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There are "hidden incentives" in virtually every study, and one should always remain highly skeptical. One of the biggest perversions of science is the probabil

by personZ 12y ago

There are "hidden incentives" in virtually every study, and one should always remain highly skeptical. One of the biggest perversions of science is the probability of wide publication (essentially the virality of a finding), vastly increasing the likelihood of finding the desired outcome. However to your "business's dream", organic products are more expensive to buy because they're much more expensive to produce. If we actually look at businesses in operation, the vast majority seek to minimize selling price by doing everything possible to minimize production costs, which is the opposite of your claim.

Dylan16807 12y ago
Businesses don't do everything possible to minimize absolute production costs, they try to minimize relative production costs. All else being equal, if my business and all my competitors are forced to pay twice as much for components, we will all raise prices, we will probably keep similar margins, and we will all make more profit. "All else being equal" is the hard part but it's not too far from reality in some situations.
- stillsut 12y ago
  > if my business and all my competitors are forced to pay twice as much for components, we will all raise prices, we will probably keep similar margins No, the organic food fight has always been about should we reap the (positive) economies of scale that are so abundant in agriculture? That's the cost structure of concern here and it only applies to one side - those currently taking advantage of those efficiencies. We were able to feed society with family farms, it just took 90% of the population to be farmers.
  - Dylan16807 12y ago
    Nah, 'organic' food is still easily mass-produced with big machines, you just avoid certain untrendy things. Especially since large farms can easily be more environmentally-friendly, mostly through fuel savings, and market the hell out of that.
  - randomdata 12y ago
    > We were able to feed society with family farms 98% of farms in the US are still considered family farms by the USDA.

by personZ 12y ago

Dylan16807 12y ago

Businesses don't do everything possible to minimize absolute production costs, they try to minimize relative production costs. All else being equal, if my business and all my competitors are forced to pay twice as much for components, we will all raise prices, we will probably keep similar margins, and we will all make more profit. "All else being equal" is the hard part but it's not too far from reality in some situations.

stillsut 12y ago
> if my business and all my competitors are forced to pay twice as much for components, we will all raise prices, we will probably keep similar margins No, the organic food fight has always been about should we reap the (positive) economies of scale that are so abundant in agriculture? That's the cost structure of concern here and it only applies to one side - those currently taking advantage of those efficiencies. We were able to feed society with family farms, it just took 90% of the population to be farmers.
- Dylan16807 12y ago
  Nah, 'organic' food is still easily mass-produced with big machines, you just avoid certain untrendy things. Especially since large farms can easily be more environmentally-friendly, mostly through fuel savings, and market the hell out of that.
- randomdata 12y ago
  > We were able to feed society with family farms 98% of farms in the US are still considered family farms by the USDA.