Why India needs transgenic crops

[Michael Perelman]

In response to your sheesh, Brad.  You are correct that the US would be
expected to have low yield, high output per labor conditions.  The not
particularly productive would imply several aspects; You could just as
easily say that traditional Asian -- high yield, low output per hour is
productive.  In addition, the externalities from US ag are horrendous.  I
wrote a book about this in 1977 and it pretty much holds true today.

On Mon, Jul 29, 2002 at 09:23:28PM -0700, Brad DeLong wrote:
> >you are right and wrong.  The US yields are not particularly high, but the
> >US output per worker are VERY high.  Also, last I looked the US was a net
> >food importer, by $$$.  We import the pricey stuff.
> >
> >On Mon, Jul 29, 2002 at 10:18:14PM -0400, Doug Henwood wrote:
> >>  Michael Perelman wrote:
> >>
> >>  >The US model is not particularly productive.  It was designed to save
> >  > >labor; US yields are actually fairly low.
> 
> 
> So in what sense is U.S. agriculture not "productive"? A "productive" 
> agriculture in the U.S.--given its relatively low population, the 
> high product of labor outside agriculture, and its enormous endowment 
> of land--would seem to be an agriculture that economized on labor and 
> used its land extensively, thus achieving a high level of output per 
> worker and a not-so-high level of output per acre.
> 
> "U.S. agriculture not particularly productive." Sheesh...
> 
> 
> Brad DeLong

-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu