ERS Data and Analysis Can Shed More
Light on Current Events
In the News |
Strong Global Food Demand Profiting South America’s Producers (Los Angeles Times, April 1, 2008) |
From ERS |
Global Market Opportunities Drive Beef Production Decisions in Argentina and Uruguay. Argentina and Uruguay are increasingly important suppliers of beef in global markets. Keys to both countries’ success in international markets are certification and traceability programs, which have been improved in response to recent cattle disease outbreaks.
|
|
In the News |
Could Less Corn Mean Higher Food Prices? (Wires, March 31-April 1, 2008) |
From ERS |
Corn Prices Near Record High, but What About Food Costs? Higher corn prices increase animal feed and ingredient costs for farmers and food manufacturers, but pass through to retail prices at a rate less than 10 percent of the corn price change. And foods using corn as an ingredient make up less than a third of retail food spending. A number of marketing adjustments could also temper the effect on food prices.
|
|
In the News |
Reserved Land Being Pulled Into Farming (U.S. News and World Report, March 31, 2008) |
From ERS |
Environmental Effects of Agricultural Land-Use Change. ERS examines the consequences of policies and economic changes that increase incentives for crop cultivation and stimulate production on economically marginal or environmentally vulnerable land.
|
|
In the News |
Local Farm-to-Food School Programs Gathering Interest (USA Today. March 24, 2008) |
From ERS |
Evaluation of the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program: Report to Congress. ERS produced a review of the pilot program based on program reports, site visits to schools, focus groups, interviews, and a conference of pilot staff and policy stakeholders. The intent of the pilot is to determine the feasibility of such a program and its success as assessed by students’ interest in participating.
|
|
In the News |
Brazil’s Sugar Mills Finding Ethanol More Attractive (Wall Street Journal, March 21, 2008) |
From ERS |
Ethanol Demand Driving the Expansion of Brazil’s Sugar Industry, Sugar and Sweeteners Outlook. Rising ethanol demand in global markets is driving the growth of Brazil’s sugar/ethanol complex with new investments in infrastructure and technology. As ethanol in Brazil is made from sugarcane, sugar industry developments are now increasingly linked to policy initiatives in ethanol markets. Sugar represents a particularly important component of Brazil’s economy.
|
|
In the News |
Lawmakers Dispute Administration Plan to Cut Farms’ Pollution Reporting (Associated Press, March 19, 2008) |
From ERS |
Improving Air and Water Quality Can be Two Sides of the Same Coin. Extending air quality laws to cover agriculture would require an understanding of how farmers respond to different policy incentives. A fuller accounting of the multimedia benefits in implementation of conservation programs could result in a redirection of resources to producers who could provide a higher level of overall environmental quality for a given cost.
|
|
In the News |
UN Says Developing Countries Need Help to Address Rising Food Prices (Reuters, March 19, 2008) |
From ERS |
Rising Food Prices Intensify Food Insecurity in Developing Countries. The use of food crops for biofuels, coupled with greater food demand, has reversed the path of declining price trends for several commodities. For highly import-dependent or highly food-insecure countries, any decline in import capacity stemming from rising food prices can have challenging food security implications. Food aid has declined relative to total food imports of low-income countries.
|
|
See
previous economics behind the headlines
|
