Meat Plant Reopens & RFS Waiver

Meat Plant Reopens & RFS Waiver

Meat Plant Reopens & RFS Waiver plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The Renewable Fuels Standard calls for a certain percentage of ethanol to be produced and a number of ag groups are asking the EPA for a waiver of the RFS during this tough time. Ag Economist, Matt Roberts, says the EPA could issue a full or partial waiver.

ROBERTS: I think most observers believe this would be a partial waiver. I don’t believe many would expect that it would be a complete waiver and it’s not clear if a complete waiver were issued that ethanol production would cease, in fact it’s almost a certainty that we would see a further reduction in ethanol production but we would still likely be producing 60 to 70% of last years’ production

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has lifted the suspension it issued to Central Valley Meat Co. on August 19, allowing the company to resume operations. The announcement comes just a week after FSIS withdrew its inspectors and closed down the plant after an undercover video released by animal activists showed dairy cows allegedly being abused in Central Valley Meat Co.’s slaughter operations. The company is still suspended from supplying meat to federal food programs. The company is also ineligible to bid on future contracts until USDA reviews and approves corrective and preventative measures.

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

The latest USDA food price outlook says “the rising price of commodities will eventually translate to an increase in food prices, but not right away”. It’s obvious from the price jump of 65 to 85 cents a box on most cereals at the supermarket that somebody didn’t get the memo. While grocery shopping this last weekend my hubby and I noticed dramatic price increases on most items containing grains. I guess this store’s management team wanted to get the jump on everybody else. The good news, prices for fresh fruits and vegetables remained fairly steady or even fell slightly. More good news, the USDA has revised their price increase forecast for fresh seafood, actually lowering it from the predicted 4 to 5 percent increase, to a 3 to 4 percent increase. Of course, I haven’t even mentioned the government’s forecast for beef, pork, eggs, and dairy, and I don’t think I will. Only so much bad news can be assimilated in one day. There is no sugar coating it though, with the rising price of food and gasoline, we as consumers are definitely going to have to get even more creative than we already have when it comes to penny pinching and bargain shopping.

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

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