Forget Oil, Worry About Phosphorus

“The following was authored by C. Robert Taylor, Alfa Eminent Scholar and Professor of Agricultural Economics at Auburn University and OCM Senior Economic Fellow and published in the Daily Yonder.” (all charts, graphs and illustrations can be found in the Newsletter archives, October 2010 edition) The world’s agriculture depends on a mineral that is declining in production and is controlled by a cartel of companies. Troubling, ain’t it? Modern farming methods depend increasingly on fossil fuels and major Read More …

Continue the March; No Time for a Unilateral Truce!

by Thomas F. “Fred” Stokes Over the past 30 or so years, there has developed a meek acquiescence to agricultural market concentration and anticompetitive practices and the resultant harm to family farms and ranches, rural America and our national food security. Government has seemingly been indifferent. The U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been captive to those it was supposed to regulate and the U. S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) rubber stamped every merger that came down Read More …

Restoring Economic Health to Beef Markets

restoringbeefmarkets C. Robert Taylor and David A. Domina Law have released a paper addressing how to restore economic health to the beef market. The paper addresses market power in the food industry, the status of the U.S. Beef Market for slaughter in 2010, the status of contract swine production in 2010, a detailed description on the flaws of the beef market and solutions to fix the problems.