markets

Trending Headlines: Drought, markets, food prices & grasshoppers

This week’s Trending Headlines highlights the ongoing challenges facing ranchers in the western states including swarms of grasshoppers and increasing drought conditions. We also take a look at cattle markets and rising food and fuel prices. The blog wraps up with a look at Biden’s executive order to address competition in various industries, as well as an update on the farmer debt forgiveness program and the response from producers across the country.

1. “Cattle are competing against grasshoppers for food in the West’s historic drought. The bugs are winning.” by Rachel Ramirez for CNN

Ramirez writes, “Against the backdrop of unprecedented heat waves and deadly wildfires, the West’s historic drought has ranchers fighting another problem besides water shortages: a prolific hoard of grasshoppers is competing with cattle for food.

“Around 93% of the West is in some level of drought this week, and a bizarre impact of this pernicious dry condition is the explosion of the grasshopper population. Grasshoppers have devoured so much vegetation that many ranchers fear rangelands could be stripped bare.

“A 2021 grasshopper hazard map from the USDA shows each square yard of land contains at least 15 grasshoppers in parts of Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, Colorado, and Nebraska.”

2. “Cattle markets have been upended, and big meat producers are making 20 times normal margins as beef prices soar” by Ethan Wu for Business Insider

Wu writes,

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Farmers markets are growing their role as essential sources of healthy food for rich and poor

For many Americans, buying fresh local food at one of the estimated 9,000 farmers markets across the U.S. is one of summer’s pleasures. But farmers markets aren’t just nice amenities. Over the past 18 months, many have filled food supply gaps caused by COVID-19 shutdowns.

While numerous farmers markets shut down at the start of the pandemic, many soon reopened under state or local guidelines that mandated masks, social distancing and other precautions.

When grocery store supply chains were disrupted, consumer interest in local foods spiked, along with concerns about exposure to the coronavirus while shopping. Farmers market managers adapted swiftly, experimenting with options like prepackaged goods and drive-thru pickup.

In fact, many farmers markets enjoyed their strongest-ever sales in 2020. Affluent shoppers became more interested in buying local food, while lower-income buyers were able to use federal benefits like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Stepping into this expanded role was no mean feat – but we know from our research in city planning and urban food systems that with adequate support, marketplaces respond vigorously to crises and opportunities.

The fall and rise of urban farmers markets

Farmers have been selling their goods at public markets in the U.S. for centuries. Many U.S. cities evicted or sidelined street vendors in the mid-20th century to make room for large-scale retail stores. But in the 1970s and ‘80s, farmers markets started reappearing in middle-class communities and suburbs.

This resurgence, which reflected the rise of the environmental movement, was

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