Agricultural News
United Soybean Board Releases Video Addressing Food Prices Issue
Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:58:34 CDTThe United Soybean Board has released a new video of soybean farmer and USB Director David Hartke discussing food prices. Click on the play button in the screen below to watch the latest video on food prices and how they are affecting rural America.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the average U.S. consumer spends just 10 percent of his or her income on food. By comparison, in the 1960s, Americans spent 15 percent of their income on food. In some developing countries today, consumers can spend up to 50 percent of their income on food.
Surveys conducted by the United Soybean Board (USB) have shown that more than 80 percent of U.S. soybean farmers feel an obligation to help feed the world. USB remains committed to this charge by supporting U.S. soybean farmers through research on better farming practices and new U.S. soybean varieties that could produce higher quality and greater amounts of U.S. soy. Through this research, U.S. farmers have been able to increase yields sustainably and will continue to do so to meet the challenge set by the United Nations (U.N.) to increase food production by 50 percent by 2030. This increase will be necessary as the world population grows and as people in developing countries can increasingly afford to improve their diets by adding meat.
Every day, 2.2 million U.S. farmers battle uncontrollable factors such as flooding, drought, pests, and plant and animal diseases to help provide food for today's world population of nearly 7 billion. Still, U.S. farmers receive less than 12 cents of each dollar spent on food in the United States. According to the USDA, the majority of food costs cover things such as the cost of petroleum for transportation, and costs associated with processing and packaging.
Every day, consumers rely on farmers to provide a bountiful and safe food supply. Farmers continue to do this, day in and day out, regardless of the challenges and risks they face.
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