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THE TEN RISKIEST FOODS REGULATED BY THE U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION.
Center for Science in the Public Interest. October 6, 2009.
Full Text: [PDF format, 12 pages]
Leafy greens, eggs, and tuna are on the top of a list of the 10 riskiest foods regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Those and seven other foods account for nearly 40 percent of all foodborne outbreaks linked to FDA-regulated food. That's no reason to forgo the occasional salad says the report, nor need one pass up tomatoes, sprouts, and berries, even though those foods are also on the list. But it also says that the presence of so many healthy foods on such a list is exactly why the United States Senate should follow the House and pass legislation that reforms our fossilized food safety laws.
[Note: contains copyrighted material]
MARKETING U.S. ORGANIC FOODS: RECENT TRENDS FROM FARMS TO CONSUMERS.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Carolyn Dimitri and Lydia Oberholtzer. September 29, 2009.
Full Text: [PDF format, 33 pages]
Organic foods now occupy prominent shelf space in the produce and dairy aisles of most mainstream U.S. food retailers. A broader range of consumers has been buying more varieties of organic food. Organic handlers, who purchase products from farmers and often supply them to retailers, sell more organic products to conventional retailers and club stores than ever before. Only one segment has not kept pace, organic farms have struggled at times to produce sufficient supply to keep up with the rapid growth in demand, leading to periodic shortages of organic products.
AGRICULTURAL LAND TENURE AND CARBON OFFSETS.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Roger Claassen and Mitch Morehart. September 23, 2009.
Full Text: [PDF format, 6 pages]
The report examines the potential role that land ownership might play in determining the agricultural sector's involvement in carbon sequestration programs. By estimating the carbon sequestration potential of agricultural producers who own most of the land they operate, this report finds that land ownership should not be a constraining factor in agriculture's ability to provide carbon offsets.
[Note: contains copyrighted material]
THE U.S. FOOD IMPORT PATTERNS, 1998-2007.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nora Brooks et al. August 6, 2009.
Full Text: [PDF format, 52 pages]
Using import data from the U.S. Census Bureau, this study examines patterns of U.S. food imports for fiscal years 1998-2007. Results indicate faster import growth trends for consumer-ready foods, such as fruit, vegetables, meats, seafood, and processed food products. Although the United States imported most bulk food commodities and perishable consumer-ready products, such as fruit and vegetables, from neighboring countries in the Western Hemisphere, it imported processed foods, spices, and other tropical products from more global sources, with rising import shares for many countries in Asia.
WHAT THE 2008/2009 WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS MEANS FOR GLOBAL AGRICULTURAL TRADE.
U.S.Department of Agriculture. May Peters et al. August 20, 2009.
Full Text: [PDF format, 32 pages]
The global economic crisis that started in late 2008 has led to a sharp curtailment of international trade, including a short-term decline in the value of global agricultural trade of around 20 percent. After slowing, global agricultural trade will continue to grow in the future. The crisis is leading to a realignment of exchange rates, and the ultimate resolution of the crisis will depend on adjustments in the exchange value of the U.S. dollar. The U.S. agricultural sector would benefit from a depreciating dollar, which results in high export earnings, high agricultural commodity prices, increased production, and increased farm income.
FOOD INSECURITY IN HOUSEHOLDS WITH CHILDREN: PREVALENCE, SEVERITY, AND HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Mark Nord. September 2009.
Full Text: [PDF format, 49 pages]
Eighty-four percent of U.S. households with children were food secure throughout 2007, meaning that they had consistent access to adequate food for active, healthy lives for all household members. Nearly 16 percent of households with children were food insecure sometime during the year, including 8.3 percent in which children were food insecure and 0.8 percent in which one or more children experienced very low food security, the most severe food-insecure condition measured by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
WHAT THE 2008/2009 WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS MEANS FOR GLOBAL AGRICULTURAL TRADE.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. May Peters et al. August 20, 2009.
Full Text: [PDF format, 32 pages]
The global economic crisis that started in late 2008 has led to a sharp curtailment of international trade, including a short-term decline in the value of global agricultural trade of around 20 percent. After slowing, global agricultural trade will continue to grow in the future. The crisis is leading to a realignment of exchange rates, and the ultimate resolution of the crisis will depend on adjustments in the exchange value of the U.S. dollar. The U.S. agricultural sector would benefit from a depreciating dollar, which results in high export earnings, high agricultural commodity prices, increased production, and increased farm income.
SECURING THE BORDER FROM INVASIVES: ROBUST INSPECTIONS UNDER SEVERE UNCERTAINTY.
Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst. L. Joe Moffitt et al. August 2009.
Full Text: [PDF format, 24 pages]
Two important features of agricultural quarantine inspections of shipping containers for invasive species at U.S. ports of entry are the general absence of economic considerations and the severe uncertainty that surrounds invasive species introductions, says the study. The study proposes and illustrates a method for determining an inspection monitoring protocol that addresses both issues.
[Note: contains copyrighted material]
THE TRANSMISSION OF EXCHANGE RATE CHANGES TO AGRICULTURAL PRICES.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. William Liefert and Suresh Persaud. July 2009.
Full Text: [PDF format, 33 pages]
Movements in countries' exchange rates can substantially change the prices of goods faced by producers and consumers and thereby affect incentives to produce, consume, and trade goods. Exchange rate changes, however, might not be completely transmitted to domestic prices. The data shows that price and exchange rate transmission for agricultural products is low in most developing economies, partly because of trade policies but also because of inadequate infrastructure and other market deficiencies.
AA09266
Mousseau, Frederic TOWARD A FUTURE WITHOUT WANT World Policy Journal, vol. 26, no. 2, Summer 2009, pp. 73-81
Full text available from your nearest American Library
With food riots, high food prices, increasing number of the world's hungry and declining food production in developing countries, the world has to change its agriculture and food policies drastically, says the author, a policy adviser for Oxfam Great Britain. He argues against strategies supported by many developed countries, such as genetically engineered crop varieties, a free-market approach to food production and distribution, and the World Bank's proposal to create a global food reserve. He writes that genetically modified crops have been largely irrelevant to most farmers in the developing world. Governmental support for and protection of farmers against market fluctuations, including floor prices for certain commodities, have in fact worked in Brazil and Indonesia. In his view, the food crisis should be addressed at the local, national and regional levels rather than through creation of a new global mechanism. Mousseau concludes that each nation must find the right combination of policies and interventions adapted to its specific context.