Vegetables are cool again and other USDA headlines

This USDA FAS report on Japan food trends says vegetables are cool again. How so? Post explains that it is not so much the plain fresh veg that's making a comeback....

 

Vegetables have slowly been gaining popularity in Japan over the last year or so. What was once considered just a staple of one's diet is now on it's way to becoming the highlight of every meal. Convenience stores everywhere are turning out veggie rich products. Some fit in with regular convenience store fare such as sweet potato flavored cookies or pumpkin pudding. Then there are dried vegetables, veggie chips, and vegetable supplement. Even pastry shops like Patisserie Potager are getting in on the trend, and selling vegetable chocolates, cheesecake,and rolls. These items are selling quickly too. Perhaps it is the concern over Japan's ever growing waste lines and the rise of metabolic syndrome that has people rushing for these new offerings, even if some of them are just as fattening as the regular versions of the products. It's still a great way to "reintroduce" consumers to vegetables.

 

 

Food CPI and expenditures USDA FAS

TK: Worth a closer look

 

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all food increased 5.5 percent in 2008, the highest annual increase since 1990, and is forecast to increase 3.0 to 4.0 percent in 2009.

Food-at-home prices, led by fats and oils and cereal and bakery product prices, increased 6.4 percent, while food-away-from-home prices rose 4.4 percent in 2008.

Total food expenditures for all food consumed in the U.S. was $1,139.4 billion dollars in 2007, a 5.4-percent increase from $1,081.4 billion in 2006. Spending on food away from home was 48.8 percent of the $1,139.4 billion in total food expenditures in 2007—spending for food at home was 51.1 percent.

 

Vilsack pulls from familiar circles to staff USDA Washington Post

 

Tom Daschle: The former Senate majority leader's legacy will live on at USDA, since Vilsack has hired his daughter Lindsay Daschle to serve as his confidential secretary; former Daschle Senate staffer Grant Leslie will serve as a senior adviser.

 

Mexico's tariff on U.S. frozen potatoes USDA FAS

 

AMS launches toll free line for fresh products branch USDA AMS

As part of ongoing efforts to enhance its ability to serve the needs of the produce industry, the Fruit and Vegetable Programs of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service today announced the establishment of a nationwide toll-free number for its Fresh Products Branch. The number, (800) 560-7956, is available to Fresh Products Branch clients seeking information about their accounts or to speak with a staff member about a particular service.

 

U.S. Senate blueprint suggest savings for USDA Reuters

TK: What about MAP?

The committee was expected to vote on Thursday on its spending plan for fiscal 2010, which opens Oct 1. The plan offered by Chairman Kent Conrad forgoes crop subsidy cuts proposed by the White House. Instead, Conrad suggested costs could be cut for crop insurance, the Market Access Program, which develops export markets, and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which shares the cost of controlling runoff from fields and feedlots. It would be up to the committees that control the programs, such as Agriculture and Appropriations, to set the actual spending levels for them, said the spokesman.

Idled farmland may be carbon sink Reuters

The Conservation Reserve, which pays owners to idle fragile U.S. farmland, could become one of the largest carbon sequestration programs on private land, an Agriculture Department official said on Wednesday.

USDA names Dave White to head conservation service Reuters