EPA Dust Standard & Food Prices

EPA Dust Standard & Food Prices plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

It appears that many food items are seeing a dip in prices...but the price of beef just seems to be going through the roof. Ricky Volpe, USDA food price economist, saying that shoppers continue to see prices for beef climbing at a very good clip.

VOLPE: Beef prices continue to trudge along. Beef price inflation remains strong. Beef prices went up .6% in the last month and they remain 5.4% where they were last year. And consumers should remember this tine last year beef prices were already high and they were getting higher so we still see no end in sight for this strong structural inflation for beef and veal.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday proposed its long awaited dust standard that sparked controversy within the agricultural community. The controversy arose when EPA staff announced the administrator would be “justified” in doubling the stringency of the current, so-called dust standard, officially known as the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for coarse particulate matter. But the news from EPA is that it plans to retain the current standard, however; the issue involving farm dust is far from over. The final standard is scheduled to be released by EPA in December of this year.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

It seems to be a contradiction in terms, but is in actuality a direct result of cause and effect. I’m referring to the large number of our nation’s hungry being obese. Healthy foods are often more expensive and require more effort to buy, prepare and cook; this inaccessibility of affordable nutrient rich foods for most of the nation’s lower income families has created, strangely enough, an ever increasing number of overweight hungry people. In response to this alarming national trend the National Dairy Council, Feeding America, and The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics have joined forces to work to create solutions to help overcome hunger and promote healthy food choices, including nutrient-rich dairy. They believe that to make a lasting change, the process needs to start on the farm, in turn affecting the food manufacturers and marketers, and extending on to those distributing and receiving the food, with a focus on balanced diets and healthy, nutritious foods. This partnership hopes to bring awareness of this unique hunger issue to the forefront, while promoting healthy food choices and fighting hunger for the more than 49 million people in this country who are as they say, “food insecure”.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.