EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) People going to the grocery store are seeing prices they’ve not seen in years.
Figures show food prices spiking higher than they’ve been since 1974.
“I would just say there is no shortage of food here in the United States, it’s just a processing issue and logistics to get it processed and get it to the grocery store,” Indiana Farm Bureau President Randy Kron said.
Kron says there are two major problems on the processing side: one is processing plants having to close due to the pandemic and the other being that packers were not equipped to ship solely to grocery without shipping to restaurants.
“70 percent of bacon is packaged for restaurants, so all of the sudden, the way they need to package the meat products changed tremendously [with] the buying habits of the consumer,” Kron said.
The pandemic has left many farms overpopulated with animals and crops have lost value due to difficulties with processing – but prices at stores continue to go up. Kron says this discrepancy between farm and store value has garnered attention at the national level.
Attorneys General from 11 states have asked the Justice Department to investigate possible price fixing amongst grocery stores.
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(This story was originally published on May 15, 2020)
