Rural Broadband & Fresh Sales Figures

Rural Broadband & Fresh Sales Figures plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Yesterday's announcement of a new iPhone put the world of broadband back in the news. Broadband access can help equalize and level the opportunity playing field between those in rural and in urban areas. Grants and research dollars continue to go to locations where broadband access is readily available. Small communities in rural areas need to be connected says James Young the mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi. YOUNG: Small communities like ours don't have the big money resources to step up to the plate. These are not pie in the sky programs to us. They actually, directly hood us up to the rest of the world. A report issued by United Fresh shows that over the first quarter of 2010, dollar and volume performance for produce were mostly positive. Sales data shows that while produce prices remained relatively flat, shoppers increased their produce purchases compared to a year ago resulting in over three percent growth in sales and volume. Vegetables volume sales increased 5percent and fruit increased 1.5 percent; six out of the top 10 fruit categories experienced dollar growth, with the citrus category leading this trend. And fresh cut fruit, which represents more than three-quarters of the total value-added fruit sales, increased weekly dollar sales by 14.8 percent. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. In the on-going debate over whether organic is better, or whether only wealthy people will opt to buy healthy foods at the grocery store scientific study seems to put emphasis on the false notion that low income consumers can only afford junk food. While a very small percentage of that statement may be true, perhaps other factors that pertain to consumer choices should be taken into account. Researchers who studied shoppers at such stores as Whole Foods Market or Trader Joe's, Albertsons, Safeway and Wal-Mart came to the conclusion that roughly four percent of the pricier stores customers were over weight as compared to nearly forty percent at the lower priced grocery stores. Common sense would lead one to think that this could very well be due to the much broader and larger consumer base and availability of stores such as Albertsons or Wal-Mart over the exclusivity of gourmet grocery stores. Also, did researchers take into account that eating healthy takes more time and effort? Families that are going in six different directions with limited time for food prep will often opt for the quicker albeit less healthy dinner alternatives. Eating healthy is a choice not a class privilege. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.