10/07/08 Food prices take another quarterly jump

The American Farm Bureau's Market basket survey shows consumers paid more for groceries in the third quarter of this year, four percent more that the second quarter for 16 basic grocery items. Total cost $48.68, two dollars higher than the second quarter. SARTWELLE "By far the highest price that we've every witnessed. When you look across the rest of the general economy it seems very consistent with the tremendous run up not only in food prices but the staggering run up that we have seen in other cost of living up to and including fuel and utility prices." Farm Bureau economist Jim Sartwelle says the high energy prices will have a long term effect on food prices. SARTWELLE "We don't need to kid ourselves. Oil is not cheap. Electricity is not cheap. The cost of hauling food around, the cost of running plants to process food, cost of keeping the lights on in the grocery store is not cheap and will not be coming down anytime in the near future." Sartwelle says the farmers' share of the retail food dollar has been stuck on 20 percent in recent years down from nearly one third of the retail food dollar in the 1980's. SARTWELLE -"There is actually less reason to expect to see a return anytime in the near future back to the prices that we enjoyed mainly from 2000 to about 2006. " Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott