Agriculture

Agriculture

CAPITAL IDEAS: Water Markets Would Alleviate Shortages

We’ve all read the daily stories highlighting the drought’s impact on California’s economy and environment. Wells have run dry, forcing some Central Valley communities to shower in church parking lots. Farmers are fallowing land. In many areas of the state, over-pumping groundwater is causing the ground to sink. Read Report
Agriculture

Water markets would alleviate shortages

We’ve all read the daily stories highlighting the drought’s impact on California’s economy and environment. Wells have run dry, forcing some Central Valley communities to shower in church parking lots. Farmers are fallowing land. In many areas of the state, over-pumping groundwater is causing the ground to sink. California faces ...
Agriculture

Capital Ideas: California’s Water “Shortage”

KEY POINTS IN THIS BRIEF: Many commentators incorrectly identify California’s historic draught, melting of its snow caps, or a handful of misguided policies as the cause of the state’s current water crisis. The cause of California’s current water crisis is the absence of scarcity pricing based on the supply and ...
Agriculture

The Honeybees Are Just Fine

Is a relatively new class of insecticides, known as neonicotinoids or “neonics,” harming bees and other wildlife? That’s what the International Union for the Conservation of Nature claimed in a recent press release announcing the results of a meta-study the organization conducted earlier this year. One might have expected the ...
Agriculture

Today’s Energy Crisis: Too Much, Not Too Little, Fossil Fuel

Back in April 1977, President Carter warned that “the oil and natural gas we rely on for 75% of our energy are running out.” In response to the perceived energy supply shortages, he wanted to limit the annual growth in overall U.S. energy usage, force American consumers to lower their ...
Agriculture

Uncle Sam likes his sugar

The federal government continues to envision itself as Saint Michael, whose role is to save failing industries from the horrors of the market’s cruel discipline. At least it would seem so from its recent actions. Government bailouts for investment banks, insurance companies, large banks, small banks and the automobile companies ...
Agriculture

Environmentalists Try to Squash a Bug Killer

Green groups blame a widely-used insecticide for bee ‘die-offs,’ but the evidence is weak. In January, the European Commission advised the EU not to use neonicotinoids, a relatively new class of agricultural insecticides. Now the member countries are considering whether to ban the chemical. The Commission’s warning came after heavy ...
Agriculture

New Report Provides Recommendations to Improve CA’s Agriculture Industry

San Francisco – The Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, released a new report today that reviews the state of California’s agriculture production, examines the barriers that are impeding California’s agricultural economy, and provides recommendations for policy reforms that will spur additional growth. Growing California’s ...
Agriculture

Ruling risks interstate water pacts

A “neighborhood” dispute between Oklahoma and Texas could upset decades of water agreements that have facilitated the nation’s urban, agricultural and industrial growth. At issue in Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann is Oklahoma’s refusal to allow Texas to draw water to which it is entitled under the Red River ...
Agriculture

Can’t Live by Scenery Alone

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike,” wrote John Muir, in one of his many celebrations of the majesty of the Yosemite Valley. The Scottish-born founder of the Sierra Club recognized ...
Agriculture

CAPITAL IDEAS: Water Markets Would Alleviate Shortages

We’ve all read the daily stories highlighting the drought’s impact on California’s economy and environment. Wells have run dry, forcing some Central Valley communities to shower in church parking lots. Farmers are fallowing land. In many areas of the state, over-pumping groundwater is causing the ground to sink. Read Report
Agriculture

Water markets would alleviate shortages

We’ve all read the daily stories highlighting the drought’s impact on California’s economy and environment. Wells have run dry, forcing some Central Valley communities to shower in church parking lots. Farmers are fallowing land. In many areas of the state, over-pumping groundwater is causing the ground to sink. California faces ...
Agriculture

Capital Ideas: California’s Water “Shortage”

KEY POINTS IN THIS BRIEF: Many commentators incorrectly identify California’s historic draught, melting of its snow caps, or a handful of misguided policies as the cause of the state’s current water crisis. The cause of California’s current water crisis is the absence of scarcity pricing based on the supply and ...
Agriculture

The Honeybees Are Just Fine

Is a relatively new class of insecticides, known as neonicotinoids or “neonics,” harming bees and other wildlife? That’s what the International Union for the Conservation of Nature claimed in a recent press release announcing the results of a meta-study the organization conducted earlier this year. One might have expected the ...
Agriculture

Today’s Energy Crisis: Too Much, Not Too Little, Fossil Fuel

Back in April 1977, President Carter warned that “the oil and natural gas we rely on for 75% of our energy are running out.” In response to the perceived energy supply shortages, he wanted to limit the annual growth in overall U.S. energy usage, force American consumers to lower their ...
Agriculture

Uncle Sam likes his sugar

The federal government continues to envision itself as Saint Michael, whose role is to save failing industries from the horrors of the market’s cruel discipline. At least it would seem so from its recent actions. Government bailouts for investment banks, insurance companies, large banks, small banks and the automobile companies ...
Agriculture

Environmentalists Try to Squash a Bug Killer

Green groups blame a widely-used insecticide for bee ‘die-offs,’ but the evidence is weak. In January, the European Commission advised the EU not to use neonicotinoids, a relatively new class of agricultural insecticides. Now the member countries are considering whether to ban the chemical. The Commission’s warning came after heavy ...
Agriculture

New Report Provides Recommendations to Improve CA’s Agriculture Industry

San Francisco – The Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, released a new report today that reviews the state of California’s agriculture production, examines the barriers that are impeding California’s agricultural economy, and provides recommendations for policy reforms that will spur additional growth. Growing California’s ...
Agriculture

Ruling risks interstate water pacts

A “neighborhood” dispute between Oklahoma and Texas could upset decades of water agreements that have facilitated the nation’s urban, agricultural and industrial growth. At issue in Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann is Oklahoma’s refusal to allow Texas to draw water to which it is entitled under the Red River ...
Agriculture

Can’t Live by Scenery Alone

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike,” wrote John Muir, in one of his many celebrations of the majesty of the Yosemite Valley. The Scottish-born founder of the Sierra Club recognized ...
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