In 2008, a major publisher ran a story about where all the biomass feedstocks were. It was a good story that brought attention to biomass as a fuel source. But they used the National Renewable Energy Labs (NREL) ‘Total Tonnes’ … Continue reading →
Over the course of my career maps and mapping software have continued to evolve. Maps are compelling and visually informative. As this graphic interface has evolved, there are rules about what is proper and what is not. Like so many … Continue reading →
Most economic demand today manifests itself in report charts and news as a change over time. But traditional economic supply and demand curves do not have time in them (price x quantity). Demand drives any economy, but it doesn’t look … Continue reading →
Outer space is now open for business. On February 22, 2024, a private company space vehicle, Intuitive Machines landed on the Moon. The first manned U.S. lunar landing occurred in 1969 and was completely government funded. The 1960s U.S. space … Continue reading →
Nearly 25 years ago, I was asked to evaluate the economic opportunity for growing industrial hemp in my role as economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation. I wrote one rather concise report and distributed it to all the state … Continue reading →
Fifty years ago, in 1974, the definition of a U.S. farm for the purposes of collecting data in the Census of Agriculture, was set at $1,000 of farm value of production. This includes gross sales or potential sales. The Ag … Continue reading →
Abraham Lincoln commissioned the first census of farm by the Department of Agriculture 180 years ago. Some of the data categories have not changed since then, like specifying a farm of 1 to 9 acres in size. As a culture, … Continue reading →
The 2022 Census of Agriculture was released on February 13, 2024. This image is the top of the first table, Table 1, in the 750-page data document on summary data in the United States for the production year, 2022. In … Continue reading →
From the archives of fun papers I have written, this one from when I was a manure economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation in 2001. We had been working through the politics of manure production and use with the … Continue reading →
In the old days, agribusiness referred to a business providing farm inputs. This broadly impacted everything involving goods and services connected to agricultural commodities. Commodities are the raw products from crops and livestock that cannot be differentiated on product quality. … Continue reading →
