Is this accurate? Are there any politicians promoting this tax (or AT
LEAST discussing it)? Are there any countries that implement a
consumption tax? Is it a feasible alternative? My friend mentioned
that there has been (by whom? i don't know) discussion about the
consumption tax, and that its opponents fear what would happen to the
economy the few months before it is implemented, because they expect a
surge in spending . . . any thoughts on this?
I'll toss out something else that he mentioned . . . (sorry i keep
jumping around) . . . jeff (oh, that's my friend) thought that this
might be an option for companies with reduced sales after the
consumption would be implemented: a greater promotion for investments
in companies (how would this work? i don't know because i possess an
anthill of knowledge regarding the economy . . . ).
How would a consumption tax affect salaries? minimum wage? How would
it affect international trade? local businesses?
I'm really curious about this idea and i suspect that there are others
who already have discussed the consumption tax. If so, please let me
know your thoughts.
heidi
Heidi.A.Busse@Lawrence.edu
On Fri, 02 Oct 1998 14:25:19 -0400 (EDT) san@nal.usda.gov (Andy Clark,
SAN Coordinator) wrote:
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 14:51:06 -0400
>From: Tom Green <tagreen@compuserve.com>
>To: Andy Clark <san@nal.usda.gov>
>Subject: ACIC News
>
>
>***************************************************************
>Agricultural Conservation Innovation News
>September 28, 1998 Issue No. 2
>***************************************************************
>
>Produced and distributed bimonthly via e-mail by the Agricultural
>Conservation Innovation Center (ACIC), a private non-profit
>organization at
>2234 S. Hobson, Charleston, SC 29405-2413. 843-740-1325, 843-740-1331
>(fax), website <http://www.agconserv.com/>. For a free subscription or
>to
>unsubscribe, please e-mail your request to <tagreen@compuserve.com>.
>
>************
>Contents
>************
>
>I. Sponsoring organizations needed to speed innovations
>II. Excessive rainfall risk policy available
>III. Corn rootworm policy to accept recommended scouting protocols
>IV. Risk Journal: Risk aversion among crop consultants
>V. ACIC meeting schedule for 1998-1999
>VI. About ACIC
>
>***********************************************************************
>I. Sponsoring organizations needed to speed innovations
>
>Question: What's the fastest way to gain farmer adoption of new,
>conservation-enhancing techniques?
>
>Answer: Conduct risk-free demonstrations on farms in every county!
>
>Grower associations, Extension offices, Conservation Districts,
>agricultural input suppliers, crop consultants and other groups can now
>participate in a new program to speed adoption of innovations to
>benefit
>their members, constituents, customers and clients.
>
>Most farmers are reluctant to adopt new techniques even if the
>innovation
>has solid research behind it and promises to lower production costs and
>enhance conservation. It's only natural. How much of your annual salary
>would you bet on something new you had heard or read good things about,
>but
>had never experienced first hand?
>
>A new program developed by ACIC in collaboration with IGF Insurance
>Company
>can provide this first-hand experience without risk. The program
>provides
>for testing of innovative techniques on a portion of a farmer's acres.
>A
>low-cost insurance policy will reimburse the farmer for any yield
>shortfall
>between the innovative field and a comparable field. The comparable
>field
>must be managed in exactly the same manner as the innovative field,
>except
>for the innovative practice.
>
>This split-field approach has increased adoption of no-till in cotton
>fields, innovative disease management in apple orchards and IPM
>practices
>in tomato fields. Farmers have adopted these new innovations more
>rapidly
>because they saw the innovation practiced successfully on their own or
>neighboring farms.
>
>Sponsoring organizations will assist ACIC in clarifying the benefits
>and
>risks associated with an innovative practice, recruit farmer
>participants,
>ensure sufficient technical support and help adjust any claims.
>
>ACIC requests assistance from potential sponsor organizations to
>identify
>projects where insurance coverage would enhance farmer participation.
>If
>you are aware of a Best Management Practice (BMP) or Integrated Pest
>Management (IPM) innovation that might benefit from risk-free
>demonstration
>on farmer acreage, or for more information, contact Jim Quinton, ACIC,
>2234
>S. Hobson, Charleston SC 29405. 843-740-1325, 843-740-1331 (fax),
><Jim.Quinton@agconserv.com> (e-mail).
>
>***********************************************
>II. Excessive rainfall risk policy available
>
>Applying nitrogen to field crops in two separate applications reduces
>runoff and leaching and increases yields in most years. The savings in
>input costs can be as high as 40% over single nitrogen applications.
>
>Why aren't all farmers using this technique? In some years, excessive
>rainfall during late spring can prevent farmers from making the second
>application of nitrogen, resulting in depressed yields. Farmers are
>understandably reluctant to take that risk.
>
>Next season for the first time, farmers will be able to purchase an
>insurance policy to reimburse them for losses suffered due to excessive
>and
>untimely rainfall. The policy was developed by ACIC and will be offered
>through American Agrisurance in several states, subject to state
>regulatory
>approval.
>
>The policy can also benefit farmers using a post-emergent herbicide
>strategy as an alternative to atrazine. For more information, contact
>Tom
>Buman, Agren, 312 W. 3rd St., Carroll, IA 51401. 712-792-6248,
>712-792-6175
>(fax), tbagren@netins.net (e-mail).
>
>***********************************************************************
>****
>***
>III. Corn rootworm policy to accept recommended scouting protocols
>
>A new insurance policy is close to completion that will insure growers
>who
>follow a crop consultant's advice not to treat for corn rootworm in
>corn-on-corn rotations. This policy, expected to be available in
>several
>corn belt states in 1999 subject to state regulatory approval, removes
>the
>risk that the consultant's recommendation may be wrong, resulting in
>unacceptable rootworm damage.
>
>Typically, crop consultants perform a sampling routine for corn
>rootworm
>beetles in late July to early August. Based on these sampling results,
>the
>consultant will advise the farmer if a soil insecticide treatment is
>justified for rootworm larvae the following spring.
>
>Farmers who have had their fields scouted for rootworm beetles by
>qualified
>crop consultants using recommended scouting protocols will be eligible
>to
>purchase the policy when it becomes available.
>
>For more information, contact Tom Buman, Agren, 312 W. 3rd St.,
>Carroll, IA
>51401. 712-792-6248, 712-792-6175 (fax), tbagren@netins.net (e-mail).
>
>******************************************************************
>IV. Risk Journal: Risk aversion among crop consultants
>
>Crop consultants have a tough job. They do it well, as evidenced by a
>survey conducted by Iowa State University indicating that 74% of
>farmers
>report a $2 to $5 return on every dollar they spend for crop consulting
>services (see http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/ncr/info/survey.html for
>survey results).
>
>On the other hand, crop consultants suffer from the same aversion to
>risk
>that afflicts farmers, according to a new book edited by Steven A.
>Wolf:
>
>"Farm advisors have an incentive to err on the side of caution, meaning
>interpret pest treatment thresholds with an eye on minimizing exposure
>to
>blame. As one consultant expressed, 'It is easier to prove you should
>have
>sprayed than you did not need to spray.' Farmers, Extension, dealers
>and
>independent crop consultants expressed that there are incentives to
>apply
>inputs when the data informing such a decision are inconclusive or open
>to
>interpretation. Managing a crop to maximize a farmer's net income is
>far
>more risky for a consultant than is managing for maximum yield and
>highest
>quality. Recommendation of an additional fertilizer or pesticide
>application is preferred by consultants to risking crop yield and/or
>quality loss. This form of bias stems from consultant's interest in
>insuring their reputation, their most important asset."(Privatization
>of
>Information and Agricultural Industrialization. S.A. Wolf, ed. CRC
>Press
>LLC, Boca Raton, FL, page 177.)
>
>Affordable "errors and omissions" insurance is not available to protect
>crop consultants and farmers from the consequences of faulty advice,
>hence
>the risk averse strategy. Many IPM and BMP techniques to minimize
>inputs
>carry a small but very real risk of failure. If a crop consultant knows
>that 1 out of 100 recommendations for a specific input reduction
>strategy
>will be wrong due to this inherent error, it makes sense to err on the
>side
>of extra inputs whenever the decision is not clear cut.
>
>Comprehensive and affordable insurance for crop consultants, covering
>all
>possible failed recommendations, is not likely to be available in the
>near
>future. The "single peril" approach pioneered by ACIC is a good
>stop-gap
>measure for consultants. For example, the policy in development for
>corn
>rootworm (see III. above) will reduce the impact on farmers and
>consultants of a failed recommendation not to treat for corn rootworm
>larvae.
>
>Crop consultants: Is there a recommendation you make frequently that
>might
>be made less risky by a low-cost insurance policy? If so, or for more
>information, contact Tom Green, IPM Works, representing ACIC at 2322
>Keyes
>Ave., Madison, WI 53711. 608-255-9443, 608-255-9469 (fax),
><tagreen@compuserve.com> (e-mail).
>
>
>************************
>V. ACIC Meeting Schedule
>
>ACIC representatives will be attending the following events. If you
>would
>like to arrange a meeting to coincide with any of these dates, please
>contact Megan Terebus of ACIC at 843-740-1325, 843-740-1331 (fax) or
><Megan.Terebus@agconserv.com> (e-mail).
>
>Oct. 18-21 Joint American Society of Agronomy, Soil Science
>Society of
>America and Crop Science Society of America Annual Meeting, Baltimore,
>MD.
>
>Nov. 8-12, 1998 Joint Entomological Society of America and American
>Phytopathological Society Annual Meeting, Las Vegas NV.
>
>Jan. 10-14, 1999 American Farm Bureau Federation Annual
>Conference,
>Albuquerque, NM
>
>Jan. 18-20, 1998 Wisconsin Fertilizer, Aglime and Pest
>Management
>Meeting, Middleton, WI
>
>Jan. 20-21, 1999 Maine Potato Conference, Presque Isle, ME.
>
>Jan. 20-24, 1999 National Alliance of Independent Crop
>Consultants
>Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN.
>
>Jan. 31 - Feb. 4,1999 National Association of Conservation Districts
>Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.
>
>Feb. 6-8, 1999 United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association Convention
>and
>Exposition, San Diego, CA.
>
>Feb. 8-10, 1999 New York State Vegetable Growers Association Annual
>Meeting, Syracuse, NY.
>
>Feb. 18-20, 1999 Commodity Classic, Albuquerque, NM
>
>Mar. 28-31, 1999 North Central Branch Entomological Society of
>America Annual Meeting, Des Moines, IA.
>
>
>******************
>VI. About ACIC
>
>ACIC is a private, non-profit organization working to develop new tools
>to
>make conservation objectives affordable and attractive to the
>agricultural
>community. Initiatives of the center include risk-reducing insurance
>policies for conservation-enhancing management practices, tax
>incentives
>for wetlands preservation and mitigation, and innovative "trusts" and
>"savings accounts" in support of wetland and grazing land conservation.
>
>ACIC is actively seeking additional opportunities for IPM and BMP
>insurance
>policies. Please contact ACIC for further details.
>
>
>******************************
>Thomas A. Green, Ph.D.
>IPM Works
>2322 Keyes Ave.
>Madison, WI 53711
>608 255-9443
>608 255-9469 (fax)
>tagreen@compuserve.com
>
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