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Farm Bureau: Inflation, Ukraine war making summer cookouts more expensive

ORLANDO, Fla. — Your Independence Day cookout will be more expensive this year than it was last year, according to a survey by the American Farm Bureau.

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According to the survey, consumers can expect to pay, on average, $69.68 for a cookout this summer based on current prices. According to the Farm Bureau, that breaks down to about $7 per person.

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It’s an overall increase of 17 percent, or about $10 from the same time last year. The Farm Bureau attributes the increase to the war in Ukraine, inflation, and ongoing disruptions to the supply chain.

“Despite higher food prices, the supply chain disruptions and inflation have made farm supplies more expensive; like consumers, farmers are price-takers not price-makers,” the Farm Bureau’s Chief Economist Roger Cryan said. “Bottom line, in many cases the higher prices farmers are being paid aren’t covering the increase in their farm expenses. The cost of fuel is up and fertilizer prices have tripled.”

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According to the Farm Bureau’s “marketbasket” survey, the largest price increase from last year to this year was for ground beef. The survey showed the prices of chicken breasts, pork chops, homemade potato salad, lemonade, and hamburger buns also increased.

On the bright side, the Farm Bureau says the costs of certain products like strawberries, sliced cheese and potato chips have fallen from what they were last year. They attribute that to better weather conditions in certain fruit-growing regions of the country, and more flexibility from retailers on pricing for processed products.

The Farm Bureau’s marketbasket series includes their annual Thanksgiving Dinner cost survey.

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The data for this year’s survey came from 176 volunteer shoppers from across the United States.

For more information on the survey’s methodology and the Farm Bureau’s marketbasket series, click here.

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