Ag News: Russian River Water Solutions and Restaurant Closures
**Farmers with water rights along California’s Russian River in Mendocino and Sonoma counties are proposing solutions to avoid across-the-board reductions in water supplies this year.
About 2,000 water-rights holders in the region are expected to receive curtailment orders.
But the Mendocino County Farm Bureau and local farmers are working with state officials in hopes of achieving a voluntary system to allocate limited water resources and sustain local agriculture.
**The Consumer Brands Association cautioned that rising costs on manufacturers have not slowed and show no signs of doing so.
Citing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, The April Producer Price Index showed an 11% year-over-year rise.
For food specifically, wholesale prices rose 14.5%, showing the outsized impact consumer packaged goods companies are feeling.
Consumer Brands President Geoff Freeman says, this is the 14th straight month we’ve seen wholesale prices push above the historical trend line.
**No real surprise, but the first year of the pandemic saw the temporary closures of restaurants in the U.S., prompting a decline in Food Away From Home Spending.
Spending decreased at each of the nine types of food service outlets measured in the USDA Economic Research Service’s Food Expenditure Series from 2019 to 2020.
Full-service restaurants experienced a decrease of 31.7% in 2020.
Even drive throughs saw a 6.7% decline.