beef
Earliest date for mechanically tenderized meat labels – 2018
Food Safety News says "the earliest consumers will see labels on mechanically tenderized beef in grocery stores will be 2018" because the administration failed to complete work on the regulation during December.
Cereal, baked goods prices flat in 2014, pork to ease in ’15
Prices for cereal, flour and bakery items will finish the year unchanged from 2013, an indirect effect of record wheat crops worldwide, according to government forecasts, and pork prices will fall by 15 percent in the new year after soaring this year. "Many items in the center aisles of grocery stores/supermarkets have seen lower than average inflation or even deflation year-over-year," said USDA in its food price report.
Persistent low prices to reduce US crop area by 5 percent
Farmers will scale back plantings of the eight major field crops by nearly 5 percent - a total of 12.3 million acres - over the next five years in response to sustained, lower commodity prices, projects the Agriculture Department. The biggest cutbacks would be in wheat, down 8 percent, and soybeans, down 7 percent, from this year's levels. Corn, the most widely grown crop in the nation, would drop by 1.5 percent.
Beef prices, already at record highs, to rise more in 2015
Grocery store prices for beef are at record highs and the government says they will rise again in the new year, although not as sharply as this year.
USDA drops idea of new, separate beef checkoff
USDA won't proceed with its proposal for a new and separate beef checkoff program, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in DTN interview, acceding to congressional opposition.
China and Australia agree to trade pact with ag benefits
China will reduce its tariffs on a range of Australian farm exports including beef and dairy as part of a free trade agreement, said Bloomberg. Australia said the trade agreement will give its products an advantage over competitors such as the United States and Canada.
Consumer, green groups criticize Sustainable Beef criteria
Nineteen consumer, environmental and animal welfare groups says the criteria proposed for a Sustainable Beef project are "fundamentally flawed" and fail to address issues such as use of antibiotics as a growth promotant in cattle.
USDA asks comments on a new, separate beef checkoff
The Agriculture Department seeks public comment on all aspects, from the size of the assessment to who will be in charge, of a separate beef checkoff program that it intends to create.
USDA could take step this week toward new beef checkoff
The Agriculture Department could ask for suggestions as early as this week on how to structure a new beef checkoff program, said an official at the largest U.S. farm group.
Beef supplies to stay tight while cattle herd is rebuilt
Beef will be in tight supply through 2015 and into 2016 but consumers may get a break from record prices with an increased volume of chicken, turkey and pork, said economist Chris Hurt of Purdue.
Slaughter cattle set record price, feedlot total drops
Bids for slaughter cattle hit a record $170 per 100 pounds last week amid limited supplies in Kansas, Texas, Nebraska and Colorado, says Beef Today. Cash prices were up $6 per 100 pounds on live cattle.
Beef prices to zoom 11 percent this year, pork nears plunge
Beef prices are at record highs, due to the smallest U.S. cattle inventory since 1951, and are now forecast to average 11 percent higher this year than during 2013.
USDA drafting a new beef checkoff amid industry disarray
The Agriculture Department is drafting a $1 a head beef checkoff program of its own that would run alongside the current $1 checkoff that is a lightning rod for complaints of favoritism.
A home-cooked bacon cheeseburger costs more
Americans are paying noticeably more for the three main ingredients of a bacon cheeseburger - ground chuck, cheese and bacon - than a year ago, says the largest U.S. farm group in a semi-annual market basket survey.
Cattle group urges USDA to reform the beef checkoff
NCBA says “honest differences of opinion” on beef checkoff
The president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Bob McCan, says "there have been honest differences of opinion" over beef checkoff reform during informal discussions among 11 livestock, marketing and import groups. The National Farmers Union has pulled out of the three-year-old discussions, saying consensus was impossible.
A mini-boom for livestock as the Grain Era ends
fter years of culling herds in the face of high grain prices, U.S. livestock producers "finally have a positive multiple-year outlook," writes economist Chris Hurt of Purdue U, boosted by more affordable commodity prices, waning of drought in the southern Plains and higher household income. "Animal industries are expected to be in a mini-boom phase in coming years led by rising per capita consumption, continued small growth in U.S. population, and growing export demand," Hurt says at farmdoc daily. Some cropland will return to pasture.
Record-high beef and pork prices for one more year
Grocery shoppers will pay record-level prices for beef and pork through 2015, says a University of Missouri think tank.