Serious Eats
Food Prices: Up, Up, Up
The uptick in grocery prices in the first six months of 2007 is greater than that for all of 2006.
"There's a ... combination of higher demand, natural disasters, higher energy prices—just a myriad of factors driving what price increases we're seeing across the food sector," says Chad Hart, an agricultural economist at the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development in Ames, Iowa.
The biggest factor is the conversion of feed corn into ethanol, but labor shortages in the fruit and produce sector and a paltry winter wheat crop are also keeping your wallet thin.