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 →
As an economist, I have been trained to see the world through a lens of critical thinking. As a manure visionary, I have been trained to look beyond traditional monetary values to measure both benefits and costs. If and when … Continue reading →
The emerging bioeconomy is effectively starting at the system level and moving down to individual market activities. A constant for millions of years is photosynthesis. It captures solar energy – everyday for millions of years – and converts it to … Continue reading →
In the most recent post, the case was made that in their role as producers, farms transform inputs into outputs more than establish and maintain markets in the final goods and services, retail sector. The 2022 Census of Agriculture also … 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 →
Local markets are defined in more than one way which distracts from agreement on the value of local markets. In calculus, local maxima, are defined as a relative measure rather than an absolute boundary. No explicit boundary is defined. Local … Continue reading →
As a quantitatively trained, free-market economist, I had been shaped to believe buying ‘local’ was a preference that was not cost-effective. But as I grew into a manure visionary and biomass systems economist, bulky and wet materials of limited value … Continue reading →
