Industry News
Eggs Crisis - March Consumer prices for 2019 vs. 2020
While overall food costs increased Month to Month, March 2019 vs. March 2020 due to lack of inventories, Dairy farmers found themselves dumping milk that had been destined for nongrocery buyers, such as school cafeterias. Prices fell and Dairy farmers were unable to redirect their supply fast enough to retailers.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
UNITED STATES is a Stable customer
Developing economies shipped most of their exports to the United States of America in 2018 - US$1.4 trillion - followed by China - US$1.1 trillion - and other Asian economies.
Exports from Western Hemisphere developing economies were more oriented especially to the United States of America (US$460 billion), than exports from Africa. For African developing economies, more important export markets were in Asia and Europe, with China (US$54 billion) and India (US$37 billion) as main target economies.
Going Bananas
European nations consumed the highest dollar worth of imported bananas during 2018 with purchases valued at $8.8 billion or 56.3% of the global total. In second place were North American importers at 20.8% while 19.1% of worldwide bananas imports were delivered to Asian nations.
Source: http://www.worldstopexports.com/bananas-imports-by-country/
Food Inflation: The 5 foot versus the 30,000 foot vision
The average price of food in the USA rose while gasoline went down.
Some of the foods the Bureau of Labor and Statistics surveys every month for inflation include meats, poultry, fish, eggs, cereal, bakery products, dairy, beverages, and various fruits and vegetables.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Single mothers in rural America
Family type has a significant bearing on poverty. In 2017, the poverty rate was more than 8 percentage points higher for nonmetro families headed by females (no spouse present) in general, and more than 10 percentage points higher for those with children than for the same types of metro families.
We knew there was poverty in rural America – How much?
Areas with a high incidence of poverty often reflect the low income of their racial/ethnic minorities. Nonmetro Blacks/African Americans had the highest incidence of poverty in 2017 (32.0 percent). The poverty rate for nonmetro Whites in 2017 was less than half as much (14.2 percent) of both groups. Noteworthy is the high poverty rate for Hispanics as their share of the nonmetro population, at 24.5%, increased faster than other racial/ethnic groups over the last several decades.
Global Fresh
Food Market
Keeps Growing!
India / China
The global Fresh Food market is projected to be US$ 461.1 Billion in 2018 to reach US$ 689.7 Billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 4.1%. Majority of the demand for fresh food is from Asia, due to a massive population in India as well as China. Their combined population is more than 30% of the world population.
Source: US Commerce Trade Division
Labor Shortage
now and during
World War Foster Innovation!
In the course of the war, 15 million men and women were called up into the military. At the time, the entire workforce consisted of only 73 million people. Farming – one of the largest employers in the economy before the war coped with labor shortage, first by putting their wives and kids to work even German and Italian prisoners of war (POWs) but ultimately, the severe shortage of farm labor created major technological innovation improving their tractors and implements. Bill Ganzel.
Data that Impacts Farmers, Production Sold without Contracts.
Only 8% of U.S. farms have contracts. Two-thirds of the value of U.S. farm production is sold without contracts. While 95 percent of small family farms do not have contracts, they represented 54 percent of the farms that did have contracts in 2017 and accounted for 25 percent of the production under contract (mostly from moderate-sales farms). In contrast, large-scale family farms together accounted for 15 percent of farms with contracts but 36 percent of contract production in 2017.
Source: America’s diverse Family Farms 2018 Edition
Organic sales
grow on both continents
3 Times Faster
Organic fruits and vegetables represent 36% of total sales in Western Europe and the USA forecasting a 6.7 percent and 7.6 percent growth respectively by 2025. 3 times faster than overall food consumption growth. Rabobank predicts that organic food sales will reach $60bn by 2022. And organic berries were the highest!
Source: Rabobank 2019 Report
Choice Architecture Impacts Sales Fresh Produce
Mixed results
for 2019
farm working capital!
Curious about government helping farmers during the tariff war?
Agronomists:
2019 shouldn’t impact 2020 decisions
When fresh produce is displayed prominently at the front entrance of supermarket, sales go up by 15 percent. A five-year experiment in England proved from 2012 through 2017, University of Warwick that rearranging the placement of fruit and vegetables
The level of working capital available in the farm sector today is $38 billion.
This is by far the lowest level seen since ERS started directly
reporting the
ratio in 2009. Working capital is a simple measure of the
overall amount of
liquidity available in
the farm sector.
The last 4 to 5 years
have created many
financial problems in
the farm sector. The
trade war has greatly exacerbated
this situation.
Market Facilitation Program (MFP 2) announced potential payment of $16
billion. The MFP payments are of a magnitude that they can move the needle
on financial conditions, but they will clearly not rebuild working capital to the
levels that are necessary for long term financial stability.
For many producers, the 2019 planting season didn’t go as expected.
As the calendar flipped to May then June, many acres across the Midwest were left soaked and unplanted, causing
farmers to alter their 2019 seed choices.
Jeremy Miner, technical agronomist with Kruger Seeds, said he worked with farmers who were starting to get antsy in early May and wanted to move to some shorter-season varieties in corn and soybeans. However, he said he advised most to wait until after Memorial Day to make any significant changes to their plan.
USA produces
50% of worldwide corn production and 20% beef
GPS helps to reduce carbon footprint Farmers take action
Challenges
$218 billion annually, on food that is never eaten!
Record breaking year for AgriFood Tech sector
2018
Precision technologies like GPS and auto-steer on tractors allow growers to farm the same amount of
land while using less fuel and fertilizer. This lowers the farmer’s carbon footprint, or the amount of
greenhouse gas emissions produced while farming.
Source:
Today the United States spends over $218 billion annually on food that is never eaten! This costs $74 billion
to American businesses and $144 billion to American consumers. Wasted food accounts for approximately
20% of land, water and fertilizer use and 8% of global GHG emissions,
and is the single largest material type in landfills.
Source: ReFED
2018 was a record breaking year for AgriFood Tech sector with $16.9 billion invested and the biggest ever
agrifood tech exit as Merck picked up Antellig at $2.4 billion for their digital animal tech and livestock
technology company.
USA leads the investment global agrifood Technology with 567 investments in 2018, 23% jump from 2017
at $7.9 billion followed by China 184 deals $3.5 billion, India $2.4 billion followed by Brazil..
Source
USA Leader in Poultry Farming and Exports
Plus Eggs
The U.S. poultry industry is the world's largest producer and second largest exporter of poultry meat and a major egg producer.
Source:USDA
The Decade of Family Farming Worldwide!
and the UNGA
The UN General Assembly has approved the Decade of Family Farming (2019-2028). It aims to draw attention to the people who produce more than 80 percent of the planet's food and, paradoxically, are often the most vulnerable to hunger. The resolution establishes that FAO and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will be responsible for implementing it.
Net Farm
Income at 1990 Levels / fell
12%
The USA Farm economy in 2018 was challenging. Net farm income fell 12% from 2017 to 2018 despite the market facilitation program (MFP) – 4.6 billion. Main cause is price drop in commodities – crop producers first, livestock thereafter - even with strong production numbers. It does not do much to produce more if prices drop as it becomes harder to generate profitability.
Top producing avocado regions
for USA consumption
From 2015 to 2017, California and Florida accounted for 86 percent and 13 percent of U.S. avocado production, respectively, while the west-central Mexican States of Michoacán and Jalisco accounted for 78 percent and 8 percent, respectively, of Mexican production. From 2015 to 2017, growers and shippers in Michoacán supplied about 72 percent of total deliveries (imports and domestic production) of fresh avocados in the United States; California supplied about 13 percent.
Source: https://www.ers.usda.gov
A World Perspective for
us all! Superpower
in Food Markets
The United States has long been a superpower in food markets – and it is still the world's largest food exporter. U.S., China and India each produce more food than the entire European Union.. Russia, the largest country in the world and home to the ninth-largest population, is partially a victim of its own harsh northern climate. A huge percentage of the Russian territory is neither farmable nor pasturable. Russia also has a history of low-output farms. #USA#FRUITLOGISTICA19#FOOD
Source www.investopedia.com
Largest Single Employer! 500
Million Small Farms
Worldwide
Agriculture is the single largest employer in the world, providing livelihoods for 40% of today’s global population. 500 million small farms worldwide, most still rainfed, provide up to 80% of food consumed in a large part of the developing world!
Source: United Nations
USA Farm Production in 2016
99% / 45%
Family Farms
In 2016, 99 percent of U.S. farms were family farms, where the principal operator and his or her relatives owned the majority of the business. Large-scale family farms—those with $1 million or more in GCFI (gross cash farm income) made up only 3 percent of U.S. farms and 18 percent of farmland, but contributed 45 percent of the production.
Source: USDA
Water and Agriculture in the
USA / 90% in 17 Western States
Agriculture is a major user of ground and surface water in the United States, accounting for approximately 80 percent of the Nation's consumptive water use and over 90 percent in 17 Western States. Five States—California, Nebraska, Texas, Arkansas, and Idaho—accounted for 52 percent of total irrigated acreage.
Source: www.water.usgs.gov
USA has 3142
Counties / 97%
of the Nation's
land area
USA Rural areas cover 97% of the nation’s land area but contain 19.3 percent of the population (about 60 million people),” US Census. As the nation’s largest household survey, the American Community Survey is the only annual dataset that produces this range of statistics for all of the nation’s 3,142 counties.
Farmers struggle
to separate
climate change adaptation
Farming / Rural areas are victims of broadband market dynamics!
Rural and farming areas contain a disproportionate share of the neighborhoods in the U.S. without access to broadband. In 2015, these communities accounted for 15 percent of the nation’s total population but made up 57% of the nation’s residents living in neighborhoods without broadband.
Research
confirms what
we suspected!
Fresh is best!
New generations will make the difference / 20%
and 30%
The millennial generation (people aged 34 and under) includes 257,454 farmers. More than 20 percent of all farmers are beginning farmers (in business less than 10 years) and women make up 30 percent (969,672) of the total number of U.S. farm operators. Source: https://www.fb.org/ - Farm Bureau
Geographic Distribution of Hired Farmworkers (All Occupations)
What is the Food and AG Industries Impack in your community?
America’s food and agriculture sectors feed the economy and fuel the nation. Together, they account for roughly one-fifth of the country’s economic activity, nearly 15% of US employment
Meanwhile, millions of food scientists, grocers and truck-drivers work in more than 200,000 food manufacturing, processing, and storage facilities, to keep food fresh and deliver it on time.
Farmers do
More with less
from 19 people
to 155 people
Actions from all the
management decisions they make in an ever-shifting agricultural world.
Farmers may have a closer relationship to weather and climate than many lay
people.
Farmer perceptions of climate change varied considerably and were not
systematically consistent with the direction and significance of climate trends calculated
from observational record, lending support to the idea that other personal
and
environmental factors
are important for determining perceptions.
82% of supply chain and merchandising executives from top grocery retailers in North
America rated fresh products as very important as today’s consumers are increasingly
demanding more fresh food products.
Research done between December 2017 and March 2018 - Growing and Sustaining
Competitive Advantage in Grocery Retail, also highlighted that spoilage is a large, margin-impacting challenge and, if unaddressed, will only get worse as the importance of fresh products increases.
Source:
Despite agriculture's rural nature, 61 percent of hired farmworkers reside in metro (urban) counties. This largely reflects the fact that most of the main farming areas in California, Arizona, and other Western States lie in large counties that also include major cities, and are hence defined as metropolitan. But significant numbers of farmworkers are also found in metro counties in the Great Lakes and in the South Atlantic.
Source: Economic Research Service
In the 1940s, one U.S. farmer produced enough to feed 19 people. By the 2000s, that number had grown to 155.
Over 200 years ago, 90 percent of the U.S. population lived on farms and produced their own food to eat. But today, only two percent of the population produces food for the world to consume. Source: http://animalsmart.org/animals-and-the-environment/comparing-agriculture-of-the-past-with-today