by Chas Bonner
Often when spending too much time reading national and international news, one comes away with a dejected outlook. At times however, just the opposite. How rewarding!
A recent issue of Business Week (May 15, 2011) had an article entitled “A Renaissance in U.S. Manufacturing.” It provided an in-depth view of the number of high paying manufacturing jobs returning to America. Reasons given are that Chinese wages have escalated 17% in the past year, that shipment from foreign countries is so time-consuming and expensive, that communication is still difficult, and that many countries have weak intellectual property laws so technical work is copied. Furthermore, manufacturing processes in America are continually evolving and improving. Despite most new manufacturing jobs being non-union, wages are excellent. Teams are formed where not only do they work together, they also decide who gets hired to be part of the team. Those teams may compete to determine which produces the best products. As a result, quality increases, costs decrease, and camaraderie grows.
One might ask “What does this have to do with agriculture?” When discussing the new methods of manufacturing, the article stated “The role model is agriculture, where efficiency improvements freed up farmer’s children to choose other fields of work.” Or adding our own assessment, with improved productivity, farmers have been able to maximize return and minimize risk.
Finally, this development, assuming it persists and grows, will make America stronger and more able to afford higher prices of food which are inevitable.
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