Grocery prices rocketed up by 10 percent in past year
From meat to milk, grocery prices galloped higher, rising by 10 percent in the last 12 months, said the Labor Department on Tuesday. It was the biggest increase in food-at-home prices in 41 years, according to the monthly Consumer Price Index report.
Outbreaks on turkey farms push U.S. bird flu total to 25 million
Four of every 10 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) this year have been on a turkey farm, with Minnesota and South Dakota hit the most frequently, USDA data showed on Tuesday. The USDA confirmed HPAI on seven additional farms holding 337,348 turkeys, lifting the U.S. total to just under 25 million birds, mostly chickens and turkeys, since the viral disease appeared among domestic flocks in early February.
With emergency SNAP benefits ending, a ‘hunger cliff’ looms
Anti-hunger advocates worry that the nation may be approaching a “hunger cliff,” as some states are ending emergency SNAP benefits even as demand at food pantries—and Covid case numbers—are rising again. When hunger and poverty spiked in the U.S. at the beginning of the pandemic, the government responded with a number of temporary measures to strengthen the safety net. But with states cutting back, recipients like Tara Kramer, who suffers a disability, are struggling to get enough food.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
More global poverty: Rising food prices will push 65 million people into extreme poverty, living on less than $1.90 a day, by the end of this year, part of the reversal of two decades of progress in reducing global poverty and hunger. (Oxfam)
Klamath Basin water limits: The Bureau of Reclamation said the initial allocation of water to farmers in the Klamath Project will be 50,000 acre-feet, less than 15 percent of a full allocation, and it announced $20 million in aid to growers who won’t get irrigation water. (Los Angeles Times)
Grocery shoppers seek sales: With food prices on the rise, over half of grocery shoppers say they are looking for sale items more often than usual and have stopped buying certain items altogether. (GO Banking Rates)
