Marketplace

Milk's glass is half-full

The USDA reports milk prices hit a record last month with consumers paying an average of $3.80 a gallon. That's up about 50 cents from January. Greater demand for more dairy in Asia where chains like McDonald's and Starbucks are introducing cheeseburgers and lattes to new tastebuds is part of the reason for the price hike. Rising costs for animal feed, shrinking European production, and droughts in Australia and New Zealand are also factors.

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Nothing goes with a good wine like... nudity?

A few Napa Valley winegrowers are taking off their clothes to raise money to protect Napa's dwindling farmland. The men of the Napa County Farm Bureau pose among the vines without much else on in the new Napa Uncovered calendar. Clos Du Val vineyard manager Al Wagner is Mr. July. He appears in a cowboy hat, boots and an apron. Wagner says some of the guys had misgivings about the calendar, but in the end they got a good laugh about their naked stand for the land.

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Wildfires cooked California avocado crop

Get ready to pay more for your guacamole. One major casualty of the fires in Southern California may be the avocado trees that went up in smoke. Officials estimate 20,000, at least a third of California's avocado crop burned in the fires. California's avocado crop is usually worth more than a billion dollars each year. The state is responsible for a big portion of the nation's avocado production. That means the price of avocados could climb sky-high -- just in time for the Super Bowl.

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Hope you like your OJ cold . . .

There's a wind chill advisory this morning in parts of Florida. That has the state's 40,000 commercial farmers making plans to save citrus fruits and other crops. Governor Charlie Crist is relaxing restrictions for getting harvested crops to processing centers. The state produces much of the nation's domestically-grown fruits and vegetables during the winter. The cold snap should end by the weekend.

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World hunger as pressing as ever

The American consumer isn't the only one feeling the pinch in the food market. The World Food Program is kicking off an "emergency appeal" for donations. According to a report in The Financial Times, the U.N. agency is asking world governments to give an additional $500 million, due to the rising cost of everything from bread to beef. The agency says if fresh money does not arrive by May 1, it will have to reduce rations to those who depend on it for meals. The agency is blaming its shortfall on a 20 percent spike in food costs in the past three weeks.

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Rice prices continue to rise

Look for the price of rice to go up -- again.

Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, announced the cost per ton surged to $1,000 today. That's almost triple the price per ton at the start of the year. And some Thai traders say it might reach $1,300 hundred before long. This may be good news for Bangkok rice dealers, but not it's so good for poorer nations. Even in the U.S. this week, retailers such as Sam's Club and Costco were starting to see signs of panic buying.

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Word of a possible rice cartel

If the world didn't have enough with an oil cartel, now there is talk about a rice cartel. The prime minister of Thailand said Wednesday that his government is going to try to get together with Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos to coordinate when trading rice.
The is just an idea for the moment. But, if it became a reality, it would have the potential of maintaining rice prices up there at record highs. Needless to say, big importing countries such as the Philippines are not very happy about this.

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Bringing home less bacon

These are lean times for the U.S. pork industry. Rising energy prices are hitting pig farmers as hard as everyone else, but they have a much bigger problem: the rocketing price of corn. That's what pigs eat and it's double the cost from a year ago. The industry hasn't turned a profit in months, and analysts don't expect that to change for at least a year. For the consumer, that means the cost of pork chops, ham and bacon will be on the rise very soon.

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