As families look forward to celebrating the Fourth of July holiday cookouts this week, consumers are finding almost record high prices at the grocery store. Based on the annual American Farm Bureau Federation survey, the cost for a 10-person cookout is $70.92, that’s down 20 cents from last year’s record high. The survey found that there has been an increase in the cost of beef, potato salad and canned pork and beans, although pork chops, chips and hamburger buns are down slightly.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, announced that in response to the highly pathogenic avian influenza, the country imported more than 26 million shell eggs, since January, which is more than 10 times the amount imported during the same period in 2024.
About four weeks ago, the Make our Children Healthy report was released, drawing criticism from farmers and over 250 state and national agricultural groups that include American Farm Bureau Federation, American Soybean Association, National Corn Growers Association and the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. Their main concerns relate to what actions and practices the the so called MAHA Commission will recommend in their follow-up report that’s scheduled to be released by August 12th 2025. They are asking the Trump Administration to correct the direction of MAHA Commission’s goals, citing a “lack of transparency” while not allowing the opportunity for public engagement, which has led to a report that “contained numerous errors and distortions that have created unfounded fears about the safety of our food supply.” the letter says. These organizations are asking the commission to hold a public comment period for all of its future reports and activities.
Fruit and vegetable producers point out that they spend up to 40% of their production expenses on labor to ensure that fresh produce is available across the country, while the fresh produce that is imported from other countries pay as little as one tenth of the hourly wage that American producers pay, which allows them to sell their products for cheaper prices while still turning a profit. Unfortunately, growers admit that much of the produce grown in California is hand-picked by immigrants in the U.S. illegally, but the growers point out that raids carried out by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the area’s fields are frightening off workers. Some growers contend that 70% of their workers are gone, and if 70% of their crop doesn’t get picked, it can go bad in one day. The problem is that most Americans don’t want to do this work, and many farmers are barely breaking even, so without the cheaper labor offered by immigrants. There is concern that many of them will go broke. For example, a farm supervisor, who asked not to be named, was overseeing a field being prepared for planting strawberries last week, and he would Usually have 300 workers for the job but on this day, he had just 80 workers due to the workers concerns that ICE agents would show up and demand citizenship documents from the workers. Most economists and politicians acknowledge that many of America’s agricultural workers are in the country illegally, but they also acknowledge that a sharp reduction in the numbers of workers could have devastating impacts on the food supply chain and farm-belt economies.
Author William Faulkner wrote, "We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it."
