The food price is rising in the US and is affecting everyone in the countr: local farms, small businesses, and dinner tables. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices “have jumped 0.6% since August of this year” and are “up 2.7% from 2024.” And families are dealing with the consequences of the food inflations.
Three voices in Chattanooga; Trey Palmer of Palmer’s Turf Farm, Jeannine Carpenter of the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, and Chris Babb-Cheshul of the Bleu Fox Cheese Shop, gave a clear scene of the situation from their perspectives: Budgets are tighter and uncertainty is growing.
The industry is evolving in many ways and right now and part of it is because trade tariffs have an impact on supply chains, influencing what retailers can stock and what consumers should pay. There is a huge consumer uncertainty. People are relating today’s stress to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2008 recession, some even to World War II lessons about buying and making locally.
Why food prices feel higher now
A few extra cents on necessities at the register adds up to a larger weekly bill. The Bureau of Labor Statistics‘ number may not seem like much at first, but they add up month after month. That is the everyday inflation of food.
The first to notice the increase in need are nonprofit organizations. And why is this? Because, “When things get more expensive, then they end up having to rely on us to keep food on the table and feed their children,” says Jeannine Carpenter, the Chattanooga Area Food Bank’s chief communications officer. She adds that the food bank’s expenses increase too just like the prices outsides: “So our cost to purchase food goes up,” Carpenter says, “typically in the same amount of proportion we are seeing in grocery stores.”
Is a burden that small businesses, nonprofits, and consumers all have to deal with collectively.
How farms and small enterprises explain the squeeze
People usually uses the past to somehow make sense of what’s hapening today. Palmer’s Turf Farm owner, Trey Palmer, has real vivid memories of the 2008 recession: “the recession of ’08, ’09, ’10, through that area … everybody was just lucky to work.” After that, he claims, prices remained more consistent “until probably Covid area.. which I know is such a popular thing to throw out that.”
Chris Babb-Cheshul of the Bleu Fox Cheese Shop, asked his suppliers about the rising prices. He says, “I’ve heard a lot of responses. Some of the larger, better-made vendors were like, ‘It’s okay, we’ve paid tariffs before.” And that’s truth, trade tariffs are not new, but they might be having a bigger impact now.
Small businesses rely only on what they can control, like they way they communicate to their clients, organizing better, or even taking some charges on them when they’re facing this uncertainty. Customers are also reminded a lot lately that despite rising costs, there’s alway a chain of people working hard to tray to keep everything under control.
Local focus at a time of price rises
Open communication and agility are some of the only keys for small businesses right now.
Palmer’s Turf Farm turns to history: “Looking back to World War II, we made almost everything we needed.” Giving credit to the men and women who served, he continues, “I think that’s why we were victorious.”
So hope is not lost. And while the situation gets better, there are some ways to live trough it; Buy locally whenever possible, help out neighbors in need, and share the load whenever you can. I won’t stop prices from going up. But it might help make sure everyone can still have dinner on the table.