Food costs are increasing

Food costs are increasing

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported recently that its Food Price Index — a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities — rose in February for the eighth consecutive month.

The food-at-home index rose 2.1 percent in the last year, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. Record prices are predicted for corn, wheat and soybeans in the crop year ahead. That’s good news for farmers, but as costs are passed down the supply chain, food prices could rise an additional 3 percent to 4 percent over the rest of the year.

Things are worse elsewhere. High food prices are one of the root causes of unrest in Africa and the Middle East. The World Bank estimates that rising food prices since June have pushed 44 million people into “extreme poverty.”