Grocery Price Watch: Texans paying more at the store
By Amanda Hill
For months now, we at Texas Farm Bureau have been anticipating a rise in food prices as the epic drought of 2011—which lasted, in some areas, through 2012 and into 2013—caused crops to wither and cattle herds to shrink. Texans’ food costs actually declined for a few quarters, but it seems the drought has finally caught up to prices at the grocery store.
According to the first quarter Grocery Price Watch survey, Texas food prices are up about 5.5 percent over last quarter and a little more than 3 percent from this time last year. Here’s a look at the 16-item basket of food staples:
read moreFarm families buy groceries, too
By Monica Minzenmayer
Like many of you, I wear a lot of hats. Of my many roles, I’m most proud of being a wife, a mom and a farmer. My husband and I raise our two kids on our farm in Rowena, located about 30 miles outside of San Angelo in West Texas.
My days are probably a lot like yours—jam-packed with responsibilities around our farm, shuttling kids to school events, volunteering for activities in our community. And, of course, there are the weekly chores around the house, laundry and grocery shopping… Yes, farmers buy groceries, too.
read moreGrocery Price Watch: Steady food prices for Texans
By Amanda Hill
Good news, Texans! On average, food prices are holding steady at the grocery store, according to Texas Farm Bureau‘s Grocery Price Watch survey. Based on the survey’s third-quarter results, Texans paid $44.91—on average—for a basket of 16 staple food items.
Check out the full Grocery Price Watch survey results below, or read TFB’s news release with more information. TFB has been polling grocery prices across Texas each quarter since March 2009.
But good news for customers also can mean trouble for farmers.
read moreOrganic food or conventional? Stanford says it’s a draw
By Amanda Hill
Is organic food healthier? That’s a question I hear a lot these days.
Pop culture touts that organic food is healthier. With magazine articles cursing the “12 dirtiest foods” and talk shows highlighting food extremists, it’s easy to think that organic is the only healthy choice for you and your family.
That’s not true, according to a study from Stanford University’s Center for Health Policy.
The study, published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that organic produce, meat and milk do not provide any notable health benefits over the same products grown through conventional agricultural practices.
read moreMove over Baby Boomers, here come the YEMMies…
By Amanda Hill
The Baby Boomers have been called America’s greatest generation. They’ve weathered decades of ups and downs and have lived to tell the tales. Marketers drool over the Baby Boomer demographic—revered for their purchasing power by sheer volume.
But, the times, they are a changin’… Move over, Baby Boomers. Here come the YEMMies.
I came across the YEMMies in this post from the American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF) blog, Focus on Agriculture. A YEMMie is a Young, Educated, Millennial Mother.
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