food prices

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Producers Quick to Pass Price Hikes Down Food Chain

Pricier grain, energy make everything more expensive, from cereal to meat

(Newser) - Soaring grain and energy costs are driving food prices skyward, and big producers are moving to pass price hikes down the food chain to consumers on everything from cereal to meat, the Wall Street Journal reports. And costs won’t likely decrease, with biofuel demand eating up more corn than...

Struggling Whole Foods Pushes Cheaper Image

Chain's 'Whole Paycheck' nickname becomes albatross in downturn

(Newser) - Whole Foods is attempting to lose its reputation for high prices as shoppers increasingly look for thrift, the New York Times reports. The economic slump has changed shopping patterns: A July survey estimated that 20% of US shoppers have switched to cheaper grocery stores. Whole Foods has cut prices and...

Struggling College Students Turn to Food Banks

Soaring cost of staples drive students to charity pantries

(Newser) - With some groceries costing 30% more this year, food banks have surprising new customers: college students. About 150 visit a Seattle food pantry each week, up 25% from last year, while a Denver college food program has seen its numbers double. "With things the way they are, a lot...

Agricultural Economist Has Growing Concerns

The insanity of farm subsidies just one facet of wide-ranging Q&A with Daniel Sumner

(Newser) - Is there any way to justify US farm subsidies? Agricultural economist Daniel Sumner has a blunt answer: “No.” In an in-depth interview with the New York Times, Sumner takes on a broad range of agricultural topics, explaining the trouble with organic food (it’s too expensive), the problems...

Biofuel Caused Food Crisis: Secret Report

Findings covered up to avoid US embarrassment

(Newser) - Biofuel production has been the driving force behind the growing food crisis, pushing prices up 75%, according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian. The most detailed research ever conducted on the issue emphatically contradicts the US position that biofuels are responsible for a mere 3% price...

Americans Have Less in Their Shopping Carts

Downsizing on the rise, whether consumers notice it or not

(Newser) - Food prices are rising, but thanks to some chicanery on product labels, many Americans may not realize it. Instead of raising prices, manufacturers are slimming cereal boxes, juice cartons, and bars of soap, and they’re doing it very quietly. If asked, they’ll say it offsets rising fuel and...

Export Bans Push Food Costs Even Higher

29 nations move to keep more food at home

(Newser) - Alarmed by high food prices and shortages worldwide, some 29 countries are banning or reducing exports of foods to make sure they have enough at home. Such limitations pose a threat to countries that rely on imports, forcing prices up further, the New York Times reports. What’s more, the...

Floods Ruin Midwest Economy
 Floods Ruin Midwest Economy 
Jun 20, 2008 2:30 PM CDT

Floods Ruin Midwest Economy

Food prices repercussions will be felt around the state

(Newser) - The floods ravaging the Midwest are taking a catastrophic toll on the region's farmers, and consumers across the country will feel the pinch in higher food prices, MSNBC reports. Even if waters recede quickly, farmers will lose a sizable chunk of the season—they need about 120 growing days—and...

Consumer Mood More Downbeat Than Economy
Consumer Mood More Downbeat Than Economy
ANALYSIS
Jun 18, 2008 3:17 PM CDT

Consumer Mood More Downbeat Than Economy

Pessimism could lead to real recession

(Newser) - The economy, statistically speaking, is sluggish, but hardly Great Depression-like—though American consumers seem to disagree, the Washington Post reports. They're paying more for everything from gasoline to grapefruit, are watching the value of their homes decline and fear their jobs may be disappearing—which, policy-makers worry, could breed behaviors...

As Prices Soar, Congress Aims at Speculators

Out-of-control traders may be driving up oil, food costs, pols say

(Newser) - Congress is blaming rampant commodity speculation for rocketing gas and food prices, and berating regulators for letting it happen, the New York Times reports. Unless watchdog groups like the Commodities Futures Trading Commision crack down, Carl Levin says, "we don’t have a cop on the beat.." Joe...

US Economy Isn't Bouncing Back
 US Economy Isn't
 Bouncing Back 
analysis
Jun 8, 2008 5:11 PM CDT

US Economy Isn't Bouncing Back

Fed cuts, stimulus package won't do the trick

(Newser) - Forget those predictions of a US economic revival in 2008, Daniel Gross writes in Newsweek. The four horsemen of the economy—credit and housing crises, food and energy prices—are getting meaner, while booming commodities and crunching credit are curbing attempts to fight back. "As a result, the consumer-driven...

Investors Sink Billions in 'Green Gold'

But some worry what happens when bottom falls out of farming

(Newser) - Billions of investment dollars are pouring into agriculture as the global demand for food explodes, turning crops such as wheat, corn, and soybeans into green gold, reports the New York Times. And while the immediate impact of more money being fed into agriculture will likely result in increased food production,...

Next Resource in Crisis: Water
 Next Resource in Crisis: Water 
OPINION
Jun 4, 2008 4:30 PM CDT

Next Resource in Crisis: Water

H2O is no longer 'cheap and unlimited,' says scientist

(Newser) - While economists and world leaders fret about the global food crisis, there is another emergency that is just as urgent: the shortage of water, writes British scientist Fred Pearce in Yale Environment 360. No longer is water "a cheap and unlimited resource," and with two-thirds of water extracted...

Food vs. Fuel Battle Flares at UN Summit

Egypt's Mubarak asks, should we be feeding people or cars?

(Newser) - The battle over biofuels is raging at the UN’s food summit in Rome, with nations bitterly divided over whether growing corn and sugar cane for ethanol production is pushing food prices up and helping create disastrous global food shortages. On one side: Food experts who call diversion of crops...

UN Chief Urges 50% Boost in Food Production

Ban warns of further riots, starvation if high prices aren't contained

(Newser) - UN chief Ban Ki-Moon today called for a 50% rise in world food production by 2030 to fight starvation and civil unrest as the population grows. He spoke at the World Food Security conference in Rome, where world leaders are working to address the highest commodity prices in decades. Such...

UN Head: Drop Policies That Up Food Prices

Ban urges global response to avert mass starvation

(Newser) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will plead with world leaders at a food summit in Rome tomorrow to suspend trade restrictions, agricultural taxes, and other price controls that have helped create the highest food prices in 30 years, reports the Washington Post. Ban will also urge the US and other...

Rebate Checks Go to Gas, Food, Looming Debt

Extravagant spending sprees at the mall? Not so much

(Newser) - Rather than the gluttonous splurge on flat-screen TVs and foreign vacations that Uncle Sam had envisioned, most Americans are plunking their rebate checks down on exorbitant gas and food costs--and their mounting debt. “The initial sense is that people are not running out the malls,” one economist told...

World Bank Offers $1.2B in Food Aid

Millions at risk of starvation

(Newser) - The World Bank is offering an emergency $1.2 billion in aid to several nations in a desperate bid to stave off starvation for millions of people, reports the BBC. The money is being offered to Haiti, Liberia, Djibouti, Togo, Yemen and other nations identified as at immediate risk from...

Soaring Fertilizer Prices Another Cog in Food Crisis

Costs up 65% percent, drawing calls for inquiries by US, UN

(Newser) - Farmers worldwide are fuming over soaring fertilizer prices, the Wall Street Journal reports. Costs are 65% higher in the US than a year ago, making it difficult for farmers to boost production in response to an international food crisis. Meanwhile, fertilizer companies have reaped big profits from a cartel-based system...

Americans Reducing Mileage on Cars, Not Stomachs

Higher food prices not having diminishing effect of gas costs

(Newser) - Many Americans are cutting back on gas due to spiking prices, but few are eating less in response to similarly soaring food costs, a poll finds. Nearly half of respondents said they were driving less, but only 8% said they were eating less. "People have more control over gasoline....

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