- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Coronavirus's next victim: Big Meat
(Grist) Nathanael Johnson, April 30
“It's going to cause price spikes somewhere downstream,” said Rich Sexton, an agricultural economist at the University of California, Davis. But the average shopper might only notice empty shelves rather than higher prices, because “big grocery chains don't like to jack up prices, especially in times like this.”
…“There is going to be even more of a rush to automate farmwork and slaughterhouses,” Sexton said.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The shut downs and self isolation sweeping across the country to curb the spread of coronavirus likely will not impact agricultural staple foods, but high-end wines and specialty ag products grown in California may suffer, reported Tim Hearden in Western Farm Press.
Hearden interviewed Dan Sumner, director of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources' Agricultural Issues Center.
He said some California agricultural products see demand increase during tough economic times, such as less...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The cost of avocados, tomatoes, berries, meat and countless other foods - both imported from Mexico and produced in California - could go up if new tariffs on Mexican products are imposed, reported Gosia Wozniacka in Civil Eats.
Last week, President Trump tweeted that the U.S. "will impose a 5% tariff on all goods coming into our country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our country, stop."
"I assume Mexico will retaliate," said Dan...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
In the California agriculture industry, the climate change discussion is less about whether disruption is coming than it is about how farmers will adapt, reported John Cox in the Bakersfield Californian.
Cox spoke to a Delano farmer who doesn't like debating climate change, but he has thought a lot about how to deal with it.
"As a grower, you just take it as it comes," he said.
Farmers may not agree with new regulations intended to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions seen as accelerating climate change, but they share an interest in preparing for the changes ahead, the article said.
"Everybody I know in...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
China imports quite a bit of wine, however, very little comes from the United States. At the same time, per capita consumption of wine in China remains very low. So why are California winemakers anxious about tariffs newly imposed by China on U.S. wine? Because China's wine consumption habits are expected to change, reported UC ANR experts in an article posted on The Conversation and NPR websites.
"China is the world's fastest-growing wine market and is expected to soon become the second...
