California Raisins Decline & Global Food Demand

California Raisins Decline & Global Food Demand plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Cue the music...at one point the California Raisins were everywhere...now they are in decline and what is the cause...nuts. Even though raisin grape farmers are getting some thing like 95-cents a pound Glen Goto, Raisin Bargaining Association CEO says 2% of the crop has been replaced with nuts like almonds that command $2 a pound.

GOTO: It’s a matter of the labor issues that we’re dealing with and there are alternative crops out there that are so mechanically inclined that growers are looking to those as their alternative options.

The three U.N. food agencies have urged governments to take action to curb rising prices of corn, wheat and soybeans. They warn that the sharp rise in food prices in recent months threatens to make life more difficult for tens of millions of people. The next global food price index from the FAO is expected today (Thursday). The last report showed global prices - after three months of decline - had increased six-percent in July. This was due in part to the U.S. drought and the impact of dry weather on Russia’s wheat harvest. Among other things - the U.N. food agencies suggested countries should adjust biofuel production requirements when food supplies become scarce.

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

I dread it when my husband walks into the room and asks, “Do you want the good news or the bad news first”? Preferably, I’d rather he quickly and quietly reverse back out of the room, and pretend he didn’t just ask me that. But that’s how life truly is after all - you take the good with the bad. Take the drought for instance, very bad news for a large portion of the country. But as one farmer here in the Pacific Northwest recently told me, “that’s how the ag business works, one farmer’s hardship often becomes another’s gain.” Some areas of the Midwest have recently received some much needed rain, that’s good. A lot of farmers and ranchers are asking how long the drought might continue. Many weather experts are saying, as of now, no real end is in sight, which is bad. Meteorologists are also saying that, while it look like things will remain on the drier side over the next several months for those areas that have suffered through the drought, it doesn’t appear to be shaping up to be a multi-year drought, which is good. There are some forecasters who think the El Nino will bring much needed precipitation to the Midwest this fall. So, to answer my hubby, I’ll take the good news, thank you.

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