Does my food price go up because farmers want to make more money?
When you see an increase in price at the grocery story, don’t assume it’s going into the pocket of your local farmers. For the most part, farmers are price takers not price setters. When their crop or animal is ready to sell, they have to sell at the current price. On average, only 15 cents of every retail dollar return to farmers and ranchers. And as food prices increase, the amount of money making its way back to farmers doesn’t always correlate. In fact, in many cases farmers and ranchers see an increase on their end in the form of the cost of inputs. These inputs include land, equipment, fertilizer, chemical, seed, buildings and facilities, maintenance, labor, fuel, heating, feed, taxes, insurance and more. And as these expenses continue to rise, farmers and ranchers continually strive to increase their yields and efficiency so they can remain competitive and profitable in the long term.
