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Food smarts becoming a status symbol
While Americans as a whole are becoming more interested in where their food comes from, a recent survey suggests that food knowledge has become the modern-day equivalent of a Lexus or Rolex.
 Survey data released Nov. 15 by the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) suggests that more than one in five Americans -- and more than half of New Yorkers -- believe being knowledgeable about food is a status symbol.
Questioning 1,250 consumers nationally, including an intentional oversample of 236 consumers in the New York City media market, USFRA wanted to gauge consumer perceptions about farming and food production ahead of its Food Dialogues.
According to the national data, 21% of Americans strongly agree that knowing a lot about food has become a status symbol. On the other hand, 54% of New Yorkers believe food knowledge is a status symbol.
Lower- to middle-income households were more likely to think of food knowledge as a status symbol: 30% of Americans with household incomes of less than $50,000 per year strongly agreed, and lower-income households -- those earning less than $30,000 per year -- were most likely to say that they would like to know more about food but don't have the time or money to do so (68%).
Author Tracie McMillan, one of the Food Dialogues panelists in New York, saw firsthand why income matters when it comes to food perceptions and purchasing habits. When doing research for her book The American Way of Eating, McMillan went "undercover" as a farm worker in California, at two Wal-Mart grocery stores in Michigan and in the kitchen of a New York City Applebees.
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Agriculture's bounty grows
Thanksgiving get-togethers last week displayed the bounty of U.S. agriculture, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), which noted that U.S. farmers this year will grow 254  million turkeys and will harvest 768 million lb. of cranberries, 47 billion lb. of potatoes, 1.1 billion lb. of pumpkins and 1.9 billion lb. of green beans.
The bounty has come a long way from the first Thanksgiving in 1621, which involved a few wild geese and turkeys and a few baskets of beans and corn grown by Pilgrims and Native Americans, NASS said.
However, the American farm also has come a long way, NASS added, reporting that the number of farms in the U.S. peaked in 1935 with 6.812 million farms at an average size of 154.8 acres, and in 2007, there were 2.205 million farms averaging 418 acres.
NASS said these data come from its "Census of Agriculture," a survey of farms and production that is conducted every five years.
NASS said the 2012 survey will be mailed to producers next month, and while individual respondents' information is kept confidential, the census is expected to reveal an important and new analysis of agriculture's bounty. |
Los Angeles adopts 'Meatless Mondays'
The city council in Los Angeles, Cal., has adopted, on a unanimous vote, a resolution declaring every Monday to be "Meatless Monday" and urging all city residents to avoid eating meat on Mondays.
Councilmembers Jan Perry and Ed Reyes, who co-sponsored the resolution, said the measure supports a "good food" agenda for the city, will improve nutrition and reduce obesity and will be beneficial to the environment.
Los Angeles becomes the largest municipality in the U.S. to support Meatless Monday, and it was adopted two years after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced that he had stopped eating meat on Mondays as part of his health regimen.
The resolution, which the council adopted on a 12-0 vote on Nov. 9, does not carry the force of law.
However, many health professionals have cautioned that the Meatless Monday concept is precisely the opposite of advocates' perceptions.
It's important that consumers "make smart food decisions that are based on accurate information and sound science," and Meatless Monday initiatives are neither smart nor sound, said registered dietitian Shelley Johnson, associate director of food and nutrition outreach at the National Cattlemen's Beef Assn.
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Food Dialgues unite opposites
With a lofty goal of answering the "toughest questions" about food production, the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) made its third attempt to harness the power of an internet-streamed panel discussion augmented by real-time social media interaction as one way of combatting perceived misconceptions of and attacks aimed at agriculture.
"Designed to answer Americans' questions on some of today's most provocative topics related to food, including antibiotics and biotechnology," USFRA's third major Food Dialogues event brought dozens of farmers, ranchers, industry experts, pundits and media members to New York City and pitched them into a live internet conversation.
Centered on three key topics, the Nov. 15 event involved panel discussions on media and marketing as well as the heated issues of food animal antibiotic use and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
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In Our Opinion...
Nebraska summits provides encouragement for future
By NEVIL C. SPEER, PHD, MBA
There's good stuff happening out there! Sure, at times, it's easy to get discouraged about the seemingly constant barrage of criticism around the food industry. But rest assured, there's plenty of reason to be encouraged about the future.
My reasoning for that perspective results directly from my recent travels. I was invited to participate at this year's 2012 Nebraska Beef Industry Summit. Never mind my presentation; it's incidental to the bigger picture. What really matters is the backdrop of the event.
That's because the Summit represents an exciting initiative at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Nebraska Beef Industry Scholars program is a four-year program for students designed to enhance the educational experience that extends far beyond the classroom. In cooperation with the Nebraska Cattlemen's Assn., students get expanded exposure to the "real world" through various travel experiences, industry events and internships. As such, the program establishes a higher level of engagement over the course of four years than would otherwise be possible.
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Dairy animal care a priority
An increasing number of milk producers are signing onto a national program that helps them improve their animal handling practices and those of the employees on their farms.  The program provides guidelines and standards that support a multifaceted platform for dairy animal care and well-being and is open to all milk producers in the U.S. who wish to demonstrate their commitment to "outstanding" animal care and milk quality, according to Jamie Jonker, vice president for regulatory and scientific affairs at the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF).
Participation is voluntary, but more and more milk producers, dairy cooperatives and dairy processors are enrolling in the program "to assure consumers that their food is produced with integrity," Jonker said. He reported that the program, the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) program, was first implemented in September 2010 and, after two years, already covers 41% of milk production in the U.S. He said enrollment is on track for this coverage to increase to more than 70% of production by the end of next year. |
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Food & Farm
with Ray Bowman
Food & Farm is dedicated to providing fact-based information about your food and those that produce it.
Here are this week's segments:
Could the Farm Bill become part of the budgetary resolution to the looming "fiscal cliff?" Harrison Pittman of The National Agricultural Law Center thinks so and he discusses it with us.
Click here to listen
We talk about pig prices and talk some more about the Farm Bill with Purdue economist Chris Hurt.
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"Do as I say, not as I do!" Is that what we're communicating to our kids about food choices? Katie Burns from the IFIC Foundation discusses the 2012 Food & Health Survey.
Click here to listen
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As a supplement to the Feedstuffs 2013 Outlook issue, staff editor Andy Vance discussed five key markets and issues with industry leaders and experts.
2013 Trade Climate Outlook
Former U.S. Trade Representative and USDA Secretary Clayton Yeutter discusses the opportunities and challenges for U.S. ag trade in 2013.
2013 Feed Availability Outlook
With drought-shortened crops in the U.S., Alltech vice president Aidan Connolly projects that feed availability will contract significantly in 2013.
2013 Land Value Outlook
Will this boom/bust cycle be different? Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City executive Jason Henderson discusses the outlook for farmland values.
2013 Livestock Market Outlook
Livestock Economist Steve Meyer talks with editor Andy Vance about his read on the situation facing livestock producers in the coming year.
2013 Grain Market Outlook
Market analyst Arlan Suderman, Water Street Solutions, talks with editor Andy Vance about the 2013 Outlook for the U.S. and global grain markets
Click here for series
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