A quarterly survey shows food prices in Missouri are up ten percent in the last three months.
Ten to sixty volunteers track prices on 16 common grocery items….The results this time surprised them.
In the first quarter of the year those items cost 39-dollars-32 cents. In the second quarter, those 16 items set the shoppers back 43-dollars-22 cents. That’s more than the national average.
The Missouri Farm Bureau’s Diane Olson, who’s been running these market basket surveys for several years, cannot remember Misosuri food prices ever being above the national average.
Who’s getting the money? Olson says the farmer is getting the same 22 cents on the dollar the farmer has gotten for years. She doesn’t want to say the answer is "the middle man." She says energy prices are driving up packaging and delivery costs, meaning somebody has to absorb the higher costs. Ultimately, it’s the consumer.
Leading the way: higher prices for milk and cheese, apples, potatoes, and most meat items.
Olson thinks higher energy costs first felt last year are being felt now…and we’re seeing the impact of the spring freeze.