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 →
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 American Farm Bureau Federation does an excellent job with the annual Thanksgiving Meal Survey, and they have for nearly 40 years. They have the infrastructure and the expertise to make it work every year. All of their prices are … Continue reading →
Who pays a tariff? This was a standard question in my Greenville University undergraduate economics class. Tariffs are taxes, mostly on imported goods. When the United States imposes a 25 percent, or $0.25/$1, tariff on an imported good, an imported … Continue reading →
The last few years have been an inflationary roller coaster. On September 26, nearly 50 years of US inflation was used to illustrate HOW NOT TO USE inflation (spurious correlation). Part of understanding what charts of inflation actually mean, is … 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 →
This chart was created in 2011 to illustrate the US. price of fuel relative to the US. price of food. The debate back in those days was whether to produce food or fuel (food vs. fuel). It was the politics … 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 →
The last seven years, Greenville University has been building a BS in Agribusiness, in their Briner School of Business. This has required a target market for arming agribusiness graduates, hungry for leadership in their formative careers. This chart from USDA, … Continue reading →
