Members in the News: October 28, 2024

Sean Cash, Tufts University

“People Love to Shop Online for Groceries — but There’s a Major Nutrition Downside”

By: New York Post – October 17, 2024

“The government has clearly intended that you should be able to know certain things about your food. The way we’ve regulated that in the United States is to put that information on the packaging. But that hasn’t carried over to online spaces very well.”

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Read more on: New York Post

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Andrew Stevens, University of Wisconsin–Madison

“How Much Will You Pay For Halloween Candy?”

By: WISC-TV – October 17, 2024

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Read more on: WISC-TV

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Jada Thompson, University of Arkansas

“Bird Flu’s Growing Impact Calls For Urgent Action at International Summit”

By: High Plains Journal – October 12, 2024

“Jada Thompson, assistant professor in the agricultural economics and agribusiness department, talked about the economic impacts of highly pathogenic avian influenza, including how the disease impacts producers and consumers.”

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Read more on: High Plains Journal

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John Lai, University of Florida

“Gainesville Residents Panic Buying Ahead of Hurricane Milton”

By: WUFT – October 9, 2024

“Panic buying can have some pretty negative effects on the supply chain. Especially when shoppers buy excessive quantities. Grocery store supply chains can be fragile. Stores operate using just-in-time inventory management strategies where stores order just what they need to provide for their customers and little more. This strategy ensures high-quality, fresh food, but it can cause short-term shortages when excessive amounts of certain items are rapidly purchased. Supply chains are limited by things like the amount of warehouse space, the number of trucks available to ship things out to stores, and even the workers or drivers of trucks who are available on hand to deliver those shipments of products. If businesses want to create a more resilient chain, they must make major investments in those different aspects of supply.”

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Read more on: WUFT

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Kimberly Morgan, University of Florida

“Farmers Urged to Know Their Costs”

By: Lake Okeechobee News – August 14, 2024 

“They have to know what they spend in order to know what they need to charge to cover costs and to earn a profit. For instance, retailers strategize what products to offer and when – a tactic farmers can mimic.”

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Read more on: Lake Okeechobee News

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Alexis Villacis, The Ohio State University

“What Patients Should Know About SoCal Kaiser Mental Health Workers Strike”

By: LAist – October 22, 2024

“Today on AirTalk, we discuss the challenges facing the chocolate industry and how it's affecting consumers here in the U.S. as they gear up for candy's biggest holiday. We're joined by Alexis Villacis, assistant professor of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics at The Ohio State University.”

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Read more on: LAist

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Richard Howitt, University of California, Davis

“Land Values Plunge as Groundwater Law Dims Farm Prospects”

By: Turlock Journal – October 18, 2024

“Pumping is the buffer stock for fluctuations in the surface supply. That is what enables you to have perennial crops.”

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Read more on: Turlock Journal

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Keri Jacobs, University of Missouri

• “10/19/24 U.S. Farm Report”
  By: Farm Journal – October 19, 2024
• “AgriTalk-10-17-24-Keri Jacobs”
  By: Agri Talks – October 17, 2024

 

Members in the News: October 21, 2024

 Steven Deller, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• “UW Economist Says Off-Farm Employment Key to Ensuring WI Farm Survival”
  By: Wis Business – October 3, 2024
• “Wisconsin Family Farms Increasingly Relying on off-Farm Employment to Supplement Income”
  By: WPR – October 8, 2024

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Rabail Chandio, Iowa State University

“Yes, the Farmland Market is Shifting, But That Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Prices Are Falling”

By: Ag Web – October 1, 2024 

“As we are coming out of the pandemic highs with high government payments no longer there, with high farm income no longer supporting the land value, the market began to soften in 2023,” says Chandio, who is also the lead researcher of the ISU Land Value Survey. “What we’ve already experienced is a whole year of softening and then maybe slight falling of land values in certain parts of the of the state as well.”

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Read more on: Ag Web

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Dan Scheitrum, California Polytechnic State University

“Kamala Harris’ Much-Hyped Price Gouging Ban Set to Disappoint Shoppers”

By: Yahoo! News – October 16

“It seems to me there was a big concern of pricing things unfairly or too high. Cheap eggs don’t do anybody any good if they’re not there to be purchased. And then there’s the fact the price gouging itself doesn’t have a widely agreed upon definition, and is often in the eye of the beholder.”

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Read more on: Yahoo! News

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Joseph Janzen, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“Farmers Are Making Less Money This Year, Which Could Have Larger Economic Consequences”

By: Northern Public Radio – October 7, 2024

“The farm economy is in a downturn relative to what we have experienced in 2022 and 2023, which was kind of a boom in agriculture. While the last couple of years had been record breakers for farm income, this year will be a return to more normal levels, economists said. That reality may mean farmers in the Midwest think twice about making big purchases this year, and that’s already trickling down to other sectors.”

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Read more on: Northern Public Radio

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David Ortega, Michigan State University

• “Kamala Harris and Donald Trump Both Plan to Boost Spending. How Would That Affect the Federal Debt?”
  By: CBS News – October 8, 2024
• “Segment on Food Prices and the Election Starts on Minute 16”
  By: WDIV Local 4 – October 13, 2024

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Joseph Balagtas, Purdue University

“Fact-checking Harris and Trump’s interviews with AARP”

By: PBS – October 9, 2024

“The COVID-19 pandemic caused supply-chain disruptions in 2020 that sparked high inflation through the summer of 2022, when year-to-year inflation hit a 40-year high of 9 percent. These snags increased production costs, the pandemic altered consumer behavior and fiscal and monetary policy increased consumer demand. These forces combined to drive prices higher.”

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Read more on: PBS

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Daniel Sumner, University of California, Davis
Joseph Glauber, International Food Policy Research Institute
David Ortega, Michigan State University

“Bacon Prices Are a Hot Topic This Election. Here’s What You Need to Know”

By: Fast Company – October 10, 2024

“Prices for pork products will be 7% to 10% higher in California over the long term because of the law.”

“Food price inflation was a global issue over the past few years, not one caused by the Biden administration. Past run-ups in food prices, he noted, have occurred regardless of which party was in office.”

“While plants were closed, millions of pigs got too big to be processed and were culled instead, leading to shortages just as home-bound Americans were shopping for more breakfast bacon.”

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Read more on: Fast Company

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Daniel M. O'Brien, Kansas State University

“‘Outside Forces’ Imperative For Profit in Good Corn Yields”

By: High Plains Journal – October 11, 2024

“Prices will be low during the harvest season. More crop reports are ahead, but the mid-September outlooks showed “strong record yields” of 183 bushels to the acre for United States corn. I don’t think we have any argument that we have a large crop. it’s just a matter of how large. The numbers the market is trading on right now are subject to change.”

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Read more on: High Plains Journal

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Aaron Smith, University of California, Davis

“California Democrats Want to Slash Gas Prices, a State Climate Policy Will Raise Them”

By: Times Herald – October 15, 2024

“Although that would pose a challenge to drivers, the low-carbon fuel standard is an important part of California’s climate strategy. Scientists say climate change is already intensifying natural disasters in California and nationally while driving terrifying declines in biodiversity, and maintain it poses an existential threat to humanity over the century.”

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Read more on: Times Herald

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Benjamin Brown, University of Missouri

“Ideal Weather Boosts Missouri Crop Output, Lowers Prices"

By: Columbia Missourian – October 15, 2024

“The 21% increase in Missouri corn yields and the 6.3% in soybean yields look so stark because 2022 and 2023 were both poor-performing years due to drought. In fact, one could make the case that Missouri was the hardest-hit state for drought during those years.”

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Read more on: Columbia Missourian

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Brittney Goodrich, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“Honey Bees in Demand: New Contract Strategies to Support Pollination Services”

By: Phys.org – October 15, 2024

“There's about 1.3 million acres of almond trees in California, and each acre requires two honey bee hives for pollination, so that's about 2.6 million honey bee hives every year. They are coming from all over the U.S., making the trek to get there by February 15 when the almonds usually start blooming, and they stay for about a month.”

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Read more on: Phys.org

Members in the News: October 14, 2024

 

Craig Landry, University of Georgia

“Thousands of Uninsured Homes Were in Helene’s Path”

By: Yahoo! News – October 3, 2024

“It’s something people don’t want to think about. People have an optimistic perception of disaster assistance. And in reality, it’s not that generous.”

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Read more on: Yahoo! News

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Joseph Janzen, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“Farmers Are Making Less Money This Year, Which Could Have Larger Economic Consequences”

By: NPR – October 7, 2024

“The farm economy is in a downturn relative to what we have experienced in 2022 and 2023, which was kind of a boom in agriculture. While the last couple of years had been record breakers for farm income, this year will be a return to more normal levels, economists said. That reality may mean farmers in the Midwest think twice about making big purchases this year, and that’s already trickling down to other sectors.”

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Read more on: NPR or Iowa Public Radio

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Steven Deller, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• “As Election Day Nears, the Economy Remains Top of Mind for Wisconsin Voters”
  By: WPR – October 8, 2024
• “Wisconsin Family Farms Increasingly Relying on Off-Farm Employment to Supplement Income”
  By: WPR – October 8, 2024

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Joseph Balagtas, Purdue University

“Skimpflation is Hard to Spot, But the Berry Chantilly Cake from Whole Foods Can Help Explain”

By: CNN  - October 7, 2024

“In the wake of a really severe inflationary period, people are extra sensitive about value for money. Sometimes, a food company will substitute expensive ingredients with cheaper oils or artificial sweeteners. Often customers won’t notice this unless they compare the ingredient lists, but sometimes customers do notice.”

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Read more on: CNN

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David Ortega, Michigan State University

“Bacon Hogs The Spotlight in Election Debates, But Reasons For Its Sizzling Inflation Are Complex”

By: Associate Press – October 10, 2024

“Workers stand close together on production lines in the U.S. meat processing industry. Big bacon producers like Smithfield Foods and Tyson Foods temporarily closed plants in the spring of 2020 after thousands of workers got sick and some died. While plants were closed, millions of pigs got too big to be processed and were culled instead, leading to shortages just as home-bound Americans were shopping for more breakfast bacon.”

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Read more on: Associate Press

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Amitrajeet Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology

“Is Responding to Work Emails After Hours a Good or Bad Idea?”

By: Rochester Business Journal – October 4, 2024

“The difference in work-life balance between the U.S. and European countries is substantial. The European Union, for instance, has a mandated four-week paid vacation period across all 27 of its countries. Some countries also require additional paid days off on top of this required period. Meanwhile, in the U.S., nearly one-third of all employees say they don’t have any access to paid time off (PTO), according to a recent report. And those who do have PTO don’t always use it. The same report found that 765 million vacation days go unused by Americans each year.”

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Read more on: Rochester Business Journal

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Diego Cardoso, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“How Much Do Avoidable Deaths Impact the Economy?”

By: News Wise – October 4, 2024

“The first paper "applies novel methods to estimate the economic value of reducing avoidable deaths worldwide, finding that in 2019, 40 million deaths were avoidable—i.e., could have been prevented or delayed if individuals in all countries had access to the best available healthcare. The economic value of reducing these avoidable deaths is equivalent to 23% of annual global income, suggesting that significant health improvements could lead to substantial economic benefits and encouraging policymakers to invest more in health promotion and healthcare.”

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Read more on: News Wise

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Bradley Rickard, Cornell University

“California Just Became the First State to Ban Sell-By Dates”

By: Food & Wine – October 4, 2024

“some people will see the sell-by date and will assume this means something about food safety, and will then throw the item out even though there [are] unlikely any food safety concerns for many foods for a reasonable amount of time after the sell-by date.”

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Read more on: Food & Wine

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Aaron Smith, University of California, Davis

“Trump and Harris Promise to Lower Food Costs But Trump May Have the Edge in Winning Over Voters”

By: ISN Magazine – October 6, 2024

“While the rate of price growth has slowed, prices themselves are unlikely to fall. The rate of price growth has reverted back to normal, but prices will not go back down, casting doubt on the effectiveness of either candidate’s promises to bring substantial relief to the checkout aisle.”

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Read more on: ISN Magazine

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Michael Langemeier, Purdue University

“Managing Strategic Risks on the Farm: Insight From Purdue ag Economists”

By: Agrinews – October 6, 2024

“Anytime I’m looking at a long-range plan, I think in terms of scenarios. What’s my best prediction of the way things might happen? And think about what I would do under that scenario. “How aggressive would I be in terms of buying land? How aggressive would I be in terms of renting ground? How much machinery capacity do I need under my best estimate of prices, and so on.”

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Read more on: Agrinews

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Stephan Goetz, Penn State University

“USDA Funds $650,000 Study to Analyze U.S. Business Decarbonization”

By: Decarbon Fuse – October 6, 2024

"the industrial transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is occurring one firm at a time. Our goal is to develop a research-based understanding of the adoption decisions businesses are making and the barriers they face. This will inform the ongoing transition to a low-carbon economy."

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Read more on: Decarbon Fuse

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Andrew Stevens, University of Wisconsin–Madison

“USDA Farm Projection Report Shows Farmers Down 4.4% for This Year's Harvest”

By: abc 27 – October 7, 2024

"Agriculture is fundamentally a risky business where you've got some good years and some bad years. So the fact that we're seeing projections for this year come down a little bit when recent years have been fairly good, doesn't strike me as a huge trend."

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Read more on: abc 27

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Roderick Rejesus, North Carolina State University

“Crop Insurance Guidance for Farmers”

By: Morning Ag Clips – October 9, 2024

“Following a hurricane, the most important crop insurance action is for affected farmers to contact their agent, report their losses and arrange for adjusters to assess their losses. This will help ensure that they get compensated sooner rather than later.”

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Read more on: Morning Ag Clips