California Tomato Production Down and Cow Milk Consumption Off

California Tomato Production Down and Cow Milk Consumption Off

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.

**California’s anticipated tomato production shrank last year due to water shortages and higher production costs, according to farmers.

Some processing-tomato growers who once paid $3,000 per acre on their crop say they’re now paying more than $4,000.

Last year, state processors intended to contract for 12.1 million tons of tomatoes.

By the end of harvest, that figure had dropped by 1.3 million tons.

**U.S. per capita consumption of fluid cow’s milk has been trending downward since the mid-1940s but fell at a faster rate during the 2010s than in each of the previous six decades.

On a given day in 2003, U.S. consumers drank about 0.57 cup-equivalents of fluid cow's milk, but consumption fell to 0.33 cup-equivalents by 2018.

Over that period, U.S. per person consumption of milk WITH CEREAL also fell by 0.06 cup-equivalents, children accounting for the steepest drop.

**Retail food prices increased 3.5% in 2020 and 2021, greater than the historical annual average of 2% from 2000 to 2019.

But USDA's Economic Research Service expects less inflation this year for food-at-home, expected to increase between 1.5 and 2.5% this year, lower than the 3.5% increase in both 2020 and 2021.

Dairy products and fresh vegetables had significantly slower price increases in 2021 than 2020 and their historical averages.

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