Information arrives every day in our lives as a mashup of seemingly unconnected ideas, facts and guesses.
Our ability to spot or at least assign plausible cause and effects to events looking backward might be helpful but focusing on the right clues to understand the future is another vital skill altogether.
I pulled together 13 different data sets and trends for the cover story of the May/June issue of Farm Journal. Be sure to dig into those issues and let me know how you think they’ll impact your operations.
For now, here are just a few of the big ideas I’m tracking.
Men, Women and Babies: Farms Will Never Be the Same
What impact do later marriages have in our lives? It is changing the generational rhythm of our lives. Later marriages mean later children. Later children mean fewer children and the end result is a bigger gap between generations.
Can the Push for More Solar Energy and Farmland Coexist?
There is no government involvement in acquiring energy sites. It is done by agreement with landowners and energy developers, not imminent domain, or government seizure. Consequently, much of the outrage felt by farmers arises from not owning the land.
Is the U.S. Running Out of Farmland?
Farmland resembles the dairy paradox – many fewer cows each year producing far more milk. Similarly, corn yields have increased on average about 2% per year for decades. Finally, if there were truly sound reasons to worry about having enough farmland to feed America, we could free up tens of millions of acres by ending the ethanol mandate.
The jaw-dropping inflation rates of the last 6 months have turned all those amateur epidemiologists into amateur economists. It has also finally given inflation hawks their chance to say, “Told you so!” and they did – for about the last thirty years. Inflation predictions were so wrong for so long, the real thing has flummoxed us entirely. The other problem with this abrupt price change is the number of things to blame.
The Truth Behind the Numbers in Calculating Agriculture’s Trade Balance
Ag doesn’t seem to me to be the bright and shining star of U.S. trade. It’s our service sector – finance, insurance, education, etc. Its trade surplus is over 10 times the ag surplus. Since almost nobody in ag is aware of that fact, how much should we worry about the ag trade balance?
Why Ukraine’s Agricultural Footprint Matters So Much
It’s all about Ukraine these days. While I know you have been inundated with information, here are some facts that may have been overlooked and I have found interesting.
Not long ago the government (politics) was the default focus of blame for disappointing outcomes. While it still pops up in conversation, the “supply chain” has become our go-to explanation for things that are not our fault — and some that are.
