Byproduct Price Discovery in the Absence of Demand – Real Adventures in Economics
Agricultural byproducts are not produced on demand. The quantity of byproduct production is based on the demand for the higher valued commodity or product. This is not news. But it seems forgotten in the passionate discussions of waste cooking oils … Continue reading →
An Inventory of Cellular Transformation on Today’s US Farms
Is emerging cellular agriculture an extension of farming? Or is it a replacement for farming? An extension of farming – grain to beer – is an economic complement. A farm replacement – meat and dairy protein from tanks – is … Continue reading →
Lab-Cultured Food has Arrived for Farm and Factory
Fifteen years ago, I mentioned to my brilliant director at University of California, Davis, California Biomass Collaborative, that I thought we were heading to a future where we could produce milk and meat without animals, through cellular regeneration. We had … Continue reading →
Aquaculture is Planet-Saving Anthropogenic Food Production
Raised by depression-era parents, I have lived through the 1980s farm crisis, and spent 2 years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal using my first degree (BS agronomy) to help Nepali farmers grow more food. In the 80s and … Continue reading →
US Fish and Microalgae Farms Count at USDA
One of the follow-on surveys to the Census of Agriculture is the Census of Aquaculture. Since the 2022 Census of Agriculture has been conducted, a new USDA, Census of Aquaculture has been conducted for the production year 2023. Fish farmers … Continue reading →
Farm Size, Asset Management, and Area Under Glass
US Farm size is difficult to label in a quantitative way. When a measure is easy to derive, it is not very relevant. While moving toward unpacking cellular agriculture in the next few posts, there are formative steps to cover … Continue reading →
Being Green and Clean is More than a Dogma
Reusing resources delivers value, not simply added costs. As I was reviewing data for my editor on US paper sourcing the Wall Street Journal published an article about Wall Street Banks running from clean energy and climate issues. As new … Continue reading →
Modeling Farm Income versus Farm Household Income
Over the last few decades, financing the family farm has shifted. Farm policies and farm management begin with the idea of a farm as the central business unit of a farm household. This is an excellent place to begin. But … Continue reading →
Characterizing US Farms by State with Median and Average Values
US farms are very diverse but are easy to group into a common label. The 1.9 million farms counted by USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) for 2023, are all authentically US farms. The average number of farms per state … Continue reading →
The Incorrect Use of a Mean to Mean a Midpoint is Just Mean
English is so difficult. The word ‘mean’ here has three different meanings, one of which is to understand. The first occurrence of ‘mean’ infers an average. The second ‘mean’ occurrence implies or conveys understanding. The third ‘mean’ is a value … Continue reading →