Latest News From Consumer Demands

CoBank has released their 2024 outlook report, which takes a look at the key themes the organization expects to shape agricultural and the rural economy in the coming year.

ADM recently surveyed consumers and decision-makers in the retail and consumer-packaged goods sectors on consumer trust, purchase consideration, and future regenerative agriculture trends for CPGs and retailers.

Phillip Hord and Jessica Stevens are two examples of what happens when pig farmers think outside of the box to grow demand and build confidence in U.S. pork among consumers.

If you’re tempted to build a beehive in your backyard, think twice. And instead of resorting to thoughtless prohibitions in the name of favored insects, let’s look for innovations trusting farmers to do the right thing.

“These tax credits, which encourage the use of more eco-friendly fuels, could make or break the prospects of corn ethanol as a sustainable aviation fuel," says Jim Wiesemeyer, ProFarmer policy analyst.

For 2024, USDA projects that food price inflation will be lower than that seen in 2023 and significantly lower than the rise seen in 2022.

Our dairy farm busts myths about cow confinement. Visitors are surprised by our happy, clean, and healthy cows as we defy expectations on animal welfare and sanitation.

Oddly, while global AA battery consumption has been widely publicized, with it being a suspiciously round number, AAA battery sales are obscure.

Tyson Foods Inc. will eliminate about 10% of corporate jobs and 15% of senior leadership roles, Chief Executive Donnie King told employees on Wednesday.

The food system is being reimagined today and farmers can benefit by thinking about how to improve their ability to take advantage of opportunities in the process, says Rob Dongoski with Ernst and Young.

Without the Office of Management and Budget approval, states will be unable to sell E15 fuel in the summer months.

If we are wise about collaboration, choice, and communication, we’ll rise to the challenges of climate, crisis, conflict, cost, cities, and consumption.

As real estate prices skyrocket and labor becomes harder to find, the blueprints for future grocery stores may soon start to downsize.

The food system is undergoing transformation, says Rob Dongoski, Ernst & Young. He pulled back the curtain on three ways it will change and how farmers can be ready during a presentation at the 2023 Top Producer Summit.

“A lot of people looked at the smaller landlocked crush facilities and said, ‘Does that make sense?" I think those locations will go away, and I’m not sure they should have been there to begin with," Fife says.

Consumer preferences can totter between fads and trends. For farmers to capitalize on consumer demands, they must be able to sort out which market opportunities to pursue, says Rob Dongoski with Ernst & Young.

Sutton Rucks, chief operating officer for Milking R Dairy, Inc., encourages other farmers to reach out to their community and educate consumers about the benefits of agriculture and dairy farming, specifically.

Can California’s voters dictate how hogs are raised everywhere? That is effectively the question the U.S. Supreme Court is pondering in a pending case, National Pork Producers Council v. Ross. 

“In the last 2,500 years, every Chinese government that has fallen, has fallen over food,” says Kuehl, Armada chief economist. “They need those import markets—be it from the U.S, Canada, Brazil or Australia."

According to Leah Halvesron, CEO and founder of Ten Acre Marketing, it’s better to be proactive than let a passersby draw their own conclusions about your operation. Here’s how to get started.

President Richard Nixon hosted the last White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health in 1969. That confab led to expansions of the food stamp program, the school lunch program and WIC.

According to Secretary Vilsack, these efforts will “increase the competitive advantage of U.S. agriculture both domestically and internationally,” while building wealth in rural America.

Empty dinner plates can quickly translate to lack of world peace. Just ask Sen. Ernst, who gave a political rundown of food security as national security at Iowa State University last week.

Our recent AgWeb.com poll posed the question: What is your favorite fair food?

Food and agriculture face a time of unparalleled change, both in the heft of the systemic issues they’re working through and in the speed at which seismic shifts will likely occur.

Authentic storytelling and virtual outreach are ways dairy farmers can build relationships with this influential customer base, says Serena Schaffner, senior vice president of communications at Dairy Management Inc. 

Archie Griffin knows short-term thinking is critical, but he takes the long view.

NPPC’s Michael Formica predicts Proposition 12 repercussions will be seen in California as early as this morning.

The Ducheneaux family reconnects consumers with their food source 

Nature abhors a vacuum, but foes of modern agriculture adore it. They fill the quiet with their noise of ignorance, myths and misinformation when farmers are silent. Farmers and food production suffer.

Who should be telling the story of agriculture? The Shark Farmer says it may not be who you first think.

Patrick Montgomery is in the business of delivering customers the best steaks they'll ever eat. Along the way, he may have just created the best hot dog anyone has ever tasted as well.

The American Farm Bureau says average cost for 10 people is less than $6 per person.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has set her sights on changing how the world produces and consumes food in order to counteract a trio of threats: carbon emissions, disease outbreaks and animal suffering.  

Michael Swanson says it’ll take fleet turnover to bring great change to gasoline consumption, and he says two factors will drive that adoption—federal policy and battery technologies.

The first in a series of webinars by the Global Farmer Network brought together a diverse panel of farmers to talk about the biggest issues in agriculture today.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the Meat Institute’s challenge to California’s 2018 ballot initiative that imposes new standards for animal housing.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the Meat Institute’s challenge to California’s 2018 ballot initiative that imposes new standards for animal housing.

Indiana musician with bizarre instrument gleans inspiration from the farms and fields near his home helping his Christmas and pop song arrangements go viral.

Learn how your farm can profit from transparency.

Thirty-five million food boxes have been delivered as part of USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program, as of July 10.

Following a decade with the introduction of societal shifters such as the smartphone and the adoption of robotic milkers, 2020 could be the starting block for the fastest technological race in farming history.

In the next few decades, industry experts from Syngenta expect many changes to take place and for the average farm operation to look different than it does today.