With fuel prices dropping over the last several months, many shoppers are asking why food prices have not shown corresponding drops in prices. The asnwer may surprise you in how much fuel costs affect grocery store bills.
Annemarie Kuhns with the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service is reporting that only 4.7 cents of every dollar spent at the supermarket goes toward food transportation costs
So less than 5% of your bill is attributed to fuel costs.
According to the Daily Northeast Broiler/Fryer Report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Marketing Service the price for retailers purchasing chicken wings to sell at their business has jumped by 35% compared to last year. This was reported in PRNewswire:
The average price (wholesale, not retail) of whole wings is currently $1.71/lb, up from $1.35/lb at the same time last year.
This is not the highest ever seen:
This is down significantly from when wing prices hit a record high of $2.11/lb in January, 2013.
Inflation is more often associated with the price of a product going up. But inflation is also measured by a product being produced in a smaller size but staying the same on price. Girl Scout cookies fall into both of those categories.
First, lets look at the price of buying Girl Scout cookies. The 2015 price per box according to the Girl Scout website is now $5. In 2009 the price of a box was $3.50 and faced the other side of inflation, downsizing the product. The website popsugar.com noted the downsize:
According to the organization, the cost of flour rose by 30 percent, assorted cooking oils by 40 percent, and cocoa by at least 20 percent. The company felt this was the best method of dealing with increasing raw material prices. Alternatively, Girl Scouts could have used cheaper ingredients, or raised cookie prices from their current price of $3.50 per box.
Second downsizing of the product happened in 2011 as noted by OCWEEKLY blogs:
The Girl Scouts announced earlier this week that both the size and quantity of some remaining flavors will also dwindle slightly–as of now, only the Lemon Chalet Cremes are reducing in size, while the downsized quantities include Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Shortbread Cookies, DoSiDos and Trefoils (up to four fewer cookies per box).
The reasons behind these changes? A rise in both transportation and baking costs. As a result, the agreed-upon course of action was to “lower the net weight of our cookie boxes slightly rather than ask our customers to pay a higher per-package price during these difficult times,” Girl Scouts spokesperson Michelle Tompkins told CNN.
Girl Scout cookies are shrinking in product serving and have spiked in price by almost 45%.
Hoosier Ag reporter Cayla McLeland is reporting pork will be on the rise in the near future for the consumer.
Purdue Extension Ag Economist, Dr. Chris Hurt, says expansion could reach seven percent higher by the end of this year.
“Breeding herd has grown by over 212,000 animals over the last year and that’s mostly in the center of the country. The western corn belt breeding herd increased by 105,000 head with Missouri rising by 55,000 animals. Iowa by 40,000 and Minnesota by 10,000 head. The second-largest growth region was down in the southern plains and they’re still recovering, of course, from the long-term drought. Both Texas and Oklahoma have added 20,000 animals to the breeding herd over the last year.”
Consumers faced higher prices a few years back due to farmers thinning herds from the drought and the the PED virus hitting hard last winter.
Read the rest of the article here.
Stumbled upon some interesting data about buyers of farmland while researching farmland value. This comes from AgriNews:
One thing they have noticed, Aupperle said, is that more farmers are purchasing the land. During the first nine months of the year, 71 percent of the land was purchased by farmers or their families.
“Farming community has really stepped up, while outside investors seem to be waiting to see if a correction comes,” Aupperle said. “The farming community has a lot of money from remaining steady for two years and when investors come back, an upward trend should continue.
Harvest season is wrapping up across the nation. Here is some Indiana and national stats gathered up from various sources around the internet:
Corn for grain production will set a new record in 2014 at 14.5 billion bushels on fewer acres planted compared to 2013. World corn production is also setting new records.
Soybean farmers are now expected to harvest 3.96 billion bushels, up 31 million bushels from the October estimate. Fifteen states including Indiana, Missouri and South Dakota are expected to report records for the amount of soybeans grown per acre with the average yield at 47.5 bushels per acre. Area for harvest in the United States is forecast at a record 83.4 million acres, unchanged from last month.
(Indiana) Corn yield was unchanged from last month’s projection of 186 bushels per acre. This will be a record corn yield for Indiana if realized. Corn for grain harvested acres was 5.75 million acres. Total production is still expected to weigh in at a record-breaking 1.07 billion bushels. Soybean yield at 54.0 bushels per acre was unchanged from last month’s forecast. This yield if realized will be a record for soybean yield in Indiana. The soybean harvest is anticipated to rake in 296 million bushels, which would make 2014 a record production year.
H/T Hoosieragtoday.com for recent numbers
Local Indiana butchers have been informed pork prices will increase by Christmas. Ham will be up by almost $1/lb. More data has come out supporting the jump in price on beef. Beef herds at their lowest in decades going below 30 million. That is a 11.8% decline since 2007.
Last year Indiana lawmakers relaxed some rules in allowing investors and alcohol makers open up distillery operations to make whiskey. Now some operations have popped up and the specialized business of the alcohol industry will have to wait and see how it all plays out financially.
Here is how the alcohol rules got relaxed
They pointed to states such as Michigan, where 32 small distillers sell local spirits and generate tourism dollars and tax revenue. Kentucky’s “Bourbon Trail” attracts 400,000 visitors to distilleries, which buy more than 2 million bushels of Indiana corn, each year.
The law that went into effect in July 2013 allows an artisan distiller to produce no more than 10,000 gallons of liquor for retail sale a year. The distiller cannot sell spirits to a retailer or a dealer but must sell by the drink, bottle or case on the premises.
Unlike big craft-spirit operations that buy liquor from wholesalers then flavor, bottle and label it as their own, the products of Indiana’s artisan distilleries must be homegrown. At least 60 percent of the final product must be fermented and distilled from raw materials on-site.
So far five permits have been granted and seven more are awaiting approval. The investors must also already have a federal permit for the process. Investments into the operations can run as high as $500,000.
The most important thing to remember of this new business venture for Indiana alcohol consumers, the bourbon and whiskey are still aging. Only when the first batches are tasted will indicate success of this new expansion.
Hat Tip Indiana Economic Digest
Hoosier Ag interviewed Dan Emmert, field agronomist with DuPont Pioneer and he reported the following:
Harvesting has begun and early yields look good. Emmert says several fields along the Ohio river have been harvested, “Only the guys who are comfortable harvesting corn at around 20% are willing to start this early.” He expects most growers in SW Indiana to begin to work fields in about 3 weeks.
The beef market supply is still low from the 2012 drought and supply numbers are still dipping which will only keep prices high for the foreseeble future. Here is the latest from the USDA.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, beef production came in at 2.09 billion lbs. That’s 9% down from last July. Slaughter totals are also trending down with 10% fewer cattle taken to the packer at 2.6 million head. However, live weights are moving up as feedlots and packers try to compensate for the loss of cattle. This July cattle averaged 1,320 lbs. when entering the processor, up 18 lbs. from last year. Overall red meat production was down 6% nationally. Only 3.91 billion lbs. of red meat was produced in this past month compared to 4.16 billion lbs. in July 2013.
From January to July of 2014 a similar drop off occurred with 3% less red meat produced at 27.4 billion lbs.
Hoosier Econ 