ERS reports and
studies can provide context to breaking stories
on food, agriculture, natural resources, and
rural development.
In the News
House Ag Subcommittee addresses conservation
programs (OsterDowJones, 6/16/04)
From ERS
Questions
and Answers about the Conservation Reserve
Program. The Conservation Reserve
Program (CRP) remains the largest U.S.
agricultural land conservation program.
Re-authorized by the 1996 Farm Act, consideration
was given to more careful targeting of
enrolled acreage to maximize environmental
benefits. The emphasis on targeting for
environmental benefits continues, and other
forms of targeting have emerged, such as
the continuous CRP signup and Conservation
Reserve Enhancement Program.
In the News
Brazil raises profile in global beef trade
(Wall Street Journal, 6/22/04)
From ERS
Structure
of the Global Markets for Meat. Meat
trade patterns among countries and world regions
flow largely from differences among countries
in resource base, preferences for meat types
and cuts, trade barriers, and industry structure.
Future growth of meat trade depends on further
liberalization of protectionist barriers, eradication
of animal diseases, economic development, and
population growth. Trade growth is likely to
feature greater complexity in trade patterns,
with more countries engaging in trade.
In the News
U.S. sponsors conference on biotech crops in
Africa (Agence France Presse, 6/20/04)
From ERS
Science
and Technology Hold Promise for Developing
Countries in the 21st Century.
New developments in science and technology
hold promise for increasing agricultural
productivity in developing countries
in the 21st century, including technological
advances in agricultural biotechnology.
But, without the dissemination and adoption
of these new technologies, the full benefits
of these scientific breakthroughs will
not be realized in developing countries.
In the News
Fight Over Bush's Budget Priorities Affect
USDA Programs (Wall Street Journal, 6/16/04)
from ERS
Food
CPI, Prices, and Expenditures Briefing Room.
ERS's monthly updates to the CPI for food forecast
provide both government and food industry analysts
with the most current information regarding
retail food price inflation. Dairy price increases
forecast for 2004 will increase the costs for
the WIC program to provide milk and cheese
to its participants.
In the News
U.N. Says Earth’s Surface
is Becoming Drier Each Year (AP, 6/15/04)
From ERS
Linking Land
Quality, Agricultural Productivity, and Food
Security. This report explores the extent
to which land quality and land degradation affect
agricultural productivity, how farmers respond
to land degradation, and whether land degradation
poses a threat to productivity growth and food
security in developing regions and around the
world. Results suggest that land degradation
does not threaten food security at the global
scale, but does pose problems in areas where
soils are fragile, property rights are insecure,
and farmers have limited access to information
and markets.
In the News
House Panel Approves Bill with Tobacco Buyout
(N.Y. Times, Wall Street Journal, 6/15/04)
From ERS
U.S.
Tobacco Industry Responding to New Competitors,
New Challenges. Tobacco growers are facing
tough times as cigarette consumption shrinks
and foreign producers edge them out of formerly
lucrative markets. Not only have U.S. exports
of tobacco leaf declined, but cigarettes manufactured
in the United States now contain more foreign
tobacco than ever before—nearly 50 percent.
Why is U.S. tobacco losing ground to other countries?
Price, mainly. With cheaper tobacco available
on the world market, U.S. tobacco is losing global
and domestic market share.
In the News
Brazil Could Surpass U.S. in Soybean Production
(Chicago Tribune, 6/13/04)
From ERS
Agriculture
in Brazil and Argentina: Developments and Prospects
for Major Field Crops. Recent increases
in international competitiveness by Argentine
and Brazilian grain and soybean producers likely
foreshadow continued global trade-share gains,
particularly for soybeans and soybean products.
Macroeconomic and policy developments, particularly
those related to exchange rates, and infrastructure
improvements will remain central to each country's
future prospects.
In the News
USDA Helps Low-Income Florida Families Obtain
Home Loans (Bradenton Herald, 6/2/04)
From ERS
Meeting
the Housing Needs of Rural Residents.
USDA’s Section 502 Single Family Direct
Loan Program provides subsidized housing
loans to very low- and low-income rural residents
who are without adequate housing and cannot
obtain credit from other sources. An ERS
national survey of recent Section 502 borrowers,
conducted at the request of USDA’ s
Rural Development mission area, finds that
borrowers are typically under 40, in families
with children, and first-time homebuyers.
Most believed that their current home and
neighborhood are better than their previous
ones and over 90 percent reported that, without
assistance from the program, they would not
have been able to afford a comparable home
for at least 2 years, if ever.
In the News
U.S., Burkina Faso Sponsor Africa Agriculture
Conference (Reuters, 6/1/04)
From ERS
Science
and Technology Hold Promise for Developing
Countries in the 21st Century.
New developments in science and technology
hold promise for increasing agricultural
productivity in developing countries in the
21st century. A host of technological advances,
realized through public and (increasingly)
private investments in research and development,
are increasing agricultural production in
developed countries. These include improved
technologies for nutrient, soil, water, and
pest management; precision agriculture; and
agricultural biotechnology. Successful research
and technology transfer activities increasingly
will depend on cooperative endeavors between
developed and developing countries and between
public and private institutions.
In the News
U.N. Says 35 Countries Are Facing Serious Food
Shortages (AP, 5/31/04)
From ERS
Food
Security Assessment, GFA-15.
Just over 900 million people in the 70 low-income
countries studied in this report are estimated
to have consumed less than the recommended
nutritional requirements in 2003. This marks
a decline from more than 1 billion in 2002.
Food aid has been and continues to be an
important tool used by the international
community to fight hunger in low-income countries,
and the United States is the dominant food
donor country. However, the effectiveness
of food aid could be improved by increased
coordination between donor groups, more transparent
eligibility criteria, and fewer fluctuations
in year-to-year aid levels.
In the News
Drought Changing How Western Farmers Do Business
(AP, 5/31/04)
From ERS
Western
Irrigated Agriculture Data Product.
Irrigation is critical to agriculture in
the United States: nearly half of the value
of all crops sold comes from the 16 percent
of harvested cropland that is irrigated.
In the process, agriculture accounts for
over 80 percent of water consumed. But water
is increasingly needed for urban, industrial,
environmental, and other uses. Because it
accounts for such a large share of total
consumption, agriculture is central to the
challenge of balancing water demands among
alternative uses. This data product summarizes
the farm-structural characteristics of irrigated
farms in the 17 Western States based on USDA’s
1998 Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey.
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