Hope certainly was a word being tossed around quite liberally at the turn of 2009 but it doesn’t appear that any high hopes materialized too much in regard to the sausage industry. Sure, dollar sales were up 3 to 4 percent across the three segments tracked by Information Resources Inc.

The recent run-up in the U.S. stock market is real and should continue at least through 2010, according to economist Dr. Donald Ratajczak. He was speaking to feed ingredient-purchasing managers at the 2009 Grain Forecast – Economic Outlook Conference.

The year 2009 is behind us, probably to the great relief of many in the industry. Economic struggles, food safety concerns and supply-and- demand imbalances caused many companies to restructure their operations or lower their expectations.