When the benefits of an activity are difficult to put a dollar value on, or monetize, the traditional cost curves don’t tell the whole story. Total costs are the sum of all the variable costs and fixed costs. Undervalued community … Continue reading →
What is the value of a local home high school football game? How about the value of a community service organization? When I began my teaching career in undergraduate economics, I also moved back to my ancestorial home, Greenville, Illinois, … Continue reading →
Food price inflation is still in the news. Eggs have become a national security issue. Well, one would think so from the news. Mostly, the egg-laying chickens are sick and dying. But once we get beyond this egg-industry crisis, we … Continue reading →
One hundred and one years ago, USDA began counting the production of soybeans on US farms. This is not because that is when farmers began harvesting soybeans for grain. No. This is when the quantity of soybean production was sufficient … Continue reading →
In a January 21, LinkedIn post about a 1/19/25 Wall Street Journal Article on food prices rising in December, it was speculated that it is traditional food eating month. If prices were going to rise in an annual cycle, December … Continue reading →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
