The Road Warrior of Agriculture

Points to Ponder

Here are a few perspectives and points I’ve picked up during my summer travels and reading that may get you thinking as you enter the harvest season.

Give this to your Children

• In 1980, a college graduate earned 25% more than a high school graduate on average.
• In 2005, college graduates, on average, earn more than 85% more than high school graduates.
• People with good to excellent computer skills earn 15-25% more money! (I guess I better get going on improving my skills!)
• An emerging educational value will be applied technology training or vocational education, like technology or robotics.
• One-third of college enrollment is comprised of people over the age of 40.

In-sourcing, Outsourcing and Near-sourcing
The U.S. has out-sourced many of its technology jobs to India and Southeast Asia. Now a new term, near sourcing, finds these jobs are moving to South America in order to be in a similar time zone and speaking a similar language (English or Spanish) when talking to Americans or interacting with them over the computer.

China and India
China has had 9.5% annual economic growth in the past 20 years, which has never been seen before in the history of world economics. China and India have 40% of the world’s population and India has the largest English-speaking middle class. Russia’s economy is smaller than the state of Florida.

More from the Economist’s Joke Book
Economics is the only field in which two people can receive the Nobel Prize for saying exactly the opposite thing!

My e-mail address is:sullylab@vt.edu

Editors' note: Dave Kohl, The Corn and Soybean Digest Trends Editor, is an ag economist specializing in business management and ag finance. He recently retired from Virginia Tech, but continues to conduct applied research and travel extensively in the U.S. and Canada, teaching ag and banking seminars and speaking to producer and agribusiness groups.

To see Dave Kohl's previous road warrior adventures type Dave Kohl in the Search blank at the top of the page.

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