Members in the News: August 10, 2026

 Ricky Volpe, California Polytechnic State University

“Trump Said Grocery Prices Are 'Way Down' — This Fact-Check Is A Rude Awakening”

By: Huff Post – August 5, 2026

“Food prices going down almost never happens… But it’s worth reiterating that they are going up both faster than normal and faster than they did last year.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Huff Post

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David Ortega, Michigan State University

“List of Companies Slashing Prices as White House Takes Credit”

By: Newsweek – August 7, 2026

“There is no public evidence establishing that the cuts were caused by the president beyond the White House’s own claim… The fact that most of these announcements never mention him is very telling.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Newsweek

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Sandro Steinbach, North Dakota State University
Shawn Arita, North Dakota State University
Rwit Chakravorty, North Dakota State University
Matthew Gammans, North Dakota State University
Jiyeon Kim, North Dakota State University
Wuit Yi Lwin, North Dakota State University
Ming Wang, North Dakota State University

“NDSU Agricultural Trade Monitor Wins National Policy Award”

By: North Dakota Ag Connection – August 4, 2026

"The Bruce Gardner Award is especially meaningful because it recognizes policy analysis that is grounded in economic theory and useful to decision-makers," Steinbach said. "The NDSU Agricultural Trade Monitor was built to provide timely, research-driven insight on global agricultural trade at a moment when producers, agribusinesses, and policymakers need clear, data-informed analysis."

(Continued...)
Read more on: North Dakota Ag Connection

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Shawn Arita, North Dakota State University

“Experts Evaluate Alarming State Of U.S. Sugar Economy”

By: Sugar Producer – August 5, 2026

“Dr. Shawn Arita, one of the leading authors on that paper, said that his team "put together a rigorous and objective economic study looking at the effects of this influx of tier-2 imports on our U.S. sugar producers. We did find that it does significantly depress U.S. sugar prices."

(Continued...)
Read more on: Sugar Producer or Agriculture of America, Market Talk

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Michael Langemeier, Purdue University

• “Crunching the Numbers: There’s More to Organic Farm Production Than Profit”
  By: Agripub News - August 3, 2026
• “Farmer Sentiment Rebounds in the Latest Ag Economy Barometer Survey”
  By: Brownfield – August 4, 2026  

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Nicole Olynk Widmar, Purdue University

“The Cyclospora Outbreak Is Driving Shoppers to Farmers Markets. Experts Say They’re Not Necessarily Safer”

By: INC – August 4, 2026

“The shift doesn’t surprise experts. “We don’t think much about food safety in the U.S. relative to many other food systems and places; now many of us are thinking about it, and that is disruptive and mentally costly to many people.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: INC

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Sarah Low, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“Study Shows Health Rsks Higher for Rural Residents”

By: Farms.com – August 6, 2026

“We can combine those biomarkers with socioeconomic information and survey questions like age, education and if they are a veteran or not.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Farms.com

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Members in the News: August 3, 2026

 Ricky Volpe, California Polytechnic State University

“Forget Gasoline: Why the Price Surge in This Under the-Radar Fuel is the Real Threat to the U.S. Economy”

By: Market Watch – July 18, 2026

“Our growing and harvesting sectors are very, very energy intensive, and they get hit hard when energy costs go up… People already have seen some price impacts from higher energy costs — as well as higher costs for fertilizer, whose inputs also largely come from the Middle East.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Market Watch

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Ricky Volpe, California Polytechnic State University
David Ortega, Michigan State University

“Buying Less, Trading Down: High Grocery Prices Will Hurt Produce Growers”

By: Capital Press – July 29, 2026

“The shift toward processed food is challenging but farms and other businesses can adapt and take advantage of the change in consumer habits. Substitutions happen and this presents opportunities.”

“When budgets are tight, food is one area where households have some flexibility, so consumers adjust at the margins. They switch to store brands, trade down from fresh to canned or frozen and prioritize who gets what.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Capital Press

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David Ortega, Michigan State University

• “Taylor Farms Produce Is Sold Everywhere, Making Outbreak Difficult to Escape”
  By: Bloomberg – July 24, 2026
• “How Michigan Became the Epicenter of the Cyclosporiasis Outbreak”
  By: Crains Detroit – July 24, 2026

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Amitrajeet Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology

“Simpler Applications Can Lift Welfare Benefit Uptake”

By: Basis Point Insight – August 1, 2026

“Governments in India face a recurring problem: many eligible citizens do not claim benefits that could materially improve their welfare. New research offers a rigorous and intuitive explanation. The application process itself can become the barrier.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Basis Point Insight

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Michael Langemeier, Purdue University

“Impact of Leverage on Rates of Return of Crop Farms”

By: Successful Farming – July 27, 2026

“Increasing financial leverage will increase expected returns as long the marginal returns from the use of loans exceed the cost of borrowing. In favorable economic times, higher leverage can improve financial performance and stimulate farm growth. However, in unfavorable economic times, leverage can cause business performance to deteriorate rapidly. Thus, higher leverage may increase expected returns and financial risk. Given this risk/return relationship, what is the optimal level of farm debt?”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Successful Farming

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Gregory Ibendahl, Kansas State University

“Rising fuel costs cause concern for Cortez Transportation”

By: WIBW – July 26, 2026

“The fluctuating fuel costs don’t come as much of a surprise… Gas prices react very strongly to what the oil price does, there’s hardly any delay at all to where we get the most usually before you start seeing something happen. So this jumping around in gas prices to me is not unusual because we see the oil price doing the same thing.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: WIBW

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Bradley Lubben, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

“Economist Warns of Growing Uncertainty in Ag Policy”

By: Brownfield Ag News – July 27, 2026

“While there’ve been necessary updates to the farm safety net, it doesn’t address larger issues. The future directions of the ag economy and drivers on the policy front – those are the things that aren’t in the farm bill that have the most significant questions ahead.” 

(Continued...)
Read more on: Brownfield Ag News

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Gary Schnitkey, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“Volatile Fertilizer Market Could Change How Farmers Buy Inputs”

By: Brownfield Ag News – July 28, 2026

“There could be dramatic swings between now and spring. Spreading out the input decisions just like you would for spreading out sales, is a good thing and more important now than a year ago.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Brownfield Ag News

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Hope Michelson, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“How AI Can Unlock Africa’s AfCFTA Potential”

By: News Central TV – July 28, 2026

“Uninsured risks continue to affect farmers’ willingness to invest in improved farming methods and technologies. And there’s a lot of uninsured risk… when farmers lack protection such as crop insurance, they become less willing to invest in inputs and techniques that could improve productivity.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: News Central TV

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Elizabeth Canales Medina, Mississippi State University

“From Price Spikes To a Cyclospora Outbreak: Lettuce is Hitting Some Restaurants Hard”

By: Fast Company – July 30, 2026

“Unusually hot weather in Arizona early in the year caused crops to mature too early. That caused big supply gaps until California production began in late April. Fuel costs, which increased after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran and Iran blocked most oil tankers from leaving the Persian Gulf, have also been an issue. Lettuce is especially perishable and requires energy for cooling from the time it’s picked to the time it’s sold. The cold chain needs to be maintained. Cooling and transporting it is very important.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Fast Company

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Lee Schulz, Ever.Ag

“U.S. Hog Inventory Edges Lower in June”

By: High Plains Journal – July 31, 2026

“Market hog inventories by weight category provide an indication of anticipated slaughter levels during the six months following June 1. All four USDA market hog inventory estimates were below the average pre-report expectations.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: High Plains Journal

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Members in the News: July 27, 2026

Amitrajeet Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology “Climate Policy Needs Carbon Pricing, Not Just Green Subsidies” By: Basis Point Insight -  July 20, 2026  “Fighting climate change is difficult because it is a global problem that requires coordinated action across countries, industries, and individuals with differing interests and priorities. The benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions are often long-term and widely shared, while the costs of mitigation are immediate and concentrated on specific sectors and communities.” (Continued...) Read more on: Basis Point Insight Ariel Ortiz-Bobea, Cornell University “Heat Stress Hits Dairy Quality as Well as Quantity, Study Finds” By: Sentient Media – July 20, 2026 “This matters to the dairy industry because farmers get paid not by the overall weight or volume, but are instead priced using a formula that takes those nutritional components into account. As climate change increases the intensity and duration of heat events, industrial dairies with more capital tend to be better equipped to handle the added strain on their margins.” (Continued...) Read more on: Sentient Media Simon Somogyi, Texas A&M University Yong Liu, Texas A&M University Weifang Liang, Texas A&M University “Expect Stable Meat Prices This Summer” By: National Hog Farmer – July 21, 2026 “Now with New World screwworm, that’s going to cause issues that we haven’t seen yet. We could see higher prices without those historically steady imports from Mexico.” (Continued...) Read more on: National Hog Farmer Brian Roe, The Ohio State University “Weight Loss Drugs Are Leading to Less Spending at Ohio Restaurants, OSU Study Finds” By: WOSU – July 23, 2026  “We found that consumers, once they started the medication, were cutting back in terms of their dine-out experience. We found, for example, about $37 less spending per week on dining out among current users of the drugs than those who were former users of the drug. And most of them said that their spending went down by more than 10% after they started their medication.” (Continued...) Read more on: WOSU Taejun Mo, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign “Self-Driving Trucks Could Upend America’s Freight Economy” By: Earth.com – July 23, 2026 “Self-driving technology has great potential to rewrite the economic geography of the U.S., which in and of itself will create new winners and losers… If a certain geographic area were a major transportation hub in the days before autonomous trucking, it’s possible that it would not be a major hub in the future.” (Continued...) Read more on: Earth.com Becca Weir, Pennsylvania State University Barry Ward, The Ohio State University “Financial Health of American Farms Strained' By Many Factors” By: Allied News – June 23, 2026 "It's challenging to make high-level generalizations about the farm economy because each region and agricultural sector faces different challenges. Our current market conditions could change quickly with adverse weather during the remaining crop production season or an intensified livestock disease outbreak. At the moment, the overall financial health of American farms is strained." “The biggest risks often come from weather or climate patterns. We look at the last 100 years; margin and profitability have always been central in farmers' minds, and part of that has to do with weather, especially in crop production and indirectly, livestock production.” (Continued...) Read more on: Allied News Do you have international, national, state or local news to share? Submit your 'Members in the News' now!

Members in the News: July 20, 2026

 Amitrajeet Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology

“The Hidden Cost: Why Carbon Taxes Are Unpopular”

By: Basis Point Insight – July 14, 2026

“Economists generally favour carbon taxes because they are a relatively efficient way to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By putting a price on carbon, a carbon tax forces firms and consumers to account for the environmental damages associated with fossil fuel use. In theory, this leads to lower emissions at the lowest overall cost to society.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Basis Point Insight

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Richard Volpe, California Polytechnic State University

“Traditional Supermarkets Are Struggling. Kroger Hopes its Giant Eagle Merger Will Help”

By: Marketplace – July 16, 2026

”That's a format that has been losing ground for quite some time in the food retail landscape in the U.S., and at a pretty dramatic rate.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Marketplace

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Carl Zulauf, The Ohio State University
Henrique Monaco, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Gary Schnitkey, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“Minding Ag's Business Blog”

By: Progressive Farmer DNT – July 14, 2026

“Market losses are more common than market profits in the U.S. field-crop sector… In stretches when farmers were profitable, the safety net increased cumulative returns by 70% in the period from 2007-2013 and 41% in 2021 and 2022. The authors argue this represents a fundamental shift in the role of the safety net, which they describe as "supercharging profits" rather than simply protecting against losses.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Progressive Farmer DNT

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Elizabeth Canales Medina, Mississippi State University

“A Perfect Storm of Factors is Driving Up US Produce Prices, But Shoppers Can Still Save”

By: The Conversation – July 16, 2026

“From tomatoes and berries to lettuce and peppers, shoppers are feeling sticker shock in the produce aisle. Recent headlines have focused in particular on soaring tomato prices. They spiked by roughly one-fifth from June 2025 to June 2026, according to consumer price data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: The Conversation

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David Ortega, Michigan State University

“Could the Cyclospora Outbreak Affect Grocery Prices?”

By: News Nation – July 17, 2026

“A drop in demand for fresh produce, for example, could lead to localized price declines or discounts for specific products. Because these goods are highly perishable, even modest demand shifts can move prices quickly.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: News Nation

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Jaime Luke, Michigan State University

“A Labor Lockout in Rural Colorado Has a Town Asking: How Do We Survive?”

By: The Denver Post – July 19, 2026

“Things like this can cause regional issues, such as producers seeing increased costs and headaches, but for the industry as a whole, it’s not an end-of-the-world scenario,”

(Continued...)
Read more on: The Denver Post

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Members in the News: July 13, 2026

 Zachariah Rutledge, Michigan State University

“Economists on the Labor Trends That Will Define the Future of U.S. Fresh Produce”

By: The Packer – July 6, 2026

“Based on USDA data, the average operating cost for labor is about 38% for fruit and 29% for vegetables.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: The Packer

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Alejandro Gutierrez-Li, North Carolina State University

“TPS Decision Could Reshape Ag Labor Market”

By: Politico – June 29, 2026

“The Supreme Court ruling is likely to further stress the labor supply at meatpacking plants across the country. Meatpackers can’t easily access the H-2A visa program for year-round work like meatpacking. “Research has shown that, even in periods of high unemployment, Americans prefer to pass on physically demanding jobs at meatpacking plants.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Politico

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David Ortega, Michigan State University

“Did Walmart Roll Back Prices Because of Trump? They Won’t Say”

By: USA Today – July 8, 2026

“The Walmart price reductions looks less like a turning point on food inflation and more like an aggressive summer promotion. Big retailers spotlight 'backyard barbecue' staples like meat, corn, soda, chips because they're highly visible and shape how shoppers feel about prices in general."

(Continued...)
Read more on: USA Today

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Shawn Arita, North Dakota State University
Sandro Steinbach, North Dakota State University

• “Kansas Farmers Suffer From Tariffs and Closing of Strait of Hormuz, Ag Experts Say”
  By: Yahoo! Finance – July 7, 2026
• “The Meat Industry’s Tireless Effort to Keep Live Pigs in Coffins”
  By: The American Prospect – July 7, 2026

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Natalie Loduca, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Scott Swinton, Michigan State University

“How Farmers Respond to Climate-Related Risk”

Bu: Agrinews – July 5, 2026

“Crop yields depend not only on weather conditions, but also on the producer’s management decisions. We wanted to better understand how farmers perceive uncertainty under changing climate conditions.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Agrinews

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Christopher Barrett, Cornell University

“Fertilizer Shortage Raises Concerns Across Global Agriculture”

By: Farms.com – July 6, 2026

“Despite these challenges, experts believe consumers are unlikely to experience major increases in food prices. Consumers are going to see higher food prices come September to January, once harvests start coming in, and the few months thereafter. Very little of that is going to be directly attributable to fertilizer."

(Continued...)
Read more on: Farms.com

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Bradley Rickard, Cornell University

“A California Farmer Is Giving Away Tons of Nectarines That He's Not Allowed to Sell”

By: Food Manufacturing – July 7, 2026

“Fruit patents are becoming increasingly common. A patent allows a breeder to collect a royalty from the fruit trees it sells, the fruit that the trees produce, or both.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Food Manufacturing

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Amelia Finaret, Allegheny College

“5 Grocery Items That Will Cost More This Summer”

By: AARP – July 7, 2026

“Whole wheat bread prices are up 8 percent over last year. Drought conditions in wheat-growing regions of the U.S. have strained supply to the point where America’s wheat production is at its lowest since 1970.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: AARP

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Jeffrey Dorfman, North Carolina State University
Ricky Volpe, California Polytechnic State University

“U.S.-Iran Conflict Puts Food Prices at Growing Risk”

By: Kansas City Star – July 10, 2026

Fossil fuels used in farming and distribution account for between 15% and 30% of the cost of produce at the retail level.”

“An FMI-The Food Industry Association briefing that even an immediate resolution to the conflict would not prevent grocery inflation from climbing well above the historical average for the remainder of 2026.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Kansas City Star

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