This report examines optimum supply formula (OSF) in the tart cherry industry. The OSF is a tool for stabilizing market prices as authorized by a federal market order (FMO). The current OSF sets the optimum supply volume (OSV), or free sales of tart cherries in a given harvest year equal to the...

Most of the increase in ethanol production in the 2008-2012 period can be attributed to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) and earlier federal energy legislation. The expansion in U.S. biofuel production, particularly ethanol, was the predominant cause of the elevated...

Wheat consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is increasing rapidly, faster than any other major food grain. Between 2000 and 2009, per capita wheat consumption in SSA increased at a rate of 0.35 kilogram (kg)/year, outpacing maize and rice. Total wheat consumption increased by nearly 650,000...

The 2012 harvest was, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock national food balance sheet estimates, a major surplus production season. However, by November the same year, Zambia started experiencing widespread maize meal shortages and skyrocketing maize meal prices. Responding to...

This analysis examined optimum supply formula (OSF) in the tart cherry industry. The OSF is a tool for stabilizing market prices as authorized by a federal market order (FMO). The current OSF sets free sales of tart cherries in a given harvest year, or optimum supply volume (OSV), equal to the...

The goal of this paper is to provide evidence of shifts in food consumption patterns in the ECOWAS countries of West Africa from 1980 through 2009.1 In particular, the analysis is intended to identify major contributors to diets, changes in the levels as well as in the composition of food supply...

Millions of smallholder farm households in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are net consumers of staple crops, and millions of poor urban households spend a significant share of their income purchasing staple foods. Recent research has underscored the major effects of changes in food prices on poverty,...