Honduras and U.S. land values

I arrived here in Honduras today. We heard an overview of the country's "perfect position" for international investment. Much more to come with several produce farms on the agenda....

Meanwhile, I note the USDA has a report about land values. Predictably, higher crop prices are leading U.S. land values higher. From the USDA agricultural land values report on Aug. 4:



Agricultural Land Values Highlights
Farm real estate values, a measurement of the value of all land and buildings on farms, averaged $2,350 per acre on January 1, 2008, up 8.8 percent from 2007. The $2,350 per acre is a record high and $190 more than a year earlier.
Both crop land and pasture values for 2008 are record highs. Cropland values rose by 10 percent to $2,970 per acre, up from theprevious high of $2,690 in 2007. Pasture value rose by 6 percent to $1,230 per acre. While commercial and residential development has slowed in many regions, farm real estate values continue to increase. Strong commodity prices and farm programs, outside investments, favorable interest rates, and tax incentives continue to be the factors that drive farm real estate values to record levels. Livestock prices, recreational use, and urban development remain the predominant influences that increase pasture land values.
Regional increases in the average value of farm real estate ranged from 1.6 percent in the Northeast region to 15.5 percent in the Northern Plains region. The highest farm real estate values remained in the Northeast region, where development pressure continued to push the average value to $5,080 per acre. TheNorthern Plains region had the lowest farm real estate value, at $1110 per acre, up 15.5 percent from the previous year. In the CornBelt region cropland values rose 14.8 percent, to $4,260 per acre.The Southern Plains region increased 12 percent from the previous year, to $1,490 per acre. The Northern Plains region also had the highest average percentageincrease in pasture value, 19.7 percent above 2007. In theSouthern Plains and Mountain regions, which account for more than half of the pasture in the U.S., pasture values per acre increased17.1 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.

Andy's take: tomato warnings justified

The Sacramento Bee ran this comment from Andrew von Eschenback in response to the paper's July 21 editorial. Yes, as you guessed it, the FDA continues to stand by its earlier tomato warnings. In other words, don't expect the agency's response to change about their past actions and you won't be disappointed. From the Bee:




Andrew C. von Eschenbach, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, is responding to July21 editorial "Killer tomatoes? Or ... / Illness, dumped produce reveal a problem."


The Bee incorrectly states in its editorial that the Food and Drug Administration "reconsidered its warning" to avoid several types of tomatoes during the food borne illness emergency involving Salmonella Saintpaul. We did not reconsider. We explicitly lifted the warning, based upon evidence uncovered during our ongoing investigation.
The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, both part of Health and Human Services, have collaborated with state, local and international partners in a weeks-long investigation into the nation's largest outbreak of salmonella infections.
State-of-the-art methods of investigation revealed a strong association between eating raw tomatoes and illnesses reported early in this outbreak.
Based on that information and using the same process employed during emergencies involving spinach in 2006 and peanut butter in 2007, the FDA made recommendations necessary to protect public health.
A food-borne illness investigation is a lot like a detective trying to solve a case. We often must rely on people's memory about what they ate last week,or the week before that, or the week before that. We compare information from those who got sick with information from people who didn't. This process often produces suspects, or leads.In this case, eating raw tomatoes was strongly associated with cases of illness.
The FDA and CDC recently broadened the investigation and warnings to new leads. A nationwide study found that ill people were likely to have eaten raw jalapeño and serrano peppers in addition to raw tomatoes.
Data from all investigations indicate that raw jalapeño peppers from Mexico are likely to be a major cause of the disease outbreak. Raw serrano peppers and raw tomatoes remain under investigation.
On July 17,the FDA lifted its warning on raw tomatoes, saying that the tomatoes now available in the domestic market were not grown in areas associated with the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak. The tomatoes available today are from different sources than those available at the beginning of the outbreak, and the science supports the change in our warning.
At every point of this investigation, the FDA has followed the science, weighed the risk to public health, issued - and lifted - warnings based on solid, scientific evidence to promote and protect the public health