What Causes Food Prices To Rise? What Can Be Done About It?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), food price levels increased 57 percent from the beginning of 1970 through 1976, including a 31-percent increase in 1973 and 1974. The Consumer Price Index shows that over the last 50 years food prices have been susceptible to wider fluctuations than the prices of other goods. Farm prices and food prices are generally generated in two different markets--the market for raw agricultural commodities and the market for finished food products.