Ag News: Food Producer Income Down
**While consumers' holiday food costs continue to decline, American food producers' incomes have dropped dramatically in recent years.
This year, according to the National Farmers Union, farmers and ranchers will take home just 12.1 cents from every dollar consumers spend on their Thanksgiving dinner, lower than the 14.6 cents from the average food dollar.
Contract poultry growers, who raise the turkeys, are hit hardest, with just $0.06 from the $1.49 per-pound price consumers pay making it back to the farm.
**It’s no secret labor availability and reliability may be the biggest challenge facing the dairy industry and much of agriculture today.
That’s why the dairy industry is excited about the Farm Workforce Modernization Act currently being considered in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The National Milk Producers Federation’s Mike McCloskey says the bill Representatives Zoe Lofgren and Dan Newhouse just passed out of the House Judiciary Committee should be on the floor soon.
**They may be produced south of the border, but Mexican-grown avocados have played a pivotal role in bolstering the U.S. avocado industry.
Over the past three years, an average of 80% of the avocados consumed in the U.S. were imported from Mexico.
Emiliano Escobedo, executive director of the California-based Hass Avocado Board tells thepacker.com, the volume has increased 100% since 2010 and there has been NO decline in price.
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