Farmer’s Share of Food Cost Continues to Drop
Farmer’s Share of Food Cost Continues to Drop
With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.
We told you last week that, although this year’s Fourth of July barbecue is going to cost you a bit less than it did last year, it’s still a pretty bold increase from the years before. That said, what goes back to the farm level?
The National Farmers Union just released the 2023 numbers for the Farmers’ Share of the Food Dollar Report covering several items typically found at a Fourth of July cookout. The NFU says every year, the troubling trend of farmers earning less of the dollars Americans spend at the grocery store is continuing.
“Whether it’s the highly consolidated meatpacking industry or harmful mergers in the private sector, farmers and consumers are being squeezed out of their hard-earned money,” says NFU President Rob Larew. “It doesn’t have to be that way.”
For example, eight-count hamburger buns retail for $3.49, but the farmers’ share is only ten cents. Party-size potato chips are $5.99, but the farmers’ share is 29 cents. Two pounds of ground beef is $11.07, but farmers get just $3.42.
Last year, the USDA said the farmers’ share of the food dollar bottomed out at only 14.5 cents of every dollar spent.
