A New Adventure

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I said previously that I would create a blog to highlight my research, tell stories, share pictures, and give my thoughts on matters about which I know anything more than nothing at all. Oh, yes, and this was all at the beginning of the Spring 2020 semester. Let's just say all that energy and ambition had to be "redirected" for a few years.

Now here we are, quite some time later, at long last. Check out my bio, take a gander at my teaching and research, and follow me on social media if you have the inclination (I'm not super active on there, but I get around to it when I get around to it).

Most of what I'll be posting on here is research ideas, teaching experience, farming stories, wisdom that a mentor shared with me that I want to pass along, and other related material.

Moving forward, I need to sift through massage some of the potential topics to post about on here. But rest assured, there will plenty of material coming in the future months. After all, *points to head* it's loud up there...

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Specialty Crop Hobby Update: Pawpaws

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I'm generally not a fan of the Fall season. Everything that was once green is now turning brown; what was once blooming and full of life now looks...well, not that. Also, it's getting colder, but at least the bugs are on a shortened timer --- especially mosquitos. Make no mistake: I love that apples are in season, and it's pretty hard to beat a drink of in-season cider. Not to mention, we typically associate Fall with crop harvest, which means (hopefully lots of) grain being stored ready to market (hopefully profitably). But there's one thing that is unique not just to North America, but this part of the US for many thousands of years, and that is the largest tree-borne fruit native to the continent. I'm talking about the pawpaw. Other names include "The Poor Man's Banana", "The Indiana/Hoosier Banana", and "The Mississippi Banana". Quite the pattern in the alternative names, no? Anywhere from mid-September to early-October, the paw...
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Will Farmer's Markets Benefit from the Food Tariffs? ---PART 1---

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 There's something special about farmer's markets. My family and I love farmer's markets. In grad school at Purdue, we hit up all available, and rarely missed any. Saturday mornings across the river in Lafayette; Wednesday evenings just down the street in West Lafayette; and outside the school year, Thursday mornings on Purdue's campus (side note: why don't more college campuses host farmer's markets?)  Before we had any kids, in 2016 my wife and I went to Boston for the AAEA annual meeting (ag economics conference). In Copley Square beside Trinity Church was the largest farmer's market I've ever been to in my life, even to present day. Blueberries brought down from Maine, locally baked goods, just about anything you could think of was available in massive quantity. (source: https://www.newenglandopenmarkets.com/boston-open-market)  We're rather partial to our small, local market in Downtown Murray. It's a fraction of a fraction of the size of th...
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Will Farmer's Markets Benefit from the Food Tariffs? ---PART 2---

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