about renewals, etc. while the museum people just worry about getting people in the door.

But, if I were emperor, my edict would be that any website for an organization would have a "Log in/Your Account" icon in the upper right corner,

The Racism Behind the Decline of Black-Owned Record Stores?

I have a problem with some descriptions of the decline of black-owned farms over the last 100 years.

My problem can perhaps be illustrated by developments in another industry: record stores.  This article describes the growth of black-owned record stores.  But they are no more.  Why?  I agree that black-owned stores were more likely to fail than white-owned ones.  The owners were probably less wealthy to start with, and faced bias in getting capital for their operation. To the extent they were focused on a niche market they may also have been more vulnerable. (I'm not sure that's right--it seems that independent booksellers often have survived in niches where the Border chain went under,but for the sake of argument I'll include that factor.

But a major factor in the decline of black-owned record stores is the change in demand--people don't want vinyl or CDs these days, or not enough do to sustain a lot of stores. I'd make the same observation about the type (and size) of farm operations black farmers were mostly engaged in during the last century.