Federal Reserve: Farmer, gird thy loins. Financially speaking
CNBC had a good take on the recent Federal Reserve report. The rhetorical title of the report is "Farm Investment and Leverage Cycles: Will This Time Be Different?" We suspect that last part is a rhetorical question.
The looming "fix" to MCool
Thursday is the deadline WTO set for USDA to finalize the rules it believes--"believes" being a strong term for it, we suspect--will allow the mandatory country of origin labeling law to meet trade obligations.
If there have been any second thoughts in the agency about its proposed regulations--which interests as diverse as Mexico and Canada, NCBA, AMI and FMI claim will be more discriminatory--there has been no sign of it.
A reminder, as the deadline approaches, can be found here.
Also, our most transparent secretary of agriculture in history produced this statement this morning, after his meeting with one of the claimants. It is Very, Very informative on the matter. NOT!
NPR projection: All meat sales banned in 2050
They were just conjecturing there, but there has been a lot of talk lately about the future of lab-grown meat. If you'd like to consider the prospects of such a future, devote a few moments to the clip sheet of Modern Meadow, the company that plans to make it all happen.
Again with the Record Prices! Record Prices!
Record beef prices are good for the people who make beef. That's us. We should be happy. But we might not want to just continue to remind consumers, day after day. GMC doesn't go to a lot of trouble to scream "Pickup prices higher than ever." That would not be smart marketing.
Thus, perhaps we should fret more about the ubiquitous "beef-prices-at-record" headlines we see in these daily internet scans. It probably is one of the reasons beef demand has deflated this year.
Beef's "iconic" marketing program.
Any one of us could, judging by the cow people we talk to, do a better job than the Beef Board does, but it's hard to argue with beef's inclusion in this list of the most iconic commercials of all time. They must be doing something right.
Couple of takes on the Cattle on Feed report
Bloomberg's take
Oklahoma Farm Report's take
Mosquito repellant reminder
Pinnochios for the HSUS IRS mole
You'll remember we mentioned earlier that the IRS lady is suspected of having greased the wheels for the HSUS tax exemption. If you missed it, here's a reminder from Humane watch and a rather uncomplimentary take on her credibility from the WaPo.
More woes for immigration "reform"
AgWeb: Immigration Encounters Business-Labor Rift that Undid 2007 Bill
NYT: Larger Union Enforcing Immigration Opposes Bill
Climate change this, climate change that.
Lamar Smith worries that all the hype is, in and of itself, bad for the economy.
Good news: Japan's hearty beef appetite
JBS says demand for beef in Japan is robust and profitable.
Slimed BPI struggles on