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     Not too long ago, a committe in Switzerland was charged with trying to delineate a reasonable ethics of plant use.  The Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Gene Technology wrestled with this sticky question since the approval of experiments in genetics and subsequent funding require that the ethical dimensions of the experiment pass muster.

     It is interesting that they concluded that bio-technology in the form of gene manipulation or transfer was not necessarily unethical and that any motive which means to conserve the survival of humans is a an ethical motive.  The one thing they had issue with was eliminating the plant's ability to reproduce or destroying the mechanisms within it by which it might adapt in the future.  The notion here I am reasonably sure is that such manipulations would doom the plant to extinction.  Hybrid Rose growers wanted to make sure they knew that the most beautiful roses used to express the highest human expression of affection required that the male plant be sterile.  They did not object (in the majority) to private ownership of species, i.e., patents.

I thought I would step out of my normal blogging on family, employee and management issues and forward a few observations and notes from conversations with producers across the midwest.  My travels this spring and summer have taken me to most of the parts of the country that have seen weather extremes, so I thought I'd share what I've seen and heard.  These comments are all anecdotal, so use them at your own discretion.....

 --In speaking with a seed sales rep in the central/eastern Iowa area, they cut off re-seeding beans in the flooded areas on July 10.  The reason being that even if they do come up, the same areas that are prone to flooding are the same areas prone to an early frost......

SwineCast 0322 Show Notes:

• Special review of two new provisions of the Farm Bill... ACRE and SURE programs 

SwineCast 0321 Show Notes:

• Livestock movement concerns the focus of the National Pork Boards' Transportation Biosecurity Summit
• Catching up with Informa Economics Jim Wiesemeyer for a look at the Washington scenery
• AgCareer's HR Roundtable scheduled for Aug 4-6 this year 

     Externalities is a concept in economics that I have written about here before but is rapidly becoming the lynchpin argument behind efforts to curb capitalism on a global scale.  It is the primary focus of the attack on modern swine production at the present time at almost every level and across almost any dimension of production (from antibiotic use to shipping products across the ocean).  

     Externalities can be either positive or negative.  Positive externalities occur when products, services or benefits created by a production process cannot be charged for in the normal course of business.  Negative externalities occur when all of the costs which the firm generates are not paid since they do not involve a vendor. 

SwineCast 0320 Show Notes:

• Trace minerals effect as antioxidants.  A conversation with Dr Gretchen Hill
• Grad Student Melissa Hahn logs in with some comments on her research with amino acids and birthweights
• North Carolina update... Todd See shares research on development waste storage systems to meet the state's requirements for new construction
• ARS may have an answer.. a water treatment plant for y

SwineCast 0319 Show Notes:

• You've heard of InBev's unsolicited takeover of American Original Budweiser. Hear now from InBev CEO Carlos Brita sharing thoughts on building a corporate culture. Good for you to consider regardless of company size
  

It is interesting if not a little disconcerting to see the way investment capital has moved around sectors in the last 10 years creating both opportunity and a mess to clean up.

The accumulation of individuals and firms is always seeking a return as both a source of income and a hedge against inflation or price level changes. That means stowing money in the mattress is not an option very many people take. As investments are made in stocks or land or other instruments, the money is available to create value, build new business and stoke innovation.

Problems arise as the competitive nature of investors coupled with the near instaneous availability of information via broadband unleash an ever increasing search for higher returns even when they have to be created by ever more risky ventures or enablers to investment (such as the zero down, interest only mortgages of the housing bubble).

SwineCast 0319a Show Notes:

• Special presentation of Dr. Bob Morrison's "At The Meeting" group reviewing impacts on efficiency at the farm level
  

Recently I spent a week in London and everywhere I went I noticed how cars were getting smaller and smaller as Londoners faced the skyrocketing cost of fuel. The typical public service worker in London makes about 26k (pound sterling) and the typical private sector worker makes about 35k (pound sterling). They buy their gasoline by the liter and it costs about 4.5 pound sterling a gallon. As I have mentioned, if you are a tourist from the U.S. that's about $9/gallon if you rent a car.

There were a lot of very strange looking conveyances which I suppose classify as cars including the so-called Smart Car. You can check one of these out at www.smartcarpictures.com.