Inflation began its decline in late summer, the short-term increase in gas prices has since subsided, and the impact of those economic trends can be seen in consumer spending at restaurants. Click here to read the full article. 

Inflation clouded everything this year, for consumers and operators alike. On the operator side, some commodity prices were at their highest levels in decades, forcing average menu price increases up by over 8% just to maintain margins. Click here to read the full article.

Breakfast has the power to turn everything around - from an energy and a profitability standpoint. Explore the resources, products and recipes that can help you grab your share of breakfast traffic. Click here to read the full article. 

Four new cases of bird flu at Iowa turkey farms in the past few days will push the number of birds slaughtered nationwide this month to limit the spread of the virus up to nearly 700,000.The latest cases announced by the Iowa Department of Agriculture only add to the toll of this year's ongoing outbreak that has prompted officials to kill more than 53 million birds in 47 states. Anytime the virus is found, the entire flock is killed to help control the disease.
Click here to read the full article. 

Production of oranges in Florida this season is forecast to be down 36% from earlier estimates, in part a reflection of twin hurricanes that battered growing regions, according to U.S. Agriculture Department figures released Friday. Click here to read the full article. 

The biggest challenge for U.S. potato grower-shippers in 2023 might be stretching their volume to last through the season. USDA estimates harvested acreage for 2022 at 902,200 acres. That’s down from 935,700 in 2021, which itself was a tight year. “Growers are doing their best to manage expectations and hold onto their pile of spuds to make them last,” said Ross Johnson, vice president of retail for the Eagle, Idaho-based Idaho Potato Commission. Click here to read the full article. 

Iowa officials are confirming a positive case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a commercial turkey flock in Buena Vista County. The outbreak impacting 40,700 birds comes a month after Iowa’s last outbreak involving commercial layer chickens in Wright County. 
Among the hardest hit states, Iowa’s poultry industry has lost more than 15.5 million birds to HPAI this year. There’s also been a spate of HPAI infections among commercial turkey producers in South Dakota.
All told, HPAI has been confirmed in 670 commercial and backyard flocks in 47 states in 2022, affecting 52.87 million birds, according to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS.) The agency on Tuesday added Alabama to the list of states with HPAI confirmed at a backyard producer. The infection in Lawrence County affected 460 birds. The virus previously was confirmed in wild birds in the state, specifically in black vultures in November and an American wigeon in February. Meanwhile, HPAI is prompting APHIS to restrict the importing of poultry, eggs and other avian products from countries including Ecuador and 11 prefectures in Japan.
 

Just Food’s US columnist Victor Martino sets out the main issues facing food industry executives as they prepare for the new year. 

Inflation moderates but continues. Food-at-home (products bought at retail stores) inflation isn’t going away anytime soon. The good news is the rate of growth has moderated slightly over the last couple of months. The bad news is it’s still far too high. Click here to read the full article. 

Restaurants and bars stepped up their hiring during November, adding 62,000 jobs, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's higher than the 36,300 jobs the industry added in October, which itself was an upward revision from previous estimates.
The statistics for November show a total of 11.9 million people were employed by eating and drinking places. That's 400,000 jobs short of where the industry was in February 2020, before the pandemic led to widespread job cuts. Click here to read the full article. 

Retail food inflation slowed in October but is still running up double digits compared with a year ago, a new USDA Food Price report says. The agency also said farm-level prices for fresh fruits and vegetables are running even hotter. Click here to read the full article. 

​Weekly beef cow slaughter has been higher year-over-year for 70 consecutive weeks.  In that period, on only four occasions has the year-over-year increase been less than 3%. The latest weekly data shows that beef cow slaughter was up 2.7% year-over- year, just the second week this year in which the rate was up less than 3%. It’s too early to be sure but beef cow slaughter may be slowing down.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) continues to plague U.S. poultry producers, with three commercial turkey operations in South Dakota among the latest to be infected by the virus, affecting more than 174,000 birds. 

The outbreaks in the Mount Rushmore state confirmed on Friday include a 50,700-turkey facility and a 67,000-turkey facility in Beadle County, as well as a 55,500-bird turkey meat producer in Spink County, according to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. 
Of the roughly 60 detections confirmed among commercial and backyard flocks in South Dakota since March, more than 40 involved commercial turkey producers, the APHIS tally shows. 

Still, turkey producers are not the only ones being hit by the deadly-to-birds virus. In Nebraska’s Dixon County, 1.7 million birds were affected by HPAI at a commercial table egg layer facility in a detection also confirmed on Friday, the agency said. 
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As of Monday, HPAI has been confirmed this year in 648 commercial and backyard flocks, affecting 52.48 million birds, or a couple million more than in 2014 and 2015.

Inflation threw a wrench into pandemic recovery, and with interest rates rising and the threat of a recession looming, the 2023 labor market could look very different than it does today.
Major tech companies have announced tens of thousands of layoffs in recent weeks while mortgage interest rates are at levels not seen in two decades, putting a damper on growth. Pandemic-induced supply chain issues have forced many manufacturers to lay off workers. The Federal Reserve has said it will keep raising interest rates until it has tamed inflation, which until last month was running above 8%. Click here to read the full article. 

​As the calendar transitions to winter, seasonal shifts in the cattle and beef industry will begin to appear with reduced slaughter, moderating weights, improvement in grade and slower beef demand following winter holiday buying. 
Throughout most of the year, slaughter has outpaced expectations with both fed and non-fed slaughter on pace to finish above last year and total cattle slaughter expected to be the highest since 2010.  Weights will likely average at all-time highs for fed cattle for the year.  While weights do tend to increase over time, the last few years saw especially large increases with challenges surrounding packing capacity, so with improved harvest capacity and elevated grain prices, continued increases in weights has been somewhat of a surprise.