Food Insufficiency Up 25% Since Manchin, GOP Killed Child Tax Credit Boost by Jessica Corbett
October 21, 2022
Introduction:
(Common Dreams) A Boston-based research team on Friday reiterated the negative effects of ending the expanded child tax credit by releasing a study that shows a huge jump in U.S. households not having enough food.
The expanded child tax credit (CTC) in the American Rescue Plan gave over 35 million U.S. families up to $300 a month per child until it expired last December, and congressional Republicans and right-wing Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) opposed continuing it.
Published in the journal JAMA Network Open, the new study focuses on food insufficiency, "a marker for economic strain… defined by household lack of enough food to eat in the last seven days."
Researchers at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) found that ending the monthly payments "was associated with a 25% increase in household food insufficiency by early July 2022 compared with the period just before CTC expiration."
Lead author Allison Bovell-Ammon said in a statement that "this significant increase in food insufficiency among families with children is particularly concerning for child health equity, as child health, development, and educational outcomes are strongly linked to their family's ability to afford enough food."
Global Food Companies Pay Shareholders £15 Billion as Millions Face Poverty by Adam Bychawski
November 28, 2022
Introduction:
(OpenDemocracy) The world’s biggest food companies have paid out nearly £15bn to shareholders as spiralling prices leave desperate families struggling to afford to eat, openDemocracy can reveal.
Nestlé, Unilever, Associated British Foods, Mondelez and Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) have raked in £20bn in profits in the space of a year while all raising average food prices.
Four of the five multinationals – which between them own thousands of popular brands such as Twinings, Kingsmill and Cheerios – have also signalled that consumers should expect further price rises. Only ADM has not.
The firms’ profits would be enough to fill the £9.8bn funding gap twice over that is currently facing the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) – which aims to provide food for 160 million people facing poverty by the end of the year. The WFP said it costs 44% more for it to buy food than it did in 2020.
The bonanza for food corporations comes amid a 40% increase in the number of people in the UK forced to turn to food banks since April, according to the Trussell Trust. The charity, which supports food banks nationwide, has warned it can no longer rely on donations to meet rising demand for emergency food parcels.
This prediction from last June was wrong. It just seems like the well-credentialed experts can't get anything right!
“There is a real risk that multiple famines will be declared in 2022,” he said in a video message to officials from dozens of rich and developing countries gathered in Berlin. “And 2023 could be even worse.”
funkervogt wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 2:02 pm
This prediction from last June was wrong. It just seems like the well-credentialed experts can't get anything right!
“There is a real risk that multiple famines will be declared in 2022,” he said in a video message to officials from dozens of rich and developing countries gathered in Berlin. “And 2023 could be even worse.”
In the absence of real time good data, it is hard to say whether or not these predictions were all that far off. It may also be the case that these alerts resulted in effective responses which helped avoid the worse-case scenarios that were being warned against. I doubt it, but again, in the absence of a good fact-based analysis...
Egg Prices Have More Than Tripled in Some States Over the Last Year. Here's Why by Khristopher J Brooks
Updated January 11, 2023
Introduction:
(CBS) The rising cost of eggs in the U.S. is denting household budgets. Americans in recent years have increased the number of eggs they consume while reducing their intake of beef and venison, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Egg consumption has grown in part because more families are eating them as their main protein substitute, Los Angeles Times reporter Sonja Sharp told CBS News. "Each of us eats about as many eggs as one hen can lay a year," she said.
As demand for eggs has risen, production in the U.S. has slumped because of the ongoing bird, or "avian," flu epidemic. Nearly 58 million birds have been infected with avian flu as of January 6, the USDA said, making it the deadliest outbreak in U.S. history. Infected birds must be slaughtered, causing egg supplies to fall and prices to surge.
Families and restaurants alike are now paying elevated prices for eggs as the outbreak impacts 47 states.
In California, for example, data shows the average price for a dozen eggs reached $7.37 last week, compared with $2.35 a year ago. The national average egg price per dozen wholesale is now $3.30, the USDA said last week. The average price for a dozen eggs by U.S. city grew to a record $3.58 in November, according to the most recent data available from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Egg prices soared to historically high levels in 2022 — and one group is alleging the trend is due to something more nefarious than simple economics.
Across all egg types, consumers saw average prices jump 60% last year — among the largest percentage increases of any U.S. good or service, according to the consumer price index, an inflation measure.
The industry narrative has largely focused on a historic outbreak of avian influenza — which has killed tens of millions of egg-laying hens — as the primary driver of those higher prices.
But Farm Action, a farmer-led advocacy group, claims the “real culprit” is a “collusive scheme” among major egg producers to fix and gouge prices, the group said in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission.
Doing so has helped producers “extract egregious profits reaching as high as 40%,” according to the letter, issued Thursday, which asks FTC Chair Lina Khan to investigate for potential profiteering and “foul play.”
Egg price spike prompts demands for price-gouging probe
Source: raw story
January 24, 2023 / 6:31 PM / CBS/AP
With egg prices more than doubling in the past year, calls are coming for an investigation into possible price gouging.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed sent a letter Tuesday asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether egg prices have been improperly manipulated by producers. A farmer-led advocacy group called Farm Action made a similar request last week arguing that there "appears to be a collusive scheme among industry leaders to turn inflationary conditions and an avian flu outbreak into an opportunity to extract egregious profits."
Egg prices have soared 60% in a year. Here's why.
Customs officials are seizing eggs at the U.S.-Mexico border
The spike in egg prices has been attributed to the millions of chickens that were slaughtered to limit the spread of bird flu and farmers having to compensate for inflation driving up their costs......................
Adult Happy Meals and other limited-time promotions boosted traffic at McDonald’s restaurants during the fourth quarter despite higher prices. But the company warned that inflation __ particularly in Europe __ will continue to weigh on its operations this year.
Global same-store sales __ or sales at stores open at least a year __ rose 12.6% in the October-December period, the Chicago company said Tuesday. That beat Wall Street expectations for an 8.8% increase, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
U.S. same-store sales rose 10.3%. Sales soared in October after McDonald’s launched adult Happy Meals featuring limited-edition toys designed by the streetwear brand Cactus Plant Flea Market. Half of the toys for those meals were gone in the first four days of the promotion.
A “farewell tour” for the cult favorite McRib sandwich drew in more U.S. customers in November and World Cup promotions fueled double-digit increases in delivery sales in McDonald’s ten largest markets.
High Egg Prices Send Profits at Largest US Producer Soaring More Than 700%
Source: CNN
Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the United States, reported revenue doubled and profit surged 718% last quarter because of sharply higher egg prices. The company, which controls about 20% of the US egg market according to Reuters, said its average selling price for a dozen eggs in the quarter ending February 25 was $3.30, more than double the average of $1.61 a year earlier. Despite the higher prices, the total number of eggs it sold edged up 1%, so its overall revenue rose 109% to $997.5 million.
That doubling of revenue was nothing compared to its profits, however. Net income soared to $323.2 million from only $39.5 million a year ago. The jump in revenue and profit had been expected but easily topped forecasts. Shares of Cal-Maine (CALM) were up 4% in premarket trading.
Eggland's Best eggs are seen at the company's research facility in Pennsylvania. Surging egg prices mean record profits for largest US egg producer
A deadly and highly infectious avian flu has forced US farmers to kill millions of egg-laying hens, reducing the country’s egg supply and driving up prices. But Cal-Maine said in its earnings statement that there have been no positive tests for avian flu at any of its owned or contracted production facilities.
Egg producers’ pricing decisions have been criticized by some politicians, who accuse them of profiteering and price gouging.
UN Agencies Warn 'Acute Food Insecurity' Likely to Worsen in 18 Hunger Hot Spots by Jessica Corbett
May 29, 2023
Introduction:
(Common Dreams) As El Niño looms and fighting in Sudan rages on, a pair of United Nations agencies on Monday warned that "acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further in 18 hunger hot spots" across 22 countries from June to November.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) delivered that warning in a joint report.
"Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen remain at the highest concern level," the report states. "Haiti, the Sahel (Burkina Faso and Mali), and the Sudan have been elevated to the highest concern levels; this is due to severe movement restrictions of people and goods in Haiti, as well as in Burkina Faso and Mali, and the recent eruption of conflict in the Sudan."
"Pakistan, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Syrian Arab Republic are hot spots with very high concern, and the warning is also extended to Myanmar," the publication continues. "Lebanon, El Salvador, and Nicaragua have been added to the list of hunger hot spot countries, since the September 2022 edition. Malawi, Guatemala, and Honduras remain hunger hot spot countries."
Fertilizer Companies Cash in While Farmers and Communities Struggle by Noah Zann
June 26, 2023
Introduction:
(Investigate Midwest) On a small vegetable farm in Georgia, Shad Dasher used to grow watermelons every year.
Last year, he didn’t plant any.
Dasher, 56, said it was because of elevated fertilizer prices. Like many farmers, Dasher is finding it hard to stay afloat. “The American public just doesn’t understand what kind of beating our group (of farmers) has been taking over the years,” he said.
Although fertilizer prices have fallen from their all-time high in March 2022, when they spiked up to 3.5 times higher than two years before, the commodity is likely to remain costly for some time, continuing to squeeze the food production system.
Meanwhile, the fertilizer industry has yielded record profits. Canada-based Nutrien Ltd., the world’s leading producer of potash fertilizer, saw profits increase 1,575% between 2020 and 2022 to $7.7 billion. Florida-based Mosaic Co., one of the largest U.S. producers of potash and phosphate fertilizer, netted $3.6 billion in 2022, a 438% increase from 2020. CF Industries, an Illinois-based fertilizer company, made $3.2 billion in 2022, a 955% increase from 2020.
The End of Russia and Ukraine’s Grain Deal Is Bad News for the Global Food Supply by Eamon Whalen
July 21, 2023
Introduction:
(Mother Jones) In July 2022, the United Nations and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan helped broker the Black Sea Grain Initiative: A deal between Russia and Ukraine that the UN Secretary-General António Guterres called “a beacon of hope.” It allowed food and fertilizer exports from three Ukrainian ports—on the Black Sea, Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny/Pivdennyi—to be shipped to the rest of the world. Since the agreement was signed last year, 32.8 million tons of Ukrainian grain have been exported; more than half has gone to developing countries, including drought-ridden East African nations like Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia.
This week, that deal ended. And it soon got worse. After pulling out of the deal, Russia attacked storage facilities in the coastal city of Odesa, reportedly destroying 60,000 tons of grain, according to Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi. Both nations say that they will now treat each other’s ships traveling across the Black Sea as potential military targets.
The end of the deal, and the bombings, could be a major blow to the global food supply. As my former colleague Tom Philpott wrote in March 2022, the Russia and Ukraine war is being fought in the world’s breadbasket:
Today, Russia is a global wheat powerhouse, the world’s number-three producer of the staple crop, and its number-one exporter. Just as in 1768, much of its most productive farmland lies east of the Ukraine border, making it largely reliant on the same “black paths” (now covered in paved roads and railroad tracks) to reach markets. Ukraine, too, is a major wheat exporter, and has recently emerged as a corn powerhouse, too, supplying China and its booming meat industry with nearly a third of its feed corn imports.
What does it mean when a war of conquest descends upon one of the globe’s great breadbaskets in the 21st century? With trade routes embattled and markets roiled by Russia’s invasion, wheat prices have already shot up to their highest level in 60 years. This far exceeds the spike of the early 2010s, which led to bread riots in the Middle East that helped bring about the Arab Spring and the still-simmering civil war in Syria.
A Rice Shortage is Sending Prices Soaring Across the World. And Things Could Get Worse by Aniruddha Ghosal and Evelyne Musambi
August 22, 2023
Introduction:
(San Diego Union Tribune) Francis Ndege isn’t sure if his customers in Africa’s largest slum can afford to keep buying rice from him.
Prices for rice grown in Kenya soared a while ago because of higher fertilizer prices and a yearslong drought in the Horn of Africa that has reduced production. Cheap rice imported from India had filled the gap, feeding many of the hundreds of thousands of residents in Nairobi's Kibera slum who survive on less than $2 a day.
But that is changing. The price of a 25-kilogram (55-pound) bag of rice has risen by about a fifth since June, going from the equivalent of about $14 to $18. Wholesalers are yet to receive new stocks since India, the world's largest exporter of rice by far, said last month that it would ban some rice shipments.
It's an effort by the world’s most populous nation to control domestic prices ahead of a key election year — but it’s left a yawning gap of around 9.5 million metric tons (10.4 tons) of rice that people around the world need, roughly a fifth of global exports.
“I’m really hoping the imports keep coming,” said Ndege, 51, who's sold rice for 30 years.
The article also explains that Vietnam is seeking to increase its export of rice to the Philippines and the United Kingdom.
Since the 2020 low, the price of orange juice is up a massive 315%.
This year alone, orange juice prices have jumped by 105%.
More on that:
Crop Diseases and Hurricanes Hammer Orange Juice Supply George Glover
October 3, 2023
Extract:
(Market Insider) (O)range juice futures' rapid rise has been driven by two factors that even the Federal Reserve can't control: disease and hurricanes.
Citrus greening is transmitted by infected insects and has led to the supply of oranges from Florida cratering 75% over the past quarter of a century, according to Successful Farming. It's also destroyed crops in Louisiana, Texas, California, and Brazil.
Two hurricanes that hit Florida during the second half of 2022, Ian and Nicole, have also hit citrus supplies, dragging the state's overall orange output to a low not seen since the Great Depression.
GR Fresh Looking for a Winter Rebound
by Tom Linden
November 21, 2023
Introduction:
(The Produce News) After a challenging year, culminating with a weather-caused delay in its fall production from Mexico, McAllen, TX-based GR Fresh is looking for a strong rebound as it heads into the holiday season and typically greater production from West Mexico.
“After experiencing our best year ever in 2022, this has been a tough year overall,” said GR Fresh Vice President of Sales and Marketing Tony Incaviglia. “There has been pain coming from a whole lot of factors, but inflation is the number one problem. We have experienced rising costs across the board, including the cost of seed and packaging and getting the product from the source to the warehouse in McAllen and then on to our customers.”
If that wasn’t enough, a couple of October storms in Mexico caused damage to some shade houses and knock out some young acreage, requiring some rebuilding and some replanting. He said flooding caused some acreage to be lost and heavy winds and rains damaged some of the shade house infrastructure.
“Just as we are celebrating last year’s successes, we have these challenges,” he said. “To use a baseball analogy, you are only as good as your last at bat.”
Continuing in that vein, GR Fresh is back up at the plate looking for some solid hits as it heads toward the typically heavy Thanksgiving pull. “Our supplies have been light, but it looks like we are going to start to get some volume over the next week or two,” Incaviglia said on the first day of November.
Indian Rice Export Ban: Implications for Global Markets and Food Security by Arya Roy Bardhan
December 22, 2023
Introduction:
(Observer Research Foundation) Rice is a principal agricultural product that impacts diets, cultures, and economies across the world. It is crucial for nearly 3.5 billion people, especially in Asia, where it is a staple food and a major source of livelihood. The rice value chain plays a central role in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as it supports around 900 million poor individuals globally, with 400 million actively involved in its production. It is pivotal for food security, poverty reduction, and economic growth, particularly in Asia. Amid global challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic and rising geopolitical tensions, rice prices have increased, threatening the global agricultural sector. At this time, any trade interventions by the major exporters will have deleterious effects on global prices and food security. The recent ban on Indian rice exports—India is the second-largest producer of rice and has been the largest exporter of rice since 2012—will thus affect global prices and the resultant shortage can lead to a food crisis.
The Indian government is balancing the protection of its consumers and farmers with the need to support food security in vulnerable nations. These developments highlight the delicate balance between national policy and global food security, underscoring the need for a careful analysis of India’s rice trade strategies and international commitments to understand the full impact of its export regulations on both local and global participants. The paper highlights the role of India’s low productivity as a driving factor of domestic uncertainty and later discusses the implications of the export ban for international producers and consumers.
Rice production—India and the world
India holds a significant position in global agriculture, being the third-largest cereal producer with 11.2 percent of the world’s arable land. Despite having the highest area under rice cultivation, significantly more than China, it is the second-largest producer due to its lower yield rates, standing at 2,809 kg/hectare. The core issue lies in the low productivity, which, despite improvements since independence, remains below global standards.
Trendspotting: Unsettled Weather Hitting Crops on Both Coasts
by Craig Levitt
December 21, 2023
Introduction:
(The Produce News) As many throughout the country prepare for the holiday weekend, storms are expected to impact Southern California and the southwestern desert growing regions. The rains will likely impact northern Mexico areas as well, according to Tim Lynch, quality assurance manager at Pro*Act.
“The southwestern desert regions have seen cold mornings and lettuce ice recently with some epidermal peel and blister showing up in the leafy green supplies," said Lynch. "The upcoming storm system will likely increase mold and mildew in the fields.”
Adverse weather, including rain and colder temperatures, has meant strawberry production in central Mexico is low, according to Pro*Act. It is expected that through the weekend, demand will exceed supply.
Demand is also exceeding supply for asparagus and white onions, mostly due to holiday promotions.
There have been rains — and cooler temperatures — in Florida as well, as production moves toward southern Florida. The weather will likely cause some bloom drop on squash, peppers and tomatoes, impacting supplies and quality in the near term, according to Pro*Act.
A $126 Grocery Tab that Explains the Vibes Paradox by Neil Irwin
January 13, 2024
Introduction:
(Axios) Americans are furious about high inflation, according to the Axios Vibes survey by The Harris Poll. Economists say that high inflation has mostly been vanquished. Both are correct.
Why it matters: If you look at the level of prices, they are way up since 2020. If you look at the rate at which prices are changing, it has returned to fairly normal levels. This intuition is crucial to understanding this confusing moment for inflation trends and public opinion around them.
Axios Vibe Check: How Americans feel about their grocery tab:
• What the data show: It's complicated.
By the numbers: About 72% of respondents said that groceries are where they feel most affected by inflation.
• 59% feel some sort of negative reaction when shopping for groceries: angry, anxious or resigned — with anger the most common of those.
