- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The slogan for Rally's burger stand, "Ya gotta eat," is probably soothing to American farmers. As Associated Press writer James Prichard wrote in an article about agriculture in the ailing economy, "While people will put off buying houses and cars in a bad economy, they still need food."
The story said the economic downturn could even boost income for food producers who know how to take advantage of the situation.
For the article, Prichard spoke to the director of the UC Agricultural Issues Center, Dan Sumner, who pointed out that the agricultural sector isn't immune to the economic...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
California's dairy operators are struggling with a bleak bottom line as the commodity price for milk has tumbled. According to a story over the weekend in the Fresno Bee, milk prices dropped 50 percent in the last six months, from about $20 for every 100 pounds to about $10. The overall cost to produce milk in California is estimated at $19 per 100 pounds, the story reported.
Bee ag reporter Robert Rodriguez spoke to UC Davis dairy specialist Leslie "Bees" Butler for his perspective on dairies' dismal numbers. He blamed the drop in milk value to dramatic changes in the export market. Australian producers are recovering from a recent drought that...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
In another sign of our dire economic times, grant funds allocated by the state of California's Sierra Nevada Conservancy came to a screeching halt last month. The agency announced funds made available after the passage of Proposition 84 will no longer be dispersed. The November 2006 proposition had authorized the state to issue bonds for the protection and restoration of rivers, lakes and streams and other natural resources.
One of the projects losing its funding would have collected and analyzed data on three riparian/meadow monitoring sites in the South Ash Valley area of Lassen County, where landscape junipers were being removed to assist in the restoration of sagebrush steepe habitat, according to an article...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Last year, agribusiness and most business sectors road an economic roller coaster. The 2009 outlook is tough to forecast, according to a Sacramento Business Journal article that used the director of the UC Agriculture Issues Center Dan Sumner as its primary source.
The bulk of the article is blocked on the Business Journal's Web site, accessible, it says, only to paid subscribers. But the Internet makes it available elsewhere, such as on the Wichita Business Journal's Web site (an example of the media's own...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The country is facing economic crisis, but experts say farms won't have trouble securing loans, according to a story published today in the California Farm Bureau's AgAlert newspaper.
"Unlike financial institutions that have been devastated by subprime mortgages, the agricultural lending sector has remained on solid financial footing because of its strict lending practices," reporter Ching Lee wrote.
For the story, Lee spoke to UC Davis agricultural economist Steven Blank. He said the tighter lending standards for farmers have their roots in the agricultural recession of the 1980s. Inflation in...