An Urban's Rural View

Four decades ago Japan's television manufacturers conquered the world. American competitors shuttered factories because they couldn't match the quality or price of sets made by Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic and the like.

As a cub Wall Street Journal reporter, I interviewed newly jobless TV workers outside Philadelphia. As Tokyo correspondent a few years later I toured factories and was awed by the manufacturing prowess I witnessed. Compared to American plants I'd visited, the assembly lines in Japan were better organized, the production technology more advanced, the workers more disciplined. These guys looked unbeatable.

That was in the 1980s. On November 1, 2012, Sharp -- once one of Japan's sharpest consumer-electronics makers -- announced it was losing billions and has serious doubts about whether it can survive. The same day, Panasonic and Sony reported big losses as well, though nowhere near as life-threatening as Sharp's. Japan's dominance in television sets disappeared years ago in the face of Korean competition; now many of the Japanese companies' other product lines are stumbling as well.

Competitive advantage in manufacturing can, it turns out, be fleeting. Countries whose initial advantages are less-expensive labor and weaker currencies can, over time, train and organize workers, copy existing technology, even develop new technology. Watching the rise of China and seeing what happened first to the U.S. and then Japan, you have to wonder how long the Koreans' dominance will last.

Is competitive advantage in agriculture similarly fleeting? American farmers have been eyeing Brazil and Argentina warily for years. In different crops, Russia and the Ukraine loom as threats.

None of these competitors have developed as fast as feared, but develop they have. Brazil has millions of acres of expansion potential and will no doubt someday make progress on its transportation infrastructure. Will growing international demand for food make it possible for farmers everywhere to prosper? Or will some countries lose out, as the U.S. and Japan have in consumer electronics?

At our Ag Summit in Chicago this December, we'll hear a first-hand report on international competitive advantage in agriculture from two brothers, Lee Trimmer and J.W. Trimmer, who farm in Argentina and Missouri, respectively. It should be a fascinating session.

For a full summit agenda and details on how to register, see http://www.dtnprogressivefarmer.com/…

Urban Lehner

urbanity@hotmail.com

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