Agricultural Outlook is published 10 times per year by the Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. To order Agricultural Outlook , please visit the ERS-NASS Sales Desk . The contents section at the bottom of this page links to each article in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. U.S. orange production is forecast record-high at 14.3 million tons, up 12 percent from last year, due to favorable weather in Florida and California and expanded acreage in Florida. U.S. grapefruit producers also find themselves with another large crop this year, although nearly 6 percent smaller than a year ago.
Supplies remain abundant, and as a result, prices have dropped and grower revenues have shrunk.
The severity of the western rail service problems resulted in emergency action by the Surface Transportation Board, and illustrated the importance of an adequate grain handling and transportation infrastructure in an era when grain production and marketing decisions are driven by market signals, not government programs. An adequate land base for spreading manure residues is essential. With virtually insurmountable land constraints in small, densely populated Taiwan and Denmark, and with public demands for stricter governmental regulation constraining hog production in the U.S. and Canada, world pork prices could increase more sharply than expected. Economic turmoil in Asia is expected to trim U.S. meat export prospects in 1998. As Asian currencies depreciate and incomes fall, demand will contract in some key Asian markets and competition will increase from other countries whose currencies are also losing value against the U.S. dollar.