Dr. Doom

My poll question this week was about whether the produce industry was in "recession." For the pessimist's view, I pulled this interview with Nouriel Roubini from New York University from youtube. Roubini predicts a recession that will last until the middle of next year in this interview done earlier this year.

Mushroom report - organic area up

Here is the USDA's mushroom report, released on Friday. Here are a few highlights, from the report:


Sales of the 2007-08 U.S. mushroom crop are 809 million pounds, down 2 percent from the 2006-07 season and 4 percent below two years ago. Value of sales for the 2007-08 U.S. mushroom crop is $964 million, virtually unchanged from the previous season but 8 percent above the 2005-06 season. The number of growers, at 286, is up 6 from last season. The average price is $1.19 per pound, up 3 cents from 2006-07.
Volume of sales reported by growers of Agaricus mushrooms for fresh market is 675 million pounds, down 3 percent from last season.


Later, about organics:

Growers sold 39.8 million pounds of mushrooms that were certified organic during the 2007-08 growing season, 9 percent above 2006-07. Out of the 39.8 million pounds, 13.3 million pounds, or 33 percent of the total were sold as certified organic mushrooms, while the rest were sold without the certified organic label. This compares with 8.78 million pounds, or 24 percent sold as certified organic during the 2006-07 crop year. Agaricus mushrooms accounted for 84 percent of the mushrooms sold as certified organic, while all specialty mushrooms made up the remainder. These certified organic sales represent 2 percent of the 2007-08 total mushroom sales. The number of certified organic mushroom growers totaled 42, up 1 from the previous season. These growers represent 15 percent of the 286 total mushroom producers.