Indiana Farm Bureau Reports Increase in Grocery Prices

The Indiana Farm Bureau has released grocery price statistics for the first quarter of this year.

Prices rose slightly, but that increase was enough to set a new record high for food prices on the survey. Sixteen food items on the survey cost an average of $51.15, up $1.55 from the fourth-quarter 2011 survey. The previous record was $50.70, set in the third quarter of 2008. Of the 16 items surveyed, six decreased in prices while ten increased.

The national survey reported an even larger increase, with prices rising by $3.24 to $52.47, or about seven percent, compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. Most of the increase on both the Indiana and national surveys was due to higher prices for meats and cheese.

According to the USDA, Americans spend just under ten percent of their disposable annual income on food– the lowest average of any country in the world.