Econ 101 and Food Prices
Economics are all about supply and demand.
The economics of farming and ranching is no different. The real trick in the industry is finding the sweet spot of producing enough product to meet demands without overproducing and driving down the price.
Today we learn how farmers and ranchers have done, as the USDA has releases it's 2018 price forecasts for several food items.
The USDA's Annemarie Kuhns explains.
"we expect to see beef and veal rise by 2 to 3 percent. Pork orices are expected to go up 1 and a half to two and a half percent. In poultry we could pay one to tow percent more in 2018. Egg prices are expected to rise 1 to 3 percent this year and Dairy prices could also rise 1 to 3 percent."
And she says, they are expecting some inflation when it comes to costs for folks at the grocery store...
"Most of the items we are expecting to see inflation in 2018, but we arwe expecting those prices to increase at a rate that is a little slower than we have seen before."
The USDA report says prices will hold steady for the most part this year - but there is a slight chance prices could fall by a very small margin.
