Drought, floods, labor shortages and the war in Ukraine are all playing a role, experts said.
Food prices rose 0.2% on the month in July after remaining unchanged in June, and rose 4.9% on the year, while food at home rose 3.6% on the year last month, government data released Thursday showed. Fresh fruit and vegetable prices rose just 1.2% year-over-year in July.
However, there were some big — even alarming — outliers: Frozen fruit and vegetables prices increased by 11.8% in July over last year, frozen vegetable prices rose 17.1%, and frozen non-carbonated juices and drinks prices rose 16.3%. Climate change and extreme weather conditions — from heavy rainfall to drought — particularly in California — have led to big problems for farmers. This is compounded by existing supply-chain issues related to the war in Ukraine, and an ongoing increase in the cost of labor, experts said.
The subsequent price rises hit ingredients like strawberries and raspberries especially hard, Rubin added. Inventories for frozen berries are “near five-year lows” after winter storms in Watsonville, Calif. flooded agricultural fields, and damaged and delayed the strawberry crop. Most of the strawberries in the U.S. are also grown in California.
“Immigration has traditionally provided an important contribution to the U.S. labor force,” the report said. “The flow of immigrants into the United States began to slow in 2017 due to various government policies, then declined further due to border closures in 2020–21 associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This decline in immigration has had a notable effect on the share of immigrants in the U.S. labor force.
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