Over the last 12 months, grocery prices soared 13.1% — the largest annual increase since the year ending in March 1979, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday.
The prices of nearly every grocery item have ballooned over the past year.
The cost of eggs has soared 38%, and prices for other goods have also jumped: Flour is up 22.7%, chicken 17.6%, milk 15.6%, ground beef 9.7% and bacon 9.2%. Fruits and vegetables got 9.3% more expensive.
A number of factors have contributed to the rise in food costs, but for our country, it’s not just the inflation that contributed to this!
According to a survey from the American Farm Bureau Federation, drought conditions have put the production of beef, dairy, wheat, vegetable, fruits and nuts at serious risk.
Droughts have persisted in the states throughout the Central Plains up to North Dakota, all the way west to California and all the way south to Texas.
60% of the American West, Southwest, and Central Plains are categorized as D3 (severe) drought or higher.
The 17 states including and north of Texas, up along the Central Plains to North Dakota and west to California are vital to the U.S. agricultural sector, supporting nearly half of the nation’s $364 billion production by value. This includes 74% of beef cattle, responsible (in total) for 18% of U.S. agricultural production by value; 50% of dairy production, responsible (in total) for 11% of U.S. agricultural production by value, over 80% of wheat production by value and over 70% of vegetable, fruit and tree nut production by value. Drought conditions, which have persisted well into 2022, put production of these commodities at risk, along with the stability of farms, ranches and local economies reliant on crops, livestock and downstream products and services for income.
Both farmers and ranchers are being forced to take drastic measures.
Most notably, there has been a significant increase from last year in farmers having to till under crops, remove fruit trees and even sell livestock.
“Those who reported tilling under crops because of drought conditions jumped from only 24% of respondents last year to 37% of respondents this year. Similarly, 33% of respondents reported destroying and removing orchard trees and other multiyear crops as prevalent or higher, up from only 17% last year,” the AFBF reported.
Across the region surveyed by the AFBF, respondents also expected average crop yields to be down 38 percent this year. Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico are expected to have the biggest yield drops.
Meanwhile, ranchers are having to reduce their herd sizes. Many did so last year and told the AFBF that they had to do so again this year.
“Of the surprising 67% of respondents who reported reducing herd sizes in 2021, nearly 50% were further reducing their herd or flock this year, 37% were maintaining the reduced herd size and only 14% were building their headcount back up,” the AFBF reported.
Along with the 67 percent who had to reduce herd sizes last year, 76 percent also fallowed rangeland.
Ninety percent of respondents reported an increase in local feed costs as prevalent or higher in their area, up from 87% last year. As the region provides over 70% of the nation’s hay, widespread low-quality or insufficient forage means farmers and ranchers must look elsewhere for a smaller supply of feed at exorbitant prices, and often located a long distance from the farm or ranch. One Utah producer who trucked in hay from Nebraska last year now faces the costly barrier of fuel prices to access hay in 2022.
The question has to be asked, what is our administration doing to prevent this?
