Tag Archives: agriculture

From A Bird’s Eye View: Agri-Tech

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Agricultural scandals like the 2019 e-coli infections of Romaine lettuce have led many to question what they eat, where it comes from, and how it’s farmed. This combined with the prediction that by 2050 Earth will be inhibited by 9 billion humans has got a lot of people thinking. One idea is the concept of vertical farming which increases output and decreases yield volatility because of its predictable nature. Vertical farming really hit the spotlight in 2017 when Softbank raised $200 million for a company called Plenty. This has led many people to ask questions like is something so capital-intensive Continue reading From A Bird’s Eye View: Agri-Tech→

“City Folks Just Don’t Get It”: Farmersonly.com

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In 2005, a new niche dating site sprung up. Founded by Jerry Miller, an agricultural marketing specialist, Farmersonly.com grew from 2,000 to 2 million members in the first five years. Farmers Only joined the ranks of other niche dating sites like: Seekingarrangement.com, which links sugar daddies or mommas with sugar babies; theatlasphere.com, for lovers of Ayn Rand’s works; and cupidtino.com, for people who love Apple products. These niche dating sites are examples of thin or narrow markets, where the number of buyers and sellers are limited. While there are some incongruities between dating and other markets, mainly that the dater is simultaneously a “seller” and “buyer,” the concept Continue reading “City Folks Just Don’t Get It”: Farmersonly.com→

Bringing Perfect Competition to Life

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Agriculture serves as a perennial example of a perfectly competitive market. This type of market trades in a homogenous product, which means one producer’s output cannot be easily distinguished from another’s. Additionally, a perfectly competitive market has low barriers to entry/exit; beginning or ending production must be cheap and quick. Also, a large set of buyers and sellers participate in these markets, so individual players cannot move the market. Ideal agriculture meets all these criteria: one sack of potatoes is essentially the same as any other, planting decisions are often flexible, and crop markets are mostly well populated. Last semester Continue reading Bringing Perfect Competition to Life→