What’s Going On With Inflation and Food Prices? By Sarah Hubbart,  Ag Economic Insights

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When it comes to the state of the economy, recent news headlines have gotten more and more dire. America is running out of everything. CEOs say that people will just have to get used to higher food prices. The inflation pressure is now “brutal.”

So… what exactly is going on?

Obviously, there are many factors impacting the current situation. It is being described by some as a “perfect storm” facing manufacturers and the global economy. While the crunch is being felt across a broad range of industries right now, economists have attributed recent price surges to short term challenges like the post-vaccine spending surge, supply chain problems, and production bottlenecks that should theoretically be addressed as businesses continue to ramp up their output. But there’s disagreement about when that relief may arrive.

In the meantime, many questions remain. We’ve collected eight charts that take stock of where things stand and offer some interesting perspective on inflation and food prices today.

Consumer Price Index Ocotber 13 2021

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the change in prices paid by consumers for goods and services. The CPI Summary released on October 13, 2021 showed that food and home prices in September 2021 were up 4.5% from one year ago. All six major grocery store food group indexes went up. The largest increase was the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs, which increased 10.5%.

Charts 2 and 3: Energy Costs And Future Food Prices/b>

To view the complete report, click here.