Food Prices are Not Driving 2024 Inflation – Real Adventures in Economics
Food prices have been inflated. Food, as a category in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is no longer driving inflation. The Wall Street Journal reported on November 2, 2024, that grocery distributors are causing food prices to increase and cause … Continue reading →
Hidden Benefits of Declining Hog Pastures
The United States is losing farmland but productivity and output continue to increase. Last week, the loss of 11 million acres of pastureland to cropland was explored. That blog also examined the over emphasized claims on cattle as an environmental … Continue reading →
Veterans Immortalize Our Values
I have benefitted from a rich tradition of military service. In 1979, I was part of an exchange work-study program on a potato and hog farm in southern Germany. Working outside of my home environment in the Midwest United States … Continue reading →
Living into a Century of My Father’s Legacy
My dad, Speed Jenner, was born in 1923, 101 years ago. It is election day, and Dad spent many years as an election judge in our tiny community in Southern Illinois. He was a great American. He set the ‘bar’ … Continue reading →
Tracking Pastureland Use Change in USDA, Natural Resource Inventory
Land use change has gotten complicated. Tracking changes in climate have added more than simply physical changes in land use. The first step in understanding the more sophisticated land use change implications is to understand what land is changing. The … Continue reading →
Unpacking the Reported Negative Equity of Used Cars
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that used cars are losing value faster than they have been. The term negative equity was discussed. In the article, car owners were required to settle their loan prior to the full term, … Continue reading →
Setting Economic Model Context and Boundaries
The first 15 years after high school were spent chasing windmills, because in those early years of adulthood, all the answers were obvious. Go to college and become smart enough to change the world (age 18 to 22). Save the … Continue reading →
Off-Farm Income as a Farm Household Business Risk Management Tool
Farm management focuses on business decision making for the business unit of the farm. But access to external cash-flows from off-farm income takes some pressure off the total dependence on the success of the farm business unit. Farm Enterprise Analysis … Continue reading →
The More and Less of US Energy Consumption
Biomass Rules seeks out examples of increased efficiency and utilization. This means businesses and economies produce more output from fewer inputs. We have focused our work in research and innovation the last four decades on either developing an innovation, or … Continue reading →
Magical Conversion of Text to Dates – What The Function
Biomass Rules Blog students who were working ahead on last week’s crude oil and corn price comparison likely hit an impasse when downloading the monthly corn price data from USDA. The USDA, National Ag Statistics Service (NASS), Quick Stats monthly … Continue reading →