SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Farmers and ranchers are feeling the heat as a result of this summer’s dry and hot weather, considered the worst American drought in nearly 50 years as detailed in an article in the August issue of Food Nutrition & Science.

“Corn has been hit particularly hard, as the drought hit the region when corn was passing through its critical pollination state. Farmers are hopeful about soybeans, which mature later in the season. As a result, consumers can expect to see an increase in food prices especially in 2013. Since mid-June, futures prices for corn increased 60 percent and 24 percent for soybeans,” according to the publication.

“These types of crisis remind us how fragile America’s farming industry is,” said Phil Lempert, founder of Food Nutrition & Science and CEO of The Lempert Report and upermarketGuru.com.

“Although programs like the Federal Crop Insurance Program and Emergency Conservation Program will help expedite a recovery and hopefully stabilize prices, there are a lot of small family farms that don’t qualify and might have to shut down further deteriorating the farming landscape.”

Also in the August issue are results from a recent Penn State University study that shows people eat more vegetables when they are served a variety than when they are served any single type, even the most preferred one. The study found that filling half the plate with three different vegetables increased vegetable intake in both men and women by more than one half serving.

In addition an article on September’s Whole Grains Month and how supermarkets across the country will use in-store displays, brochures and other education tools to encourage consumption.

Other informative articles, this month includes interviews with fresh produce Appalachian Mountain Farmers Melanie and Mike Fink and another with MaryEllen Mooney, partner/owner at Mooney Farms, about building sustainability into their strategies, operations and products.

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WASHINGTON – According to a Center for American Progress analysis, students who went into more debt to finance their education during the Great Recession are less well off today and Blacks and Latinos are particularly hit hard.

The center analysis released May 3 was based on the latest data from a survey conducted from the Federal Reserve of households in 2007 and 2009. The results show “even less economic security today for those who went deeper into debt to pay for their education in those years,” the center reported.

“The largest increase in the median education debt amount–$5,715–occurred among African-American households. Households of other races and households with a high school degree also saw comparatively large increases in education debt. That is, households that disproportionately struggled due to higher unemployment, lower wages, and fewer benefits than their counterparts, such as African Americans, saw faster debt increases than their counterparts,” the center noted.

“It is possible that struggling groups were more willing to go deeper into debt than their counterparts in an effort to regain some economic security during the difficult labor market during and after the Great Recession,” the analysis continued.

But rising education loans “put many student loan borrowers, especially communities of color, into an economic bind, making it more difficult to climb out of a deepening hole. Allowing interest rates on new student loans to climb without countervailing measures will thus put additional pressures on an increasingly struggling middle class that continues to need to borrow to attend ever more costly colleges and universities,” the report warned.

Without congressional action interest rates on federally subsidized student loans will increase on July 1. President Obama and Republican leaders have expressed a desire to avoid the higher interest rates.

“The number of borrowers and the typical loan amount grew amid the most recent economic and financial crisis. This is especially stunning since the expansion of education debt occurred at the same time that other credit markets, especially mortgages and credit cards, contracted. Households went deeper into education debt during the crisis as other forms of credit became less prevalent,” according to the report.

It added, “Mortgages and credit cards declined as households repaid their debt and banks foreclosed on bad debt. But the same was not the case for education loans. Education loans typically cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, which may explain why education debt didn’t fall like other forms of debt did. But there are other factors at work, too. The summary data illustrates that education loan borrowers became economically less secure during the crisis because they had more debt–education and noneducation–after the crisis than before. There were also generally more households with education loans and the amount owed on education loans went up during the crisis.”

Education loan borrowers in 2009 were less wealthy after the crisis than in 2007, the report found. The wealth of the median borrower dropped from $45,280 (in 2009 dollars) in 2007 to $28,160 in 2009. “The share of education loan borrowers with no wealth–defined as either debt equal to total assets or, more likely, no assets and no debt–or negative wealth went from 28.7 percent in 2007 to 35.6 percent in 2009,” the report said.

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WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) – Thought the home foreclosure crisis was winding down?

Think again.

Analysts predict a new wave of foreclosures is looming future as 21 states saw annual increases in foreclosure filings, the most since November 2010, according to RealtyTrac. Half of the top 20 cities also saw annual increases in foreclosures.

“February’s numbers point to a gradually rising foreclosure tide as some of the barriers that have been holding back foreclosures are removed,” RealtyTrac CEO Brandon Moore said in a statement.

Millions of Americans continue to be at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure due to job loss and income reduction, as well as unsustainable mortgage loans. While many will seek relief from reputable, certified loan modification agencies, too many will become victims of scams.

That’s bad news to the many homeowners facing foreclosure but the worse news is that fraud scams are also on the rise.

Marian Straughter was in trouble and needed help fast. She was about to lose her home and that was the last thing she wanted. Pride and shame kept her from asking family and friends for help so she answered one of the many letters she started receiving from companies offering help.

“I was desperate and walked right into their trap. I just wanted to save my home and they seemed like a reputable company. I was almost willing to do whatever to save it. It sounded like a good idea but turned out to be the worst decision I’ve ever made,” she told The Final Call.

That worst decision found Ms. Straughter, a single mom in D.C., caught in a foreclosure nightmare that ended with her losing her house.

Millions of Americans continue to be at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure due to job loss and income reduction, as well as unsustainable mortgage loans. While many will seek relief from reputable, certified loan modification agencies, too many will become victims of scams.

“Foreclosure continues to be a problem in America, as do ever-changing foreclosure related scams, which recently have begun to take on the appearance of legitimate federal and state help programs,” said Eileen Fitzgerald, chief executive officer of NeighborWorks America.

Scams prey on the desperation of vulnerable people. Consider the following scams and an explanation from All Foreclosure:

– We’ll save your credit. Pay us a fee and sign the house over to us. The foreclosure will be recorded against us, not you. The foreclosure will be reported against the borrowers on the note and possibly against others on the property title, not anyone else.

– We’ll give you some money, just sign the house over, we’ll cure the default

There really isn’t a problem with it, if you know how much equity you are selling and if the purchaser really will cure the default and if the purchaser will really make the payments and if you want to still be responsible for the loan. Too many ifs to be able to say this is either a good or bad option, just be careful with it. “Every day, hundreds of Americans facing foreclosure fall prey to unscrupulous con artists looking to cash in on distressed homeowners’ desperate need for help, an alarming trend that the Homeownership Preservation Foundation (HPF) has been working diligently to counter through counsel provided via our national Homeowner’s HOPE Hotline at 888-995-HOPE and through joint efforts with the Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network,” said Josh Fuhrman, of the Homeownership Preservation Foundation.

– We’ll buy the property, lease it to you, you have the option to buy it back..

It might happen, but the reality is, to buy the home back you’ll need a new loan that’s larger than the loan you have with an interest rate greater than what you currently have. The payments will be higher and it’s going to be very difficult to qualify.

– We’ll get you a new loan and solve all these difficulties.

Every time you refinance, unless you are paying fees out of pocket, your loan balance is going up which is using up your equity. Lenders can make a lot of money churning loans, you need to consider total loan amounts also, not just the monthly payments. Try to solve the problem, not just extend the time frame.

“Millions of distressed homeowners have become vulnerable targets to criminal third-party scammers, con artists, and thieves,” said Ed Jennings, Jr., Regional Administrator for HUD in Atlanta.

“One should never have to pay for foreclosure counseling or assistance, that’s why we need homeowners to be vigilant by seeking out HUD-approved housing counseling agencies to obtain help and avoid being scammed.”

In 2011, HUD piloted the “Know It. Avoid It. Report It.” campaign in Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles to help inform struggling homeowners about the importance of working with HUD-approved agencies as they fight to keep their homes.

HUD launched the second phase of this campaign March 8 in Atlanta followed by local campaigns in New York, New Jersey, Orlando, Florida and Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif. These are attractive areas for scammers, considering they all continue to struggle with high foreclosure rates.

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WASHINGTON – Black buying power is expected to reach $1.1 trillion by 2015, according to The State of the African- American Consumer Report, recently released, collaboratively by Nielsen, a leading global provider of insights and analytics into what consumers watch and buy, and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), a federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers across the U.S.

“Too often, companies don’t realize the inherent differences of our community, are not aware of the market size impact and have not optimized efforts to develop messages beyond those that coincide with Black History Month,” said Cloves Campbell, NNPA chairman. “It is our hope that by collaborating with Nielsen, we’ll be able to tell the African-American consumer story in a manner in which businesses will understand,” he said, “and, that this understanding will propel those in the C-Suite to develop stronger, more inclusive strategies that optimize their market growth in Black communities, which would be a win-win for all of us.”

The report, the first of annual installments in a three year alliance between Nielsen and NNPA, showcases the buying and media habits and consumer trends of Black Americans.

The 41st Annual Legislative Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Conference set the backdrop for the Sept. 22 announcement. Flanked by civic, business and legislative leaders, Nielsen and NNPA executives talked about the relevance and importance of the information shared in the report and the fact that it will be distributed in NNPA’s 200+ publications, reaching millions of readers and online viewers.

“We see this alliance with NNPA as an opportunity to share valuable insights, unique consumer behavior patterns and purchasing trends with the African-American community,” said Susan Whiting, vice chair, Nielsen. “By sharing, for example, that African-Americans over-index in several key areas, including television viewing and mobile phone usage, we’ve provided a better picture of where the African-American community can leverage that buying power to help their communities,” she said.

“Likewise, the information points businesses in the right direction for growing market share and developing long range strategies for reaching this important demographic group.”

According to the report, consumer trends include:

– With a buying power of nearly $1 trillion annually, if Blacks were a country, they’d be the 16th largest country in the world.

– The number of Black households earning $75,000 or higher grew by almost 64 percent, a rate close to 12 percent greater than the change in the overall population’s earning between 2000 and 2009. This continued growth in affluence, social influence and household income will continue to impact the community’s economic power.

– Blacks make more shopping trips than all other groups, but spend less money per trip. Blacks in higher income brackets, also spend 300 percent more in higher end retail grocers more than any other high income household.

– There were 23.9 million active Black Internet users in July 2011–76 percent of whom visited a social networking/blog site.

– Thirty-three percent of all Blacks own a smart phone.

– Black Americans use more than double the amount of mobile phone voice minutes compared to Whites–1,298 minutes a month vs. 606.

– The percentage of Blacks attending college or earning a degree has increased to 44 percent for men and 53 percent for women.

The report is also available at www.nielsen.com and www.nielsen.com/africanamerican – Nielsen’s microsite which highlights tailored information to the Black community.

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(FinalCall.com) – When the Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke at the recent gathering of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, composed of Black-owned publications, he talked to the publishers about the largest loss of Black wealth in history due to foreclo ­sures and the loss of home values for Blacks.

The crisis, declared the Rev. Jack ­son, is far from over. The period of legal segregation or “humiliation apartheid” is over but the racist infrastructure of yesterday has not been dismantled and what was legally sanctioned deni ­al of rights and opportunity goes under the less threatening name of disparity today, he noted.

Disparity is a nice term that leads one to think a gap developed somehow and perhaps there is some academic or scientific way to resolve the problem. But so-called disparity, as Rev. Jack ­son observed, isn’t just happenstance, it stems from continued denial of equal access to capital and loans, education, health care, public safety and a continued targeting of Blacks by those who wish to benefit by exploiting our too-often exploited community.

From the time Blacks were kid ­napped and brought to this country, those who have controlled us have been happy to use us as tools and slaves to grow rich. While some tac ­tics may have changed the game and the tricks remain the same: When it comes to the literally billions of dollars Black homeowners have lost, it was targeting of Black neighborhoods by unscrupulous banks and brokers who intentionally went after equity rich but cash poor and often elderly Black ho ­meowners.

Consider the story of a 79-year-old widow whose only income was social security. After Louise Golden’s hus ­band suffered a stroke and their in ­come was drowning in medical costs, the couple decided in 2006 to refi ­nance their long-time home, using the equity in the house to pay off bills. The elderly couple thought they were get ­ting a 30-year low fixed-interest loan. Instead, with the death of her husband a year after the home refinance, the widow learned the new loan terms were adjustable–meaning mortgage payments that were just over $1,000 a month increased to more than $1,700 a month and equaled more than what she had on her small income.

“Unfortunately, Mrs. Golden’s case is repeated throughout much of the nation and the problem is particularly severe in Maryland’s Prince George’s County where in 2009 the number of foreclosure filings, 13,412, accounted for 31 percent of similar fi lings through ­out the state. According to the Mary ­land Department of Housing and Com ­munity Development, one out of every 24 homes in this county was subject to a foreclosure filing last year, com ­pared to the statewide rate of one out of 54,” noted the Center for Respon ­sible Lending, which recounted Mrs. Golden’s plight as part of a new report.

Prince Georges County is the most affluent, most educated Black county in America, and indicative of what Black and Latino neighborhoods na ­tionwide are suffering.

According to the center, “wide ­spread foreclosures have drained an estimated $350 bil ­lion from communities of color. These losses are attributable to both fore ­closed homes and nearby neighbors whose property values plummeted as a result of neighbors’ foreclosures. In many instances, homes near fore ­closures leave nearby homeowners owing a mortgage far more than their home is now worth.”

“According to Foreclosures by Race and Ethnicity: the Demographics of a Crisis, for every 100 African-American homeowners, 11 have either lost their homes or at imminent risk of foreclo ­sure. For Latino families, the figures are even worse–17 of every 100 La ­tino homeowners are affected by fore ­closures,” the center noted.

“The vast majority of homes lost to foreclosures were originated from 2005 through 2008 for owner-occupied borrowers, not speculators,” said the center, beating back a misconception often repeated to dismiss the housing crisis and industry wrongdoing.

The Center for Responsible Lend ­ing is trying to rally support for more legal protections at the fed ­eral level–“stronger regulatory over ­sight, sensible underwriting standards, and removing financial incentives for lenders to steer consumers into high ­er-cost loans”–as congressmen try to hammer out new legislation by July.

Homeownership is the quickest path of wealth acquisition in this country, whether that wealth is used for edu ­cation, business development, invest ­ment or a resource when family mem ­bers who are less well off hit a financial crisis. Blacks already lag behind when it comes to gaining wealth and the mortgage and home foreclosure crisis will increase the gap. Foreclosed and boarded up homes also mean more safety problems and stability issues for Black communities that were once strong and vibrant.

Most members of the Congressio ­nal Black Caucus are likely to side with stronger consumer protections, having seen their districts decimated by foreclosures, abandoned proper ­ties and with billions of lost tax rev ­enues on the horizon. But in addition to the stronger law, a more engaged and active Black community is need ­ed. The election of a Black president doesn’t solve all problems, defeat all enemies or absolve us of responsibil ­ity. The struggle for justice and the battle against exploitation are ongo ­ing and as the housing losses show, can be costly for everyone. A deterio ­rating neighborhood that looks like a ghost town is good for no one, and ig ­noring problems won’t make them go away. Black America is in a state of emergency and it’s time for everyone to get involved in an organization or effort focused on solving these seri ­ous problems.

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