The price of eggs reported by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics used in the January Consumer Price Index (CPI), was $4.95 per dozen. In many places it is higher than this. In the Midwest if you know where to … Continue reading →
When markets fail to perform efficiently does that mean only a government policy fix will work? Or when the government policies fail does that mean only a market fix will succeed? In a word, no. This chart shows the total … Continue reading →
Trade fundamentally seeks out the most efficient combination of resource use. In economic terms, it optimizes the lowest opportunity cost. The US, and more recently Brazil, produce soybeans so well they supply the world. When other nations import soybeans, it … 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
