Rising grocery store prices over the past few years aren’t due to farmers or “greedy” corporations, a conservative North Carolina research organization concludes in a new documentary series and report. Instead, higher energy costs and increased regulations are to blame, according to the John Locke Foundation’s documentary series Sowing Resilience. The series suggests several changes, including streamlining zoning and permitting processes and building coalitions to combat overly restrictive federal and state mandates.
The series delves into policy decisions on agriculture made during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and the policy reactions to it exposed supply-chain and other vulnerabilities that still require solutions,” the foundation’s report accompanying the series states. “The pandemic also worsened the growing food insecurity problem in North Carolina. Over 10% of North Carolinians struggle to secure enough food for a healthy lifestyle, according to the USDA. Only about 6% of adults in the state report consuming at least two servings of vegetables or fruits per day. Meanwhile, over one-third are obese, according to the Body Mass Indexes.”
During this period, grocery prices soared by 25% from 2019 to 2023, with the last three years falling under the Biden administration, which advocates for Vice President Kamala Harris’s proposed federal law on price gouging by food suppliers and grocers.
“Climate policies such as carbon pricing add significant expenses to farmers’ operating budgets, translating to an annual increase in a family of four’s grocery bills by $1,330,” the Locke Foundation noted. “Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting requirements and emissions monitoring increase participating farms’ annual operating expenses by an estimated 34%, beyond the reach of many smaller farms despite their need for market access.”
The report challenges the notion that higher food prices result from corporate greed. “There is competition across the many segments of the food industry,” the foundation states. “Widespread and coordinated price gouging is unlikely.”
It highlights higher fuel costs as a major factor in rising grocery store prices. The report also concludes that overly restrictive zoning and permitting requirements have hindered food production in North Carolina.
“One of the most substantial challenges with zoning regulations is their complexity and cost of compliance,” the report states. “Farmers often face a maze of rules and regulations that require time, money, and expertise to navigate – diverting resources away from essential farming activities and placing an undue strain on farmers, particularly smaller operations with limited staff and financial resources.
