As many families have noticed, the prices for food continue to rise in grocery stores around the world. Some of these rising prices are due to supply chain issues, and some are due to the pandemic as a whole. As noted on the graph below from Statista, there has been a steep incline of prices from 2018 - 2021, and although it had a brief drop, this trend has continued in 2022.
Data for Price Increases
As David Lightman from Sacramento Bee noted, a pound of ground beef at the grocery store cost around $4.49 in January, and stew meat is nearly $6 per pound. Joe Biden has pledged to assist with meat prices, but experts say his $1 billion plan may not work due to inflation. Many have noted that it is natural for prices to fluctuate due to labor costs, consumer preferences, weather, and more, but the cost of meat clearly rose well beyond the 20-year average. The biggest price increases seem to include beef, poultry, fish, and eggs which have increased an estimated 12.5% over the 20-year average of 4.4%. Maurice Obstfeld, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, noted that food prices will strain poorer countries and that the world seems to be approaching a global food crisis in a “perfect storm of adverse circumstance”. As global demand for food remains high, coupled with the supply chain issues, there doesn’t appear to be an immediate end in sight for the upward trend.
Are There Solutions for Your Household?
For your family's food needs, we suggest reaching out to local farms and visiting farmer's markets for your grocery needs. When family’s visit a local grocery store, they are seeing a consolidation of different farms often in bulk packaging. However, when family’s visit a local farmer’s market or a farm directly, they get fresh food that has not been through the local supply chain and benefiting your local area. This means there is less of a chance for supply chain issues and their stock is full as opposed to the grocery store. A Project for Public Spaces study in 2009 noted that shoppers believed local farmer’s markets provided them better prices than grocery stores, though it does depend on the area of the market.
Regardless of what local market or farm your family shops at, we do highly recommend checking out your local farms to see what fresh produce they have. At JJ Bison, we have worked hard to keep our prices largely the same despite inflation costs, and we’re confident other farmers have continued to benefit their customers.
Contact us today, email us at meat@jjbison.com, or call us at (443) 252 - 2099 to place an order or ask your questions.