Expert says one major factor is driving higher grocery prices: 'It's only going to get worse'
If you've noticed grocery prices are on the rise, you're not alone. The Berkshire Eagle's Bill Schmick pointed out the main factor behind your food shop becoming more expensive.
Schmick shared U.S. Department of Labor data that revealed food prices grew 1.8% year over year in 2024, representing the fastest growth in over a year. In November, prices grew by 0.4%, while December brought another 0.4% rise. It's predicted January will record further hikes.
While some might point to government administrations or corporate greed for food bills having an increasing impact on personal finances, Schmick said something else is to blame.
"Climate change is the main engine behind these price increases, and it is only going to get worse," he wrote.
Schmick noted that floods, drought, and disease are leading to declines in pork, chicken, and beef production, and he cited the U.S. Department of Agriculture's estimate that prices are only set to increase for these products.
Meanwhile, rising cases of avian flu — which is more easily spread as changing weather conditions alter migration patterns — are leading to a shortage of eggs, with Schmick observing a 37% increase in January prices compared to the same month in 2024.
Rising global temperatures are making extreme weather conditions like drought, floods, wildfires, and snow storms more intense and long-lasting. This is decimating a range of crops — from cocoa to sugar and coffee to grains — which decreases yields and pushes prices up.
Ultimately, lower supplies of supermarket staples push prices up for consumers. Not only that, but the income of farmers who work hard to grow, cultivate, and rear various food items is also being hit hard by reduced yields and livestock diseases.
As Schmick wrote, "This translates into climbing prices for cereal, candy, ice cream, milk and hundreds of other products."
What is the biggest reason you don't grow food at home?
Not enough time
Not enough space
It seems too hard
I have a garden already
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.
Unfortunately, Schmick noted a general apathy among his peers when discussing the rising prices.
"It's climate change, what can you do," he has found more acquaintances saying.
But we can still make a difference. Reducing the production of planet-warming pollution is our best bet at slowing the rate of rising global temperatures that are pushing checkout prices higher. Even small steps, like unplugging electrical items at night or washing clothes on a colder cycle can help. Installing solar panels or switching from a gas-guzzling car to an electric vehicle are bigger steps if you want to take things to another level.
In the meantime, though, you can lower shopping bills by using apps like Too Good to Go and Flashfood. These platforms connect you with food that would otherwise be thrown out from restaurants or supermarket chains at a fraction of the usual cost.
Otherwise, growing your own food can bring fresh fruits and vegetables to the table without the grocery store price tag. Making your food last longer and keeping leftovers to eat the next day can also make your money stretch further.
Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Cost of President Trump's tariffs hits home, as several consumer goods and services surge to record highs
President Donald Trump's trade war is affecting Americans from the grocery store to electric bills, with the cost of bananas, ground beef and electricity surging to all-time highs, according to the latest data from the Consumer Price Index. Major U.S. retailers have announced price hikes as a result of tariffs, and the cost of a handful of everyday goods and services has increased by 5% to 10% since Trump took office. But not all consumer products are trending up. Since December, the average nationwide cost of bread, milk and tomatoes has dropped, and the price of chicken and oranges has stayed much the same with the change of administrations. The Tribune is tracking 11 everyday costs for Americans — eggs, milk, bread, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, chicken, ground beef, gasoline, electricity and natural gas — and how they are changing, or not, during Trump's second term. This tracker is updated monthly using CPI data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Egg prices dropped for a second straight month in May, falling 57 cents from March's record high. According to the latest data, the average cost of a dozen large Grade A eggs is $4.55 nationwide — tumbling below the $5 mark for the first time since January. The decline in egg prices is likely due to a decrease in bird flu cases in commercial and backyard flocks since the start of the year. In the first two months of 2025, 12.6 to 23.2 million birds were affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In March, that number was 2.1 million, and as of April, the virus was detected in only 1 million U.S. birds. Though still significantly lower than the number reported in January and February, cases surged again in May, with 5.2 million birds affected — the vast majority concentrated in three commercial flocks in Arizona. This uptick in cases could indicate another small jump in prices during the summer months. Currently, the cost of eggs is about 9.6% higher than before Trump took office. It's not just poultry flocks and wild birds that have been affected by bird flu. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus has been reported in dairy cows since March 2024, and just last month, there were 24 new confirmed cases at dairy farms in Idaho, Texas and Arizona. But while avian flu cases are ticking up again in poultry, they're declining in cattle, with the number of newly infected dairy cows just half of that reported in April. As a result, the cost of milk is down month-over-month, but a look at the year-over-year change is a bit different: Prices are up more than 4%. As of May, a gallon of fresh, fortified whole milk would set you back about $4.02. As of May, white bread cost $1.88 per pound. That price is slightly lower than it was when Trump started his second term and about 10 cents less than it was 12 months ago. Shoppers can expect to pay more for their next bunch of bananas. The staple fruit cost a record-breaking $0.66 per pound in May. The price jumped 2 cents compared with April — the single-biggest month-over-month increase going back to January 2021. This sudden spike is likely due to Trump's trade war, with tariffs levied against the country's top banana importers like Guatemala, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico. Orange prices are up 5% from the previous month. This change, however, likely has little to do with the current administration. Like many citrus fruits, the cost of oranges is heavily tied to the harvesting season. As we exit orange season, supplies will decrease, coinciding with an increase in demand, thus triggering higher prices. This is standard for the fruit market, with oranges cheapest in the winter months, then increasing in cost throughout the late spring and summer and eventually peaking in September or October each year. Currently, the average price per pound for navel oranges is $1.56 nationwide. Though perhaps not the first thing you think of when you hear the term 'staple food,' tomatoes are an essential ingredient in all kinds of dishes, from pasta and pizza, to soups, salads and BLT sandwiches. In May, the average price of field-grown tomatoes was approximately $1.71 per pound. That cost is about 8 cents lower than it was in April and down roughly 17% since Trump took power. This decrease, however, is largely due to the growing season. Like oranges, tomato prices vary depending on the time of year, rising in the fall, peaking in the early winter months and then plummeting in the spring. Still, prices are down a little more than 8% from this time last year. Chicken is another consumer product that's seen a price spike as a result of bird flu — though not nearly as drastically as eggs. One reason? Significantly more egg-laying hens have been culled than chickens raised for meat. The national average crested above $2 per pound for fresh, whole chicken for the first time last year and hit a record high of $2.08 in November. Since then, the average price has been roughly the same. According to May CPI figures, chicken is $2.06 per pound. Ground beef prices continue to trend up, up and up. For the fourth-consecutive month, the cost of beef hit an all-time high, with the average price of 100% ground beef chuck now $6.02 per pound. The rising cost can be attributed to a number of factors. In addition to several ground beef recalls reported in recent months, the U.S. cattle inventory is at a 25-year low, and severe drought in parts of the country has further reduced the feed supply, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. More recently, in trade talks with the U.S., the United Kingdom agreed to buy more American beef, a deal that the president says will lead to greater exports. But as China and the European Union's tariffs on beef and other U.S. farm exports remain, this may not be the last time we see record prices this year. Perhaps 2025 is the year to give vegetarianism a try? In May, the average price of electricity nationwide was 18 cents per kilowatt-hour. That average has held more or less the same since this time last year, with the typical month-over-month changes registering at less than a fraction of a cent. Even so, the current cost of electricity is the highest on record — going back more than 45 years. The price at the pump fell slightly month-over-month — dropping 2 cents from April to May. At $3.31 per gallon of regular unleaded, gasoline costs about 5% more than it did during the last month of the administration of President Joe Biden. Year-over-year, however, prices have declined by roughly 12%. In Chicago, gas is about 11 cents higher than the nationwide average, sitting at $3.42 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The cost of piped utility gas, or natural gas, saw no change month-over-month, averaging at $1.63 per therm. The price is holding at a two-year high and is up nearly 7% under the Trump administration.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
"Impossible to replace": Trump admits his immigration policy is hurting farmers, hotel owners
President Donald Trump has to face the truth: his deportation-led immigration policy is hurting many American industries. In a post to Truth Social, the president admitted that Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across the country have diminished the workforce in the hospitality and farm sector. 'Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,' Trump wrote. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 42% of crop farmworkers are undocumented. He promised "changes" that would help these industries, without getting into specifics. At the White House on Thursday, Trump continued the conversation on the economic impact of deportations. "Our farmers are being hurt badly. They have very good workers. They've worked for them for 20 years,' Trump said. 'They're not citizens, but they've turned out to be great, and we're going to have to do something about that." When asked what changes the president expects, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Axios nothing new. "We will follow the President's direction and continue to work to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens off of America's streets," she said. It's unclear how Trump's statements fit into the administration's current immigration policy. Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, has made targeting work sites a priority. 'You're going to see more work site enforcement than you've ever seen in the history of this nation,' he told reporters recently. 'We're going to flood the zone.' Trump adviser Stephen Miller has set a goal of 3,000 deportations a day, intending to carry out one million deportations in Trump's first year.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Recall alert: Frozen fish balls recalled nationwide including in Mass.
Thousands of pounds of frozen fish ball products were recalled Thursday, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Starway International Group LLC of Maspeth, New York, is recalling around 9,513 pounds of frozen Siluriformes fish ball products imported from Vietnam. This is because the products were not produced by a Vietnamese establishment authorized to export Siluriformes fish to the U.S. and do not have a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspection mark or establishment number. Starway International Group's 2 kilogram plastic bag packages containing 'Cá Viên Trắng Fried Fish Balls' with item number '81142102' printed on the label. Starway International Group's 16 ounce plastic bag packages containing 'Cá Viên Trắng White Fish Balls' with item number '81142103' printed on the label. Starway International Group's 16 ounce plastic bag packages containing 'Cá Viên Trắng Fried Fish Balls' with item number '81142101' printed on the label. Starway International Group's 2 kilogram plastic bag packages containing 'Cá Viên Trắng Fried Fish Balls' with item number '81142100' printed on the label. The company is recalling its 16-ounce plastic bags labeled 'Cá Viên Trang White Fish Balls' with item number 81142103, 2-kilogram plastic bags labeled 'Cá Viên Trang White Fish Balls' with item number 81142102, 16-ounce plastic bags labeled 'Cá Viên Chiên Fried Fish Balls' with item number 81142101 and its 2-kilogram plastic bags labeled 'Cá Viên Chiên Fried Fish Balls' with item number 81142100. No confirmed reports of adverse health effects from eating the fish balls have been made, FSIS added. However, the agency urges consumers who have purchased the products not to eat them and to throw away the food or return it to the place of purchase. Retailers are advised to remove these products from sale 'immediately.' Read the original article on MassLive.
