Farmers, Consumers See Spike in Food Prices

First we learned that food prices at groceries and restaurants were on the rise. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has forecast that prices across the board will rise from 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent over 2013 levels – with some products like meat, poultry and eggs far more costly.

That should be music to the ears of many producers, but not so fast. U.S. farmers’ overall profits are expected to decline by nearly 27 percent in 2014 after several years of historic highs, according to the USDA. And the biggest factor is one of basic supply and demand.