Check out Campbell Soup’s better-than-expected profit .

The world’s largest soup company posted operating earnings of 30 cents a share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009.

That was four cents better than Wall Street had expected, thanks to higher prices and increased sales of condensed soup and Prego pasta sauce as people ate at home more to save money during the economic slump.

Campbell, known for its soup in the iconic red and white cans, also forecast a stronger-than-expected  increase in earnings in the 2010 fiscal year.

In the past year, Campbell and most other food companies have raised prices to combat then-soaring commodity costs. 

But lower market prices could be on the horizon. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said mild weather aided in an expected record soy crop and near-record corn crop. The resulting lower prices will encourage milk and meat production, the according to the USDA.

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(Photo/Reuters)

Check Out the lineup at Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit 2009.

Executives from various food firms are slated to speak at the Reuters Summit in Chicago beginning today, with the first handful of executives from companies such as Wal-Mart Stores, Campbell Soup and Hormel.

With the economy front and center, executives are expected to discuss the tug of war to keep food prices at current levels, even as they fight hard to entice shoppers to buy their products on a tight household budget.

Also worrying for food manufacturers is Wal-Mart’s own push with  its own private-label products. The world’s No. 1 retailer, which is also the largest grocery seller in the United States, is relaunching its Great Value brand this month, adding pressure to the tough food market.

Let the price wars begin.

Monday’s participants at the summit feature: Douglas Conant, CEO of Campbell Soup; Andrea Thomas, Senior Vice President, head of private brands at Wal-Mart Stores; Hormel Foods’ CEO Jeffrey Ettinger;  economist Greg Doud from the National Cattleman’s Beef Association; Rob De Groot, executive vice president, North America and Australia, at Reckitt Benckiser; GLG Life Tech’s president Brian Palmieri and President of Unilever Americas, Michael Polk.

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(Photo/Reuters)

Job losses and rising costs for food and housing are driving up demand for emergency meals from charities and food pantries around the United States. But donations aren’t keeping up.

Demand in the Los Angeles area has risen 41 percent from a year ago, said Michael Flood, president and chief executive at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

The food bank currently provides the equivalent of 560,000 meals a week to local charities, said Flood. Compared with last year, the LA Food Bank is delivering 33 percent more food to the 875 charitable agencies it serves, but that’s still falling short of need by 8 percent.

Such supply and demand imbalances are being seen around the country as the economic downturn triggered by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression is also resulting in fewer donations from companies and individuals.

“It’s ironic and sad that in this land of plenty, so many people have to make due with so little,” said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

In 2007 — before the economy took a sharp turn for the worse — some 36.2 million Americans, or 11.1 percent of households, struggled to get enough food to eat. About one-third of the people in that group went hungry from time to time, according to a report issued this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service.

“This is a problem that is only going to get worse,” Fielding said of the nation’s growing hunger issues. “Things are moving rapidly in the wrong direction as we get more unemployment.”

U.S. jobless claims, which hit a seven-year high of over 500,000 last week, are expected to continue to rise and the newly unemployed are among the new faces seen at food pantries.

“More people are reaching out for help, including many middle-class families who are experiencing tough times because of the declining economy,” Flood said. “Our challenge is helping local pantries to continue serving the growing number of people seeking assistance.”

“There is no easy solution,” said Fielding. “It’s likely that we are going to need help at a national level to deal with this crisis.”

(Photos: LA Food Bank, Reuters)

Thanksgiving dinner promises to take a bigger bite of your wallet this year.

“Thanksgiving food prices are up about 6 percent compared to last year,” said Corinne Alexander, a Purdue University agricultural economist.

Alexander said grocery store prices are increasing at a pace of 7.6 percent, compared with restaurants’ rise of 4.5 percent.

Still, consumers planning to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal at home should find bargains on several holiday staples, including the symbol of the season: turkey.

The estimated wholesale price for turkey is 3 cents to 7 cents per pound higher than in 2007, driven by higher export demand for U.S. turkeys.

Still, Alexander said “turkey is a favorite loss leader item for grocery stores, where they’ll offer you a coupon or a discount to give you a really great price on turkey,” Alexander said.

Grocers typically offer virtually free turkey in hope that shoppers will pick up the remaining fixings for their meals at the same time.

Alexander said cranberries and sweet potatoes — also Thanksgiving staples — should be a bargain this year.

But she predicts that ham will be more expensive, even as other experts expect ample supplies and declining exports to push prices lower.

Pass the stuffing!

(Photo\Reuters)

Check out retailers’ profits and forecasts.

A discerning shopper, or investor for that matter, could browse the aisles of the retail financial world and come away with very different messages on the strength of the U.S. economy depending on which company’s results they chose.

On the plus side,  upscale jeweler Tiffany posted a better-than-expected profit and raised its full-year outlook, although that was driven by strong sales overseas. Tiffany expects U.S. same-store sales to return to growth in the fourth quarter. Shoe and hat retailer Genesco, and home-appliance and consumer-electronics retailer Conn’s also topped Wall Street’s views and boosted their forecasts.

For the pessimists out there, Williams-Sonoma saw its profit fall and it cut its forecast, while Sears Holdings also fell short of expectations amid the weak housing market.

Somewhere in the middle was discount store operator Fred’s, which reported a profit in line with what analysts were expecting.

Retailers have been hit in varying degrees as consumers dial back discretionary spending due to the pressure from high food and gasoline prices. Even as the U.S. economy grew stronger than first thought in the second quarter, economists see growth slowing as the year progresses.

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(Photo: Reuters)

By Ben Klayman

Check out how high gas and commodity costs are crimping Hershey and Best Buy.

Chocolate maker Hershey cut its long-term earnings growth target and said it would boost advertising as it moves to reverse falling profits.

However, the largest U.S. chocolate company, which is meeting with analysts, said the pressures it faces — soaring prices for cocoa , energy and other commodities — remain the same.

“We expect 2009 to be another trying year for us with respect to input costs,” Chief Executive David West said.

The price of oil has surged to $133 a barrel and that has pushed up costs across all industries.

The government said rising energy prices sent producer prices – a gauge of costs at the farm and factory gate — up a bigger-than-expected 1.4 percent in May. Housing starts fell in May to their lowest level in more than 17 years as that industry grapples with the subprime mortgage meltdown.

Meanwhile, consumer electronics retailer Best Buy reported a lower, but better-than-expected quarterly profit thanks to market share gains in TVs, computers and video games.

Like all retailers, Best Buy has faced slowing consumer spending due to rising gasoline and food prices prices, as well as the U.S. housing slump.

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Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit coverage

(Photo: REUTERS/Susana Gonzalez)