On the eve of USDA’s Ag Outlook Forum, Scott Irwin posted his analysis, Trends in the Operational Efficiency of the U.S. Ethanol Industry: 2024 Update. It looks at four simultaneous outputs: ethanol, DDGS, corn oil, and CO2, from dry-mill ethanol … Continue reading →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
If this chart looks familiar, it is because this is the food price inflation chart used in the post, ‘Food Prices are Not Driving 2024 Inflation – Real Adventures in Economics. The difference is the scale of the vertical axis. … Continue reading →
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 →
All of the ‘local market’ references in the Greenville, Illinois Independence Day post have evolved from guiding farmers and agribusinesses for decades on moving bulky, undervalued manure and biomass residues. The farther they travel, the less reusable value they have. … Continue reading →
Karen Maguire, Sophia J. Tanner, Justin B. Winikoff, and Ryan Williams USDA, Economic Research Service, May 2024 The following findings were reported in this interesting report. This study examines land cover surrounding rural solar and wind installation sites from 2009–20. … Continue reading →
