Despite the ongoing challenges, the overall long-term outlook for California agriculture remains positive. North American Regional Head of RaboResearch Food and Agribusiness for RaboBank, Roland Fumasi explained that global income levels are having a positive impact on California ag products. As income levels rise, the food choices of consumers begin to change to favor more fresh produce, animal protein, and dairy. Increased global demand for those products bodes well for California producers moving forward.
“Those incomes, globally, are expected to continue to rise. We see evidence of what I’m talking about when you just look at the continued growth in our export volumes of many of these products,” Fumasi noted. “Some of them have had some pricing pressure as well, but others are hitting record export levels even at relatively strong prices. So that underscores the point of global demand for the types of products that California produces.”
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