Food prices popped back up a bit over the last week, according to the Economist, but have remained relatively stable for the last month. Down 1.7 percent over the last month, up 58.7 percent over the last year. West Texas Intermediate is up 99.8 percent over the last year (that would be “double”), and gold, …
New Scientist has been banging the drum about wheat virus doom of late, but I wasn’t convinced that they were not being alarmist. (My key metric: no one else was writing about it.) Oh crap. Other people are writing about it: The fungal disease could spread to other wheat producing states in the Near East …
I wrote a piece in Sunday’s newspaper about new work by Ben Cook at NASA Goddard and his colleagues about the role of dust in the Dust Bowl drought. As the name implies, we knew the Dust Bowl was dusty. The new bit here is a much more clear understanding of the role of dust …
That I can sit here in the comfort of my own home, idly curious about irrigation in California’s Imperial Valley, and look up the 1950 Census of Agriculture’s California county-by-county data. 503,686 Q: How has irrigation in California’s Imperial Valley changed over the years? A: Great question, John! In 1950, there were 532,543 acres under …
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A couple of pieces worth reading in the morning paper by my colleagues on subjects of personal interest: Mike Coleman on the political realities underlying the energy grandstanding coming out of Washington Susan Stiger on the virtues of growing and eating locally
Global food prices have leveled off, according to the Economist food price index out today. It’s settled at 251.5, down 0.6 percent from a week ago and up 61.3 percent from a year ago. I don’t understand it well enough to know for sure, but I’ve got to assume that 0.6 percent over a week …
This week’s Economist Food Price Index: 253.9, down 4 percent from last week. (Could someone do me a favor and let me know if the Economist link works? I’ve got a paid subscription now, so I’ve no idea what is free and what is behind their pay wall.)
Burger King to offer burgers made of Kobe beef. I’m guessing not at the BK in Burkina Faso.
Australians seem to want to confront the inevitable conflict between ag and urban water use by buying out the farmers: Australia’s government promised Tuesday to spend about $2.9 billion to buy river water from farmers in a bid to address the country’s worst drought in a century…. But a mayor in the farming district targeted …
From the AP story on the Mars-Wrigley merger: “In terms of Warren Buffett’s sweet spot, these are exactly the kind of brands that he wants,” said Jet Hollander, a former candy industry executive who is president of the snack food consulting firm Pre-Eminence Strategy Group. I’m guessing they don’t have “snack food consulting firms” in …
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