Recent News Stories Use ERS
Data and Analysis
USDA: Why Food Commodity Prices Are Rising
Fast Casual (restaurant trade publication) – June 30 2011
The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a report this week from its Economic Research Service titled "Why Have Food Commodity Prices Risen Again?" The report, penned by Ronald Trostle, Daniel Marti, Stacey Rosen and Paul Westcott, takes a look at the long-term trends that contribute to price increases in the market.
Feds Say Healthy Food Sparse in Belleville
St. Louis Post-Dispatch – June 29, 2011
"But there's a lot of people that have to drive far to get in." Which is why some areas get the USDA [ERS] "desert label," meaning a substantial number of residents have to travel at least a mile to get fresh food.
Higher Costs on the Menu
San Antonio Express-News – June 28, 2011
Ricky Volpe, a research economist for the department's Economic Research Service, said stronger global food supplies should keep prices from rising in the 2008 range, but high commodity prices, especially for meat and poultry, still-strong fuel prices and a weak dollar should pump up food costs through the year.
Top 5 Summer Price Increases Include Ice Cream and BBQ Favorites
ABC News – June 20, 2011
Ricky Volpe, research economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture [ERS], said it's not just ice cream that is pricier. Overall, the cost of groceries could increase 3.5 to 4.5 percent this year….
Do We All Still Scream for Ice Cream?
USA Today – June 19, 2011
Annual consumption per person, in pounds [in chart using ERS data]. “USA Today Snapshots” – statistical graphics.
The Scoop on Rising Food Costs
Boston Globe – June 19, 2011
Global demand for sugar has forced prices higher, but so, too, has weather…. “There’s just a lot of uncertainty out there,’’ said Stephen Haley, an agricultural economist for the USDA [ERS].
Mayor’s Meeting with Grocery Execs Hopes to End Food Deserts
WMAQ-NBC Chicago – June 16, 2011
A food desert is an "area in the United States with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly such an area composed of predominantly lower income neighborhoods and communities," as defined by the USDA [ERS] in their 2009 report on "Access to Affordable and Nutritious Foods."
Germany’s E. Coli Outbreak Most Costly in History
Food Safety News- June 16, 2011
Calculating the costs of foodborne illness, especially those caused by the dangerous E. coli O157:H7, is something you can do at home thanks to USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS)….in USDA's Foodborne Illnesses Calculator.
U.S. Retail Beef Falls in May from Record in April, USDA Says
Bloomberg- June 15, 2011
U.S. retail-beef prices fell to $4.43 a pound in May from a revised record of $4.444 in April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a report on its website…. The gauge is a composite that includes choice beef, along with other beef and hamburger values, the USDA’s Economic Research Service said.
Rising Wheat Prices Press Bakers
Scranton Times-Tribune – June 13, 2011
The effect has not surfaced widely in grocery prices, but hammers small businesses, said Richard Volpe, Ph.D., a USDA economist who tracks retail food prices. "It's the smaller guys, the pizza shops and bakeries, that are seeing huge increases,” Dr. Volpe said.
China Corn Safer from Massive Drought, Floods
Forbes - June 10, 2011
Hubei, Jiangxi and Hunan are not major corn producing provinces. Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces in the country’s northeast provide around 40% of China’s corn harvest, according to the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture.
USDA Cuts Global Hunger Estimate by 80 Million
Wall Street Journal – June 8, 2011
Agriculture Department sliced its estimate of the number of people who were chronically hungry in 2010 in the world's poorest nations by 9% to 802 million from its original calculation of 882 million. USDA [ERS] economist Stacey Rosen said Wednesday that better-than-expected grain harvests last year in Sub-Saharan Africa, the world's most food-insecure region, helped to shield many poor people there from the big increases in global food-commodity prices in the last half of 2010.
Menus Include Lower-Fat, Lower-Calorie Options
Eau Claire (WI) Leader-Telegram – June 7, 2011
That one additional meal eaten away from home each week translated to roughly 2 extra pounds each year," said Dressel, citing Impact of Food Away from Home on Adult Diet Quality, a study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service in February 2010.
Apricot Growers Finally Seeing Supply, Demand Nearly Balanced
Modesto Bee – June 3, 2011
The average American eats only about half a pound of apricots a year, down from about 1 pound in 1990, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture [ERS].
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