"demand" news and stories

Here's a question for all you Freakonomic's fans out there: what do this week's stultifying heat indexes across much of the country have to do with the price of pork bellies?

If you answered that both are at or near record highs, then you get a gold star (you deserve something if you know the price of pork bellies). But you get two gold stars if you answered something along the lines of what was reported in Monday's Wall Street Journal...

On the list of foods that immediately conjure the taste of summer -- strawberries, peaches, watermelon, etc -- bacon is probably about as far down on the list as pumpkin pie. But, when the mercury is knocking on 95 and you want to get out of the kitchen as fast a possible, what do you turn to? A good old B.L.T.

More dairies may be going organic, but the demand for organic milk is close to exceeding the supply. Dean Foods, a Texas-based company that is the nation's largest producer of dairy and the owner of Horizon Organics, has even gone so far as to say that the sale of organic milk to stores could be rationed this winter. Part of the reason is that the production of organic dairy drops in winter, when cows in some parts of the country must be sheltered and protected from the cold.

One other problem facing the industry is an increased interest, from the customer,s into where the milk specifically comes from. Dean Foods has already dropped some of their larger suppliers and is focusing on mid-sized herds and smaller family farms. In fact, in trying to meet the current demand, Dean Foods is planning for the long term, hoping to avoid situations like this in the future, by spending $20 million in the next 5 years, helping small farmers transition to organic.

Doubtless, the transition will be easier for farmers to make when they are assured of a strong market for their product. For the rest of the year and until spring, however, consumers would be wise just to buy organic milk when it is available and not expect to see any price cuts or special deals on dairy.

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