Holly Martin at the High Plains Journal hits on something I saw for myself last year when she talks about how the bad practices of the banking industry (often at the behest of government) have led to some of the mess we’re in now. And how shocking it is to those of us who know [...]
Archive for February, 2009
26 Feb
Fair Trade Fleecing Farting Farmers
Totally unrelated excuse for F filled title,
A surprising indictment of Fair Trade coffee at of all places, Mother Jones. See the comments for the good stuff.
Turns out my methane spewing cattle aren’t doing enough to harm the earth, I’m gonna have to get some sheep if I want to fulfill my dream of becoming [...]
24 Feb
Farm Policy Fretting
Two points of view on the coming changes in Ag Policy, first commercial beef commentator Steve Cornett, and then his arch rival, well known food writer, Berkley professor Michael Pollan. Basically all their hand wringing stems from the fact that the ag/food sector has so much inherent federal meddling and unintended consequences. Too [...]
23 Feb
Perplexing Photo Op
John Phipps is one of the best ag columnists in the country, I may not always agree with him, but he’s always entertaining. In this latest piece he recounts a chance run in with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich in 2004, and inadvertently gets to the sad modern relationship between government and agriculture. (Or is [...]
20 Feb
The Friday Moment Of Zen
I’ve posted some really boring stuff this week, so here’s the young budding capitalist with her first production, and Curious George the beagle, living up to his namesake…
19 Feb
Hunger Is In
It’s sometimes hard to put your finger on, but it’s definitely becoming apparent that “The Global Food Crisis” on track to be the new excuse for wannabe nanny staters and outright totalitarians. Replacing discredited Al Gore with the previously discredited Malthus, predictions of coming shortages and famine are all the rage these days. [...]
17 Feb
Taxing the living to pay for the dead
I spent the morning cruising my usual links and found a half dozen versions of the same story explaining how the billions of dollars the ag sector is getting in the new porkulus bill is going to save us all. I didn’t have the heart to comment on it, as seeing my ag brethren [...]
16 Feb
Malthusian Fantasy Camp
I think all this fear mongering talk of recession and depression has inspired the inner Ehrlich of some lefties, and has them buying tickets for the Malthusian Fantasy Camp they’ve been dreaming of all their lives. Most of it seems to be coming from Airstrip One, which is ironically the home of some of [...]
12 Feb
The perils of vertical integration
For years the commercial chicken industry has set up a nice scheme for themselves. They have individual farmers build high dollar commercial chicken houses, then offset their own risk by contracting with those now in debt and desperate farmers to raise the chickens they supply, at the farmer’s risk, and at a predetermined price. [...]
11 Feb
On the brink? Doubtful.
Are America and the UK on the brink of a food crisis? We are if you ask these folk, as well as these. Will it be organic, sustainable agriculture that saves us, or are some greens going to admit that there might be some benefit in GMOs after all?
John Beddington, the chief scientific [...]
