Thomas Dobbs’s Posts

• Time to fundamentally reassess the WTO's Doha Round

  Food sovereignty needs to be the center of renewed negotiations 2

  Posted 11 months, 2 weeks ago

  With each new event or international conference in 2008's saga of economic and food crises, there are calls to complete the long-running Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations. The international players all act as if achieving a Doha agreement, seemingly any agreement, will help solve one or more aspects of these crises.

  The latest such conference was the G-20 Summit, Nov. 14-15 in Washington, D.C., called to coordinate actions on the financial and consequent economic crises that have spread from the U.S. to much of the world. The joint statement released at the conclusion of the G-20 Summit called… Read More

• Paying for environmental services

  A little noted provision of the new Farm Bill 4

  Posted 1 year, 1 month ago

  The federal Farm Bill that was passed and signed into law in June contains a little noted provision directing the USDA to establish a framework that would facilitate participation of farmers and landowners in emerging environmental services markets. At a time when the American market system seems to be collapsing all around us, how should the USDA proceed in carrying out this directive? A set of case studies of environmental service markets in agriculture and forestry around the world that was recently published by the international journal Ecological Economics provides some valuable insights.

• Farm and function

  Agriculture produces more than just crops -- and it's time for policy to reflect that 6

  Posted 1 year, 5 months ago

  In spite of the best efforts of sustainable agriculture, environmental, and healthy food advocates over the past two years to reform U.S. farm policy, the bill recently passed by Congress lacks fundamental reform. Although the bill includes some environmental and healthy food system improvements over existing legislation, the system of commodity subsidies remains intact, and it is these subsidies, together with biofuels subsidies and mandates embodied in the farm bill and energy legislation, that drive the basic structure of the U.S. farm and food system.

  To break the farm-block stranglehold on farm and food policy the next time around,… Read More

• Time for some rehab

  Agriculture is drunk on corn-based ethanol 8

  Posted 1 year, 10 months ago

  Thomas Dobbs is Professor Emeritus of Economics at South Dakota State University, and a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellow.

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  American agriculture is becoming addicted to corn-based ethanol, and the economic and environmental effects of this addiction call for some intervention!

  The explosive growth in U.S. ethanol production from corn is having worldwide ramifications. December 6 articles in The Economist ("Cheap no more" and "The end of cheap food") trace the impacts of ethanol production on prices of other crops and on food. Rising crop prices can benefit farmers not only in the U.S.,… Read More

• It's economics, not agronomy

  Why gutting commodity subsidies should be the focus of Farm Bill reform efforts 4

  Posted 1 year, 11 months ago

  Thomas Dobbs is Professor Emeritus of Economics at South Dakota State University, and a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellow.

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  Tom Philpott wrote an article in which he challenged some of the key assumptions underlying Farm Bill reform efforts of the past year ("It's the Agronomy, Stupid"). He contended that gutting commodity subsidies would not solve the U.S.'s long-standing oversupply problems, and that we need the money currently in the "commodity" title to remain available for eventual support of conservation and other measures reformers hold dear.

  The following day, a guest post by Britt… Read More

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Thomas Dobbs’s Recent Comments

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  PES not best policy tool for all services

  I fully agree with several of picoallen's points, and have stated in my post that PES not the best policy approach for all situations. I also noted that there are special problems with biodiversity services, which sounds like the kind of ecological preservation you are talking about. The special issue of Ecological Economics does not 'sugar coat' these problems. The problem of lack of permenance beyond contact period is fully recognized. In fact, the concluding article in the special issue states that if the externality is permanent, there is no reason to expect service provision will extend beyond the contract period. In that type of case, payments need to be ongoing. And in some cases, as you point out, the government (or other service user) might be better off purchasing the service provision area outright. Certainly, a 3-yr contract period is totally unrealistic.

  Thomas L. Dobbs Professor Emeritus of Economics, South Dakota State University, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellow

  On A little noted provision of the new Farm Bill posted 1 year, 1 month ago 4 Responses

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  yes, indeed, the language is vague

  The language in this new Farm Bill provision is, indeed, quite vague. That's one reason I did this post, to alert the environmental community to watch for opportunities for dialogue and input.

  Thomas L. Dobbs Professor Emeritus of Economics, South Dakota State University, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellow

  On A little noted provision of the new Farm Bill posted 1 year, 1 month ago 4 Responses

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  Response to comment on agricultural priorities

  Certainly, soil quality is fundamental to all else in agriculure. But I don't agree that we should necessarily put animal feed, fuel, and fiber at the top of the list (just behind food) in all situations. The emphasis on biofuels, in particular--at least the way policies are being carried out at present in the U.S.--is sacrificing both soil and environmental quality. 'Multifunctionality' calls for critical examination of function priorities in each time and place, not blind obedience to some predetermined order.

  Thomas L. Dobbs Professor Emeritus of Economics, South Dakota State University, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellow

  On Agriculture produces more than just crops -- and it's time for policy to reflect that posted 1 year, 5 months ago 6 Responses

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  Response to comment on the IAASTD study

  I was not part of the IAASTD study, but I do not read the Synthesis report and process as the 'North' telling the 'South' what to do. I read it as being more empowering, as admitting that the agricultural path taken in recent decades by both North and South was (in hindsight) not necessarily the best one. 'Multifunctionality' does not dictate what weights different countries or societies should place on each funtion. What it does is explicitly recognize that a range of agricultural functions--not just production of commodity crops--have a legitimate place in the policy process. A multifunctionality vision also tends to imply that environmental and social functions may be more compatible with long-term food production goals than has commonly been assumed in the past.

  Thomas L. Dobbs Professor Emeritus of Economics, South Dakota State University, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellow

  On Agriculture produces more than just crops -- and it's time for policy to reflect that posted 1 year, 5 months ago 6 Responses

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  cellulosic ethanol not viable

  Good post, Tom. When I was involved in some small-scale ethanol (corn-based) economics research 25 years ago, one of the biological scientists at my university was touting potential technological breakthroughs for cellulose at that time. Breakthoughs that would make cellulosic ethanol economically feasible were supposedly just around the corner--the same hype we've again been hearing the last 2 or 3 years. I think cellulosic ethanol is always going to be "just around the corner", kind of like the "light at the end of the tunnel" predictions we heard during the Vietnam War.

  Thomas L. Dobbs Professor Emeritus of Economics, South Dakota State University, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellow

  On New study from mainstream ag economists at Iowa State posted 1 year, 8 months ago 46 Responses