Americans will pay about $1 more than a year ago if they plan a spring picnic that includes sandwiches, potato salad, orange juice, and shredded cheese to sprinkle on pre-mixed salad in a bag, according to an informal survey of grocery store prices in 23 states. Volunteer shoppers found that the 16 items on the American Farm Bureau Federation shopping list cost an average of $51.05, up 2 percent from last March.
Egg prices, among the most volatile in the supermarket, soared 37 percent because of large export demand this spring. The price of orange juice was up 7.5 percent, a reflection of hurricane damage that resulted in the smallest Florida orange crop in 70 years, said the farm group. Beef, bacon, ham, and cheese were up 2 percent, mirroring the overall rise in prices. The price of whole milk was down by 6 percent and white bread by 7 percent. The survey found that organic milk and cage-free eggs cost roughly twice as much as their conventionally produced counterparts.
John Newton, a Farm Bureau economist, said farmers receive about 15 cents of each $1 spent on food, half of the rate seen in the 1970s.
The USDA forecast that food prices would rise 1.5 percent this year, compared with the long-term annual average of 2.4 percent. It would be the third year in a row of below-normal food inflation.