Monday, July 14, 2025

Members in the News: July 14, 2025

 

Wendong Zhang, Cornell University

  • Trump’s Previous Tariff Push Terrified the World Economy. He’s Betting This Time is Different
    By: AP News – July 8, 2025
  • Trump Says it Was ‘Too Time-Consuming’ to Negotiate Trade Deals So it Was Just Easier to Send Letters
    By: Fortune – July 9, 2025 

Zach Rutledge, Michigan State University

"MSU Study Shows Farm Labor Changes, Challenges"

By: Vegetable Growers News – July 12, 2025

“In a Michigan State University (MSU) study, researchers provide an overview of the farm labor market in Michigan, emphasizing changes in employment, wages and farmworker characteristics to highlight how the farm labor force has changed over the past 20 years.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Vegetable Growers News


Amitrajeet Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology

Knowing English Greatly Helps One’s Employability in India

By: Basis Point – July 10, 2025

“Low-income individuals in India and other developing countries often lack the skills required for employment in growing service sectors such as tourism, call centers, and business process outsourcing. While job training programmers often emphasize vocational or technical skills, English language skills—critical for many modern jobs—are frequently overlooked.”

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Read more on: Basis Point


Peter Orazem, Iowa State University
Chad Hart,
Iowa State University

Iowa's Sinking GDP Linked to Long-Term Trends, Economists Warn

By: Axios Des Moines – July 7, 2025

“Iowa's economy has not done well compared to other states for years, starting with slower growth in 2018.”

“The state's ag sector took a step back last year, and the latest GPD report is the result.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Axios Des Moines


Brian Roe, The Ohio State University

US Vacation Renters Are Wasting $2B Worth of Food Every Year: Study

By: WDCTV – July 10, 2025

“So people are basically paying an additional lodging tax through the money they spend on food that they never eat while they’re in the Airbnb.”

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Read more on: WDCTV

Monday, July 7, 2025

Members in the News: July 7, 2025

 Rabail Chandio, Iowa State University

Fresh Analysis of Meat Consumption and Farmland Values

By: Iowa Farm Bureau – June 9, 2025

“In this episode, we chat with Iowa State University’s resident expert on farmland values, economist Dr. Rabail Chandio. We also explore new research on Americans’ meat purchasing habits, with Rick Stein, who’s the Vice President of Fresh Foods for The Food Industry Association.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Iowa Farm Bureau  


Alejandro Gutierrez-Li, North Carolina State University

  • Inflation, Trump Tariffs Hurting Americans' Fourth Of July Plans, Survey Finds: Here's How
    By: Daily Voice - July 2, 2025 
  • Ground Beef Prices Surge To Record High Before Fourth Of July Cookouts: Here's Why
    By: Daily Voice – July 2, 2025

David Ortega, Michigan State University

Summer Without Cherry Pie? Michigan’s Signature Crop Faces Battery of Threats

By: The Guardian – July 5, 2025

“Labor issues are also hampering cherry production. The supply chain relies on a mix of local and migrant labor, and there is a shortage of both. Some migrant laborers are hired through the H-2A visa, a temporary work visa for agricultural jobs, and some migrant laborers are undocumented. Cherrypicking is often done mechanically, but packing and processing relies on human labor. Producers and other stakeholders have seen how Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids make some workers afraid to show up because of deportation fears. Without enough agricultural workers, many of Michigan’s specialty crops could spoil.”

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


Antonina Broyaka, Kansas State University

Expert: EU Quotas Put More Ukrainian Products on Global Market

By: Capital Press – June 25, 2025

“Ukraine will need to diversify its agricultural exports, since export capacity is much higher than Europe is going to buy from Ukraine. Ukraine will search for alternative markets, which means there will be high competition on the other markets. The EU was always the main market for Ukrainian animal and crop products. Its value for Ukraine was nearly $12.9 billion in 2024, double that of 2021, prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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


Chad Hart, Iowa State University

Iowa’s Economy Had the Worst Growth in the Nation Early This Year. Why?

By: The Gazette – July 2, 2025

“Iowa’s agricultural sector has been “treading water,” waiting to see how Trump’s tariff policies will play out. For our farmers the big thing they need to worry about is not the tariffs that are put in here in the U.S., it’s how other countries respond to those tariffs. And right now, we haven’t seen a lot of responses from other countries because of the on again, off again nature of what we’re seeing here within the U.S.”

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Read more on: The Gazette


Valerie Kilders, Purdue University

These Fast Food Restaurants Hiked Their Prices the Most Last Year

By: World NL – July 3, 2025

“Inflation at fast food restaurants is a multilayered phenomenon. Increased minimum wages for low-wage workers and the increase of general food prices as two large factors contributing to rising fast food prices. Post pandemic, we saw that lowest wage workers, which include those that are typically working in fast food restaurants, saw the fastest growth in wages… From January 2024 to January 2025 "cattle prices increased 20.6% and wholesale beef [increased] around 15%. Eggs are even up 183%, so we're seeing these big increases in just those two categories. The increased prices for the operators are passed on to the consumers.”

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Read more on: World NL or All Things American


Ted Schroeder, Kansas State University

Why Beef Prices Have Hit a Record

By: The New York Times – July 4, 2025

“Ranchers reported strong profits in 2014, and expanded their herds over the next five to six years. But with more supply, the price that ranchers received for cattle fell, just as a drought began across the Western United States. With less grass for their cattle to graze on, ranchers had to buy more feed for their herds to subsist on, raising their costs. As the drought persisted, many ranchers decided to sell some cattle and downsize their herd.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: The New York Times

Monday, June 30, 2025

Members in the News: June 30, 2025

Steven Deller, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Mckenzie Boyce,
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Wisconsin’s Labor Shortage is a Barrier to Economic Growth, Report Says

By: NPR – June 25, 2025

“A lot of Wisconsin businesses have been struggling with finding employees, and they have been for a number of years, going back to before COVID… To some degree, Wisconsin’s lag in productivity can be attributed to having a large rural population and a lot of small towns. Businesses in rural areas tend to be smaller with less capital to spend on technology.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: NPR or Superior Telegram, Urban Milwaukee  


Charles Martinez, University of Tennessee

Bull Buyers and EPDs

By: Red Angus Remarks – June 6, 2025

“Dr. Martinez have utilized eye tracking software to follow producers' eye movements when looking at catalogues and which traits producers are utilizing when making decisions. Dr. Martinez shares great detail on his work in this area and other areas of the industry where this technology and research may be useful. “

(Continued...)
Read more on: Red Angus Remarks


Patrick Westhoff, University of Missouri
Chad Hart,
Iowa State University

Why Trump’s Second Trade War Could Be Worse for US Farmers

By: Midwest – June 24, 2025

“I’ve never seen a time where the level of policy uncertainty is as high as it is right now. You have all the normal uncertainties that farmers face just because of weather and so on. Now you’ve got this huge policy uncertainty as well. It may turn out well, or it may turn out very badly, and we just don’t know right now.”

“Loan repayment has dropped. A lot of this action is due to just the general decline in crop income over the past couple of years, which started before the trade fight.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Midwest


Antonina Broyaka, Kansas State University

Expert: EU Quotas Put More Ukrainian Products on Global Market

By: Capital Press – June 25, 2025

“Ukraine will need to diversify its agricultural exports, since export capacity is much higher than Europe is going to buy from Ukraine. Ukraine will search for alternative markets, which means there will be high competition on the other markets. The EU was always the main market for Ukrainian animal and crop products. Its value for Ukraine was nearly $12.9 billion in 2024, double that of 2021, prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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


Amitrajeet Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology 

Stunting In India And Role Of Food Transfers

By: Basis Point – June 27, 2025

“Stunting, the impaired growth and development of children from poor nutrition, repeated infection, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation, remains a persistent challenge in India. The causes and consequences of stunting in India have been much debated.”

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