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Abstract
A number of important developments in the last two years affected the food and agricultural sector and will continue to have important implications for food prices, consumption, and consumer expenditures in 1982. The drought-reduced harvest of 1980 was followed by a record grain crop in 1981; the 1980 restrictions on crop exports to the Soviet Union were followed by larger Soviet imports last year; and following several years of declining production, the cattle cycle "bottomed out" in 1980 and beef production has been increasing. Declines in Gross National Product made 1980 and 1981 recession years; a January 1981 freeze in Florida pushed up domestic prices for fruits and vegetables; a turn-around in world sugar production caused a drastic fall in raw sugar prices last year; scheduled April dairy price support increases were eliminated; and a new farm bill evolved.