Farm & Food File
A syndicated column by Alan Guebert
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Confused? We’re Not!
Posted on October 31, 2014
All right, listen up! We’ve got a lot to sort out here and little time to do it.
First off, sure, you’re confused. Hey, your neighbor is confused. Your uncle’s confused. Your dog’s confused. Fact is, everyone’s confused. But we’ve been confused worse than this before and we all managed to somehow find our way to […]
Welcome Greenie Weenie Wally
Posted on May 13, 2014
Walmart, the elephant of American food retailing, announced April 10 that it plans to bring its clout, cash and vegetable crispers to the American pea patch this year and bigfoot its way into the still-growing U.S. organic grocery business.
The news sent Wall Street motor mouths into overdrive. Walmart’s entrance into organic grocery retailing, they breathlessly […]
“I Know What I Know”
Posted on April 16, 2014
Members of Congress are finally getting around to reading the Farm Bill they approved late this winter after three years of gum bumping, chest beating, and finger pointing. Their big discovery so far?
Many now are shocked (shocked! I say) that the money they thought they had saved in food stamps and commodity programs won’t be […]
Ag’s New Math
Posted on January 20, 2014
It might be a new year but the old year’s weaknesses persist.
For example, I still try to type the word “separate” with one “a,” still can’t walk past a display of cherry licorice without buying some, and still can’t do high-end math like, say, division.
Part of that latter weakness goes back to the 1960s when […]
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Great, but one Goliath, Tyson Foods, sold $116 million of meat protein every day in 2020. Easy guess is you’re gonna need a bigger rock, a better slingshot or both. https://t.co/kpXtTDoquP
Great read: Law schools teach ‘market efficiency’ as a core legal tenet when there’s nothing legal about its resulting poverty, hunger & inequality. Markets are political (the ‘political economy’) and today’s lawmaking ensures it. Let’s fix this. https://t.co/Iuut52JMip
Bigger ‘supply chains’ often mean just bigger pockets to pick. Want to make it really easy? Run 40% of all US grain biz thru same software. Wow. https://t.co/QAzBnkLQs2
The only thing more connected than the Iowa pipeline are the Iowans backing it it: political kingmaker Bruce Rastetter, former guv Terry Branstad… and all for ethanol’s ever-shrinking future. Bad idea for a disappearing alternative fuel. https://t.co/0Enw6lyhMR
Gee, Nebraska combines state Depts. of Env. & Energy and this is its result… Who could have ever guessed? https://t.co/azHmfvA35u