Shon Ferguson

My latest post discusses the potential trade and spatial implications of Canada's regulated system of dairy production, supply management.
TL/DR: Canada's production per person is extremely uniform compared to U.S.; homogenized, you might say.
shonferguson.substack.com/p/will-the-c...

Can Denmark sell green agriculture to a skeptical EU? As Copenhagen takes the helm of the Council, its bold climate credentials face the hard grind of EU politics — and a bloc more interested in competitiveness than carbon cuts.

Interesting and sobering update after Denmark passed a groundbreaking agriculture / nature / climate policy last year:

Amid the new tariff threats on the EU, my post is still relevant.

Just finished grading 17 Bachelor's theses and 7 Master's theses. Definitely ready for a summer break.

Woah! Such an important study published in Nature today! Quick thread with some of their key figures!
🧵

Fun Fact: Season 2 of The Bridge begins with a tanker colliding with the Öresund Bridge under mysterious circumstances.

Looking back, that episode was ominously prescient.

This reference guide, provided by the library at @lunduniversity.bsky.social, is an excellent resource, especially for how to cite Swedish government documents:
libguides.lub.lu.se/apa_short

The Öresund Bridge: Success Story and Strategic Pinch Point? It's not only a marvel of engineering made famous by the hit Nordic noir crime television series - it's also vital economic and trade link.

My latest post discusses the concentration of Sweden's goods trade via one bridge
open.substack.com/pub/shonferg...

Nytt stöd till bönder – ska få ned utsläpp Bönder ska från och med i år och fram till 2027 kunna ansöka om stöd från Jordbruksverket för att få ned utsläppen.

The Swedish government just announced a new grant program to support farmers in investing in measures to reduce ammonia emissions.

100 million SEK per year in 2025, 2026, and 2027.

A potentially important step in reducing GHG emissions in agriculture.

www.atl.nu/nytt-stod-ti...

Excellent @slu-econ.bsky.social seminar by Ricardo Guzman,visiting us from Aix-Marseille.

💥Research Assistant Positions💥

1. Ingvild Almås, Timo Boppart, Thor Berger, Hannes Malmberg, and I are looking for a research assistant to work on a project which investigates Sweden's spectacular economic growth during the late 19th century using establishment-level data.

Turned out that none of the students in my class had even heard of the movie "Office Space". What the heck!

Building resilience on a budget Here are some of the economic questions about food system preparedness. Stay tuned for the answers.

My latest post explores some of the key economic questions surrounding food system preparedness. Dig in!
open.substack.com/pub/shonferg...

King says 'strong and free' Canada is a force for good in historic throne speech | CBC News King Charles delivered a historic speech from the throne Tuesday and he used that platform to praise Canada as a force for good that will remain "strong and free" as its relationships with longtime pa...

Hear, hear

www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

EU Lawmakers Increase Pressure By Targeting Fertilizers From Russia And Belarus The European Union on May 22 took a major step forward in ending imports of Russian and Belarusian nitrogen-based fertilizer products into the bloc by approving a schedule of increases in duties aimed...

www.rferl.org/a/eu-lawmake...

UK and EU Seek to Link Carbon Markets in Wider Post-Brexit Reset The UK and European Union entered a new era of climate cooperation by pledging to link their carbon markets to avoid trade levies and reset post-Brexit relations.

EU and UK to link carbon markets, and cite desire to smooth trade in CBAM goods as a motivation. Hopefully, this is the first of many examples of carbon market linkages.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, Fertilizer, and Farmers EU nitrogen fertilizer producers will gain protection from imports, while EU farmers dependent on inorganic fertilizer are left exposed

My latest blog post, about the economic impact of the EU CBAM on farmers.

TL/DR: EU nitrogen fertilizer producers will gain protection from imports, while EU farmers dependent on inorganic fertilizer are left exposed.

open.substack.com/pub/shonferg...

Great post!
I hear that shipping companies preferred thowing empty containers on ships at CA ports bound for asia so that they could turn them around asap. I guess that dynamic might change now?

John McCallum - Wikipedia

It is worth noting that the most famous trade economist to ever serve as minister in the Canadian government began as the Minister of...National Defence.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mc...

The future of climate investment subsidies Using carrots vs. sticks

My latest post!

TL/DR: There are good reasons to expect that grant-based climate schemes for agriculture have a bright future.

open.substack.com/pub/shonferg...

O Canada Difficult times for an economy built on international trade

Today's Just ATE Blog post is about Canada and the importance of market access for its economy.

open.substack.com/pub/shonferg...

By some miracle, my blog post on the latest Trump tariffs, released 24 hours ago, is still all factually correct.

nvm

EU takes revenge on Trump’s tariffs as countries approve €20B+ retaliation Brussels is now set to strike back against U.S. president’s steel and aluminum measures.

Soybeans and corn are feed inputs for EU ag and energy industries, doesn't seem like a smart move to place tariffs on these.

Unless of course the plan is to strike a deal on these items in the end.

www.politico.eu/article/eu-t...

Trump 2.0, tariffs, and agricultural trade Is agriculture once again caught in the crosshairs of a Trump trade war?

So I started a blog! I call it Just ATE Blog (Agriculture, Trade and the Environment).

My first post: "Trump 2.0, tariffs and agricultural trade"

TL/DR: EU agri-food exports should be resilient, but dangers loom.

open.substack.com/pub/shonferg...

An example of agricultural global value chains' exposure to tariffs:

Swiss coffee exports to the US in 2024 were USD 1.2 billion, and now face a new 31% US tariff.

The beans are sourced from places like Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica, where the new US tariff is 10%

www.admin.ch/gov/en/start...).

I'm seeing a huge spike in interest in tariffs from people who normally don't work in the economics of international trade. Here are a few useful things to know about them. (1/14)

Trump tariffs: The US firms welcoming the fight on trade Businesses think Trump is right about unfair trade. But are the US President's reciprocal tariffs the answer?

Hard to believe that lower EU tariffs on US foods would increase European consumption by much. Lots of home bias in food choices.

And for items unavailable in the EU, there is a limit to how much mac & cheese, baconaise etc that Europeans are willing to eat.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Unfortunate, but inevitable given the lack of a C tax in the US, and domestic politics.

Commission agrees to water down automotive emission targets The executive will put forward an amendment that calculates the target over three years, making it easier to reach.

And in other news, EU auto emissions policy is completely shambolic.

www.politico.eu/article/euro...