Agriculture

choi

My comment: There is no need to read either of the reports.

(1) John Eligon, An Iowa Farmer’s Quest for No Ordinary Pig. New York Times, Mar 1, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/0 ... or-perfect-pig.html

three consecutive paragraphs:

"Carl Edgar Blake II [of Ionia, Iowa] has tried to breed the perfect pig. Fatty and smooth. Meaty and flavorful.

"He crossed a Chinese swine, the Meishan, with the Russian wild boar — emulating a 19th-century German formula created when King Wilhelm I imported the fatty Meishan to breed with leaner native wild pigs in what is now the state of Baden-Württemberg. They called that one the Swabian Hall. With dark and juicy meat, it assumed a place among Europe’s finest swine.

"Mr Blake, 49, has bet that his 21st-century American version — the Iowa Swabian Hall — can be equally delectable.

Note:
(a)
(i) Ionia, Iowa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionia,_Iowa
(a city of 291 in the 2010 census)
(ii) Ionia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionia
(b) Meishan (pig)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meishan_(pig)

(c) Baden-Württemberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baden-W%C3%BCrttemberg
(Capital Stuttgart; The area used to be covered by the historical state of Baden, the former Prussian Hohenzollern, and Württemberg, part of the region of Swabia)
(i) Grand Duchy of Baden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Baden
(1806-1918)
(ii) Province of Hohenzollern
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Hohenzollern
(a de facto province of the Kingdom of Prussia; 1850–1946)

Its name was from the ruling House of Hohenzollern.
(iii) Kingdom of Württemberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdon_of_W%C3%BCrttemberg
(1806-1918; The Kingdom was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which came into existence in 1495; The Kingdom was bordered by Bavaria on the east and by Baden on the other three sides)
(iv) Swabia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabia
(Two thousand years ago, the Suebi or Suevi were an Elbe Germanic tribe whose origin was near the Baltic Sea)

(d) Swabian-Hall Swine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian-Hall_Swine
(originating from Schwäbisch Hall in Baden-Württemberg [a town], Germany)

Quote: "The breed was started by King William I [1781-1864; reign 1816-1864] of Württemberg, who imported Chinese Meishan pigs in 1820 to crossbreed with the German Landrace with the idea of increasing the fat content. The breed proved popular * * * However, their popularity declined in the 1960s with the markets preferring leaner pork with less fat than the Swabian-Hall could offer.


(2) Agriculture | Fields of Gold; Farmers bask in soaring prices. Economist, Feb 23, 2013.
http://www.economist.com/news/un ... -prices-fields-gold

Quote:

(A) Despite record swath of drought in US last year, "some think that [us] farming is in the midst of another golden age, thanks to booming commodity markets and record prices for farmland.

"In recent years strong global demand for food and biofuels has been pushing crop prices higher. The drought has helped, not hindered, profits. For farmers able to produce corn (maize), it raised prices dramatically. The average price of corn was about 20% higher last year than in 2010, and reached $8.49 a bushel (25kg) in August. For everyone else crop-insurance payments have stepped in, reaching a record $14.2 billion in payments in mid-February, a figure that is expected to go on growing a bit as insurers finalise the claims. This year, according to a report from the USDA on February 11th, farm profits may rise by 14% to $128 billion, the highest in real terms since 1973.

(B) "As crops are bringing in higher prices, and with interest rates at historic lows [thus siphoning money away from bank deposits], farmland has become increasingly valuable to investors. * * * Land values in Iowa, the biggest corn and soyabean producer, jumped 20%, the most among the five big agricultural Midwestern states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin are the others).