Ag Outlook 12-14-2020

All year we’ve been tracking month to month food price increases driven by the pandemic. Then came November. The latest USDA figures for that month indicate a significant price drop. Department economist Carolyn Chelius says lower prices in November are the result of an attempt to draw customers shopping for the holiday feasts to come. The drop last month was six-tenths of one percent. Pork was down 1.6 percent, fresh fruits declined one percent and almost every food group cost us less than the month before. Chelius says the Thanksgiving-inspired grocery drop is something that happens annually – even during a raging pandemic.