ERS Data and Analysis Can Shed More
Light on Current Events
In the News |
China Approves Food Safety Legislation (Wires, October 31, 2007)
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From ERS |
International Trade and Food Safety: Economic Theory and Case Studies. Expanding food trade has brought into sharper relief the divergence among countries' food safety regulations and standards. Differences in food safety regulations and standards can cause frictions and even disputes that interrupt international food trade.
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In the News |
Senate Addresses Food Assistance in Farm Bill Debate (Congress Daily, October 30, 2007)
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From ERS |
Food Assistance: How Strong Is the Safety Net? Nutrition assistance programs reduce overall economic vulnerability, not just food insecurity—particularly during downturns in the business cycle. Programs targeting those temporarily affected when events take an unfavorable turn can be viewed as income insurance to help people through occurrences such as illness or unemployment.
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In the News |
Canadian Beef Identified in Recent E. Coli Cases (Wires, October 26, 2007)
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From ERS |
Food Traceability: One Ingredient in a Safe and Efficient Food Supply. Food producers have voluntarily built traceability systems to track the grain in a cereal box to the farm and the apples in a vat of apple juice to the orchard. However, traceability is just one element of any supply-management or quality/safety control system. What exactly is traceability, how does it work, and what can it accomplish? Most important, does the U.S. food supply have enough of it?
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In the News |
High Crop Prices Could Stall Growth in Organic Ag (USA Today, October 16, 2007)
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From ERS |
Organic Agriculture. Organic farming has become one of the fastest growing segments of U.S. agriculture. U.S. producers are turning to certified organic farming systems as a potential way to lower input costs, decrease reliance on nonrenewable resources, capture high-value markets and premium prices, and boost farm income. Consumer demand for organically produced goods has shown double-digit growth for well over a decade.
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In the News |
Food Safety: Can Food Companies Police Themselves? (Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2007)
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From ERS |
Savvy Buyers Spur Food Safety Innovations in Meat Processing. Results from an ERS survey of U.S. meat and poultry slaughter and processing plants and two case studies of innovation in the U.S. beef industry reveal that the industry has developed a number of mechanisms to o to stimulate investment in food safety innovation.
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In the News |
Meat Slaughterhouse Affected by Immigration Enforcement (New York Times, October 12, 2007)
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From ERS |
Meat-Processing Firms Attract Hispanic Workers to Rural America. The meat-processing industry is switching to lower skilled labor and increasingly relocating plants to rural areas. Hispanics are moving into the meat-processing labor force and helping to meet demand for low-skill workers. Between 1980 and 2000, the Hispanic share of meat-processing workers increased from under 10 percent to almost 30 percent, while the Hispanic workforce itself became mostly foreign born.
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In the News |
This Year’s Large Hog Supply Could Lower Producer Prices(Reuters, October 9, 2007)
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From ERS |
Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook (September 20). Pork production in the second-half of this year is expected to be about 11.1 billion pounds, about 3.4 percent above a year earlier. Commercial pork production next year is expected to be about 22.1 billion pounds, about 100 million pounds larger than forecast last month. The increased production forecast largely reflects revised expectations for U.S. swine imports from Canada.
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In the News |
Administration Seeks to Ease Entry of Immigrant Farm Labor (Los Angeles Times, October 7, 2007)
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From ERS |
Farm Labor. Hired farmworkers make up less than 1 percent of all U.S. wage and salary workers, but they make a major contribution to agriculture by providing labor during critical production periods. Hired farmworkers are employed in both metro and nonmetro areas, and the total number in the U.S. has steadily declined from over 5 million to under 1 million over the past century. Almost 40 percent of all farmworkers are foreign-born and lack U.S. citizenship.
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In the News |
EPA Approves Use of New Pesticide for One Year as Methyl Bromide Replacement (Associated Press, October 5, 2007)
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From ERS |
Methyl Bromide Phaseout Proceeds: Users Request Exemptions. Methyl bromide is a principal product used to fumigate soil before planting many fruit and vegetable crops, for post-harvest storage and facility fumigation, and for government-required quarantine treatments. The use of methyl bromide in the U.S. for soil fumigation in 1997, before the mandated reductions began, was 38 million pounds of active ingredient. About 70 percent of this quantity was applied to land used to raise small fruits, melons, and vegetables, mostly fresh-market tomatoes, strawberries, and peppers.
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In the News |
Wheat Supply Tightest in Three Decades (Reuters, September 28, 2007)
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From ERS |
Wheat Outlook (September 14). U.S. 2007/08 wheat ending stocks are projected at 362 million bushels, down 42 million bushels from August, reflecting lower imports and increased use. If realized, this year's carryout would be the lowest since 1973/74. The wheat season-average farm price is projected at $5.50 to $6.10 per bushel, up 40 cents on each end of the range from last month. The projected range is well above the 1995/96 record price of $4.55 per bushel.
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In the News |
Farm Bureau Says Trimming Direct Payments Would Weaken Farm Safety Net (Reuters, September 26, 2007)
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From ERS |
Whole-Farm Approaches to a Safety Net. In recent U.S. farm policy debates, several “whole-farm revenue” programs have been proposed as a new form of safety net available to all U.S. farms. A whole-farm program is based on revenues from all farming activities added together and is not linked to the production of particular commodities. ERS looks at the risk management potential for such programs and the obstacles to implementing such an approach.
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In the News |
Mixed Reviews for Senate’s Food Aid Blueprint (Reuters, September 24, 2007)
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From ERS |
Fifty Years of U.S. Food Aid and Its Role in Reducing World Hunger. Differing objectives in food aid programs, lack of consistency among donors' approaches to food aid, and types of food donated—the share of higher priced, non-cereal foods, which are unlikely to reach the poorest segment of the population, is growing—are just a few factors that limit the effectiveness of food aid.
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In the News |
Farm Bill Could Address Hog Industry Competition (Des Moines Register, September 23, 2007)
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From ERS |
Pork Quality and the Role of Market Organization. Investments in specific genetics and brand-name capital for branded pork programs leave the packer and producer more dependent on each other and more vulnerable to opportunism. Consequently, these investments might be accompanied by complex marketing contracts as safeguard provisions are added, or packer ownership of hogs.
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