Ag Prices up

From the USDA:

The preliminary All Farm Products Index of Prices Received by Farmers in May, at 150 percent, based on 1990-92=100, increased 5 points (3.4 percent) from April. The Crop Index is up 4 points (2.4 percent) and the Livestock Index increased 5 points (3.9 percent). Producers received higher prices for hogs, cattle, onions, and broilers and lower prices for eggs, lettuce, wheat, and broccoli. In addition to prices, the overall index is also affected by the seasonal change based on a 3-year average mix of commodities producers sell. Increased monthly marketings of cantaloups, grapes, sweet corn, and wheat offset decreased marketings of cattle, milk, corn, and apples.

The preliminary All Farm Products Index is up 14 points (10 percent) from May 2007. The Food Commodities Index, at 147, increased 5 points (3.5 percent) from last month and increased 11 points (8.1 percent) from May 2007.


Prices Paid Index Up 3 Points

The May Index of Prices Paid for Commodities and Services, Interest, Taxes, and Farm Wage Rates (PPITW) is 184 percent of the 1990-92 average. The index is up 3 points (1.7 percent) from April and 23 points (14 percent) above May 2007. Higher prices in May for diesel fuel, mixed fertilizers, feeder cattle, and potash & phosphate more than offset lower prices for feed
concentrates, feed supplements, tractors, and feed grains.

Banana RIP?

So warns this article from The Scientist, a story that recounts the last 100 years of commercial marketing of the banana. From the story by Dan Koeppel:

The banana we eat today is not the one your grandparents ate. That one - known as the Gros Michel - was, by all accounts, bigger, tastier, and hardier than the variety we know and love, which is called the Cavendish. The unavailability of the Gros Michel is easily explained: it is virtually extinct.

Introduced to our hemisphere in the late 19th century, the Gros Michel was almost immediately hit by a blight that wiped it out by 1960. The Cavendish was adopted at the last minute by the big banana companies - Chiquita and Dole - because it was resistant to that blight, a fungus known as Panama disease. For the past fifty years, all has been quiet in the banana world. Until now.


Panama disease - or Fusarium wilt of banana - is back, and the Cavendish does not appear to be safe from this new strain, which appeared two decades ago in Malaysia, spread slowly at first, but is now moving at a geometrically quicker pace. There is no cure, and nearly every banana scientist says that though Panama disease has yet to hit the banana crops of Latin America, which feed our hemisphere, the question is not if this will happen, but when. Even worse, the malady has the potential to spread to dozens of other banana varieties, including African bananas, the primary source of nutrition for millions of people.

Crop disease is only half the problem. The other part is denial. One of the most recent places Panama disease struck was Australia. Three years ago, when I was researching my book on bananas, growers down under were bragging that they'd found a way to control the disease, which first appeared in 1997 near the Northern Territory town of Darwin. "We have developed a rapid and accurate DNA-based diagnostic test...used in the detection and management of outbreaks," asserted a brochure issued by the country's Cooperative Research Centre for Plant Protection.



TK: Koeppel suggests that banana companies are unwisely downplaying the risk of Panama disease in Central and South America and notes that the next banana variety with wilt resistance will come from a biotech lab.

Aldi goes green

This TV news story from New York tells of Aldi's "green" engineering on its new stores. With hard discounters like Aldi officially on board, the sustainability/green movement doesn't have much farther to go, does it? There is surely no marketing advantage in being green when everyone is else is too, but one hopes that doesn't stop the innovation and transformation.

By the way, I'm changing the way I'm doing "Tk headlines." Rather than post all the headlines to the blog, I'm keeping a running tally of linked headlines in a Google document. Still look for "Tk headlines" on the right side of the blog and follow the link for headlines that have caught my eye.

National Retail Report - May 30

Local produce begins to make waves, says the May 30 National Retail Report from USDA. I'll update the promotion trends charts at the bottom of the blog a little later. From the summary:


Ads Centered on Local Summer Produce
With Memorial Day weekend marking the “official” beginning of summer, retailers have settled into promoting fresh summer produce that is locally grown when available. There were ads for such items as, Arizona red potatoes, Texas cabbage, Michigan asparagus, and southern grown peaches. Other advertised specials included “10 for $10” promotions for a wide variety of produce items including, mangoes, navel oranges, sweet onions, zucchini, peppers, and beans. Overall, there was little change in fresh produce ad activity compared to last week. However, fruits were up 13% and vegetables down 10%. The top five featured items were cherries, peaches, sweet onions, grapes and cantaloupes. The most notable increases were seen on grapes, broccoli, romaine lettuce, and zucchini. There was a significant decrease in ads for corn, red peppers, and seedless watermelon. Berries continue to be advertised heavily this week. New crop grapes from Mexico and Southern California were prominently featured in ads. Items appearing in ads that are not reported here include, apricots, broccoli crowns, greenhouse grown cucumbers, and yellow squash.