Sloppy eaters

I have a 10 month old Holstein calf named "Calfy 1." For some reason, he is a terrible eater. He scoops feed into his mouth until it is completely full, and then tosses it in the air. Almost 1/3 hits the ground...luckily we have 3 other calves that are willing to pick up after him!

Human beings are just as wasteful. As an ag. economist, we often focus on increasing production - which we have been quite successful at, and it makes a lot of sense.

However, we also must consider production loss.

Each year, 1.3 billion tonnes of food produced in the world is wasted, either in production or consumption (FAO key facts).

Approximately 22% of the food produced is wasted in production or retailing, and 8% is wasted by consumers.

This is our wheat field. If you look closely, you can see wheat kernels all over the ground. This is mostly unavoidable. Wheat = $ so as you can imagine, there is (or should be) a big monetary incentive for engineers to make combines more efficient.

45% of fruits and veggies are wasted, that's almost 1/2 of production that is never eaten!

How do we feed a growing world population? Increase production, improve harvest techniques, logistics, and transportation, and make wiser personal choices. Let's not imitate Calfy 1 if we can help it!

113 day fast

Since 1954, the US has given large quantities of food aid (1.4 million metric tonnes in 2012) to "food deficit" countries, either in the form of emergency assistance during a disaster or for projects such as school lunch programs. This week, Congress rejected major reforms to food aid that, in my opinion, would have been great steps in the right direction.

 
Food aid policy history:

1954 Public Law 480 - the US committed to give surplus grain to countries in need; however, the primary purpose was to get rid of excess grain, thus supporting grain prices for US farmers and promoting international trade (i.e. giving a bit selfishly)

1966 Food for Peace Act - amendments were made which shifted the focus of food aid to address humanitarian needs, but did not make really substantial changes. 

Until now, about 95% of food is sent from the US (rather than purchased regionally). The implications may be:

• Depressed food prices, which may hurt local farmers
• It takes 150 days for food sent from the US to reach the location of an emergency crisis versus 37 days if it is bought regionally

The new law would have allowed up to 45% of food to be procured locally or regionally, allowing food to reach it's destination in much better time. We can no longer argue that this would hurt US farmers - the amount of food aid pales in comparison to demand for grain used for cattle feed and ethanol.

The unfortunate part, of course, is that starving people we plan to help will just have to wait to eat an extra 113 days.

Quick trip to DC

This past weekend I traveled to Washington DC for an interview, and I made the most of it and spent a few days there.

 What my hotel room lacked in style...

 

 It made up for in soap (5 bars) and plastic cups (9 of them!) Why? I don't know

 The US Capitol, which I got to tour

 And the White House (not the same building, by the way, and a lot smaller)

 

The best part of the trip, was of course, getting to see my good friend Ayago (and Matt, no picture). He and I went to graduate school together at Kansas State University, now he works for the World Bank - he a smart and very cool guy

 

 And a sea cow - in the Smithsonian, how cool is that? it is so massive...I wish I raised sea cows and not just cows...but Kansas is quite far from the sea and this sea cow may be extinct so never mind

So glad to have the chance to see our nations capitol for the first time. It is a very beautiful city, with lots of sights to see and so full of history - I could have spent a lot more time looking around.