On Sat, Aug 27, 2005 at 06:45:52PM -0700, Gar Lipow wrote:
> On 8/27/05, Michael Perelman <michael at ecst.csuchico.edu> wrote:
> > > But the numbers on corn don't support your argument at all. US corn
> > > yields per hectare were 10.07 tonnes, more than twice the world
> > > average (and up considerably from your 8.0 number from 1988). No
> > > other country comes close. Canada approaches 84% of US yields, but
> > > with only a fraction of the area the US devotes to corn.
> > >
> > > You try to make the US sound like a bit of a slouch, but it's not
> > > really. Unless I'm missing something in reading these numbers.
>
> Interestingly enough Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN
> supports Michael's argumentson wheat. On rice we do seem to have
> yield above world average and most areas though we are not at the very
> top. On corn we seem to be surpassed by only a very few nations.
> (source links below table)
> | World| U.S. | Asia (Developed)|
> Industrialized| EU,
> Wheat | 29,065 | 29,029| 36,242 | 36,082
> | 58,537
> rice |40,038 |77,808 |64,150 |70,09
> | 67,485
> Corn |49,066 |100,650 |158,263 |93,112
> | 83,556
>
> wheat:http://tinyurl.com/9n5ky
> rice: http://tinyurl.com/bqfeo
> corn: http://tinyurl.com/b447w
>
> The exceptions who surpass us in rice
> Australia 82,308
> Egypt 96,850
> Honduras 83,650
>
> Bottom line we are productive - but not unmatched. And we could be
> just as produtive, per acre and per person hour with a lot fewer
> deadly inputs.
>
> The exceptions who surpass us in corn (including developed Asia)
> Belgium 122,246
> Chile 110,678
> Israel 160,000
> Kuwait 200,000
> New Zealand 113,333
> Qatar 125,926
>
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-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu