Agribusiness Executives Tune-Up at Harvard
by Hal Hamilton
— January 27, 2003 —
I felt a bit like a fish out of water as I walked into the Harvard Business School Agribusiness Executive Seminar. My whole professional life has been spent working on behalf of farming communities. At Harvard I was in the midst of a fraternity of people who run the food system.
There were 160 participants, [...]
Imagine Agriculture as a Competitive Game: Who Wins?
by Hal Hamilton
— December 3, 2002 —
Imagine agriculture as a vast competitive game structured by economic rules. All the players are competing to win with one formula of success: the highest returns and the lowest costs.
The power of this game is that it’s the only game. To farm, buy, process and market food and fiber you play by the efficiency [...]
Ending The Race To The Bottom
by Elizabeth Sawin
— November 1, 2002 —
Here’s a simple game that makes a not-so-simple point.
Stand in a line, with several friends. Each of you hold your right index finger out in front of your body. Now place a long stick across all of your fingers, balanced upon them. Your collective goal is to lower the stick to the ground. There [...]
Dead Zone Economics
by Elizabeth Sawin
— October 1, 2002 —
The headline in the August 16 issue of Science magazine is ominous — “Dead Zone Grows.” To the right of the headline is a map of the Gulf of Mexico. And drawn on the map, hugging the shoreline, is an irregular green stripe. This is the Dead Zone, an area of the Gulf where [...]
Why is the World Angry About the US Farm Bill?
by Hal Hamilton
— September 19, 2002 —
Editorials and proclamations around the world express dismay about the 2002 U.S. farm bill. Media releases from the world summit in Johannesburg were full of criticisms by people in the developing world.
They blame us for hypocritically touting free trade while we subsidize exports that are dumped in their markets. Their local farmers are pushed [...]
