Seeds for Bees Cover Crops and 4th of July Cookout Costs More
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**California farmers are planting thousands of acres of forage cover crops that provide nutrition for honeybees and other pollinators essential for farm commodities, including the state’s nearly 3-billion-pound almond crop.
The Seeds for Bees program provides cover-crop seeds and technical support for growers.
Last week was National Pollinator Week, celebrating the role of pollinators that help many crops, from almonds to blueberries, strawberries to peppers, to survive and thrive.
**U.S. consumers will pay $69.68 for their favorite Independence Day cookout foods, based on a new American Farm Bureau Federation market basket survey.
The overall cost for the cookout is up 17% or about $10 from last year, due to ongoing supply chain disruptions, inflation and the war in Ukraine.
Survey results showed the retail price for two pounds of ground beef at $11.12, up 36%, the largest year-to-year price increase in the survey.
**The International Grains Council raised its outlook for total global grain production in the 2022-2023 marketing year, while also increasing its forecast for ending stockpiles.
Wheat and coarse grain production are now forecast at 2.255 billion metric tons, up from the May prediction of 2.251 billion.
Ending stockpiles are forecast at 583 million metric tons.
Corn production is now expected to be 1.19 billion metric tons, up from 1.184 billion.
