It’s worth noting that for a long time, food prices in the UK have been significantly lower than in comparable countries in Europe. I go to France and Germany quite regularly, and to do a supermarket shop in either is significantly more expensive.
My wife and I do online shops at Waitrose (which is probably the most expensive supermarket) and at a local butchers and don’t particularly try and save money on food. We spend about £100 a week on average including the delivery cost.
Where I’ve noticed increases this year it’s been on milk, butter and some basic vegetables like potatoes. But at the same time - there’s been articles about how dairy farmers were under such competitive pressure in the UK that they’re closing and going out of business in the last couple of years, so to some extent, price rises in that area were inevitable.
Farming is another industry where almost everything can be securitized.
A dairy farm may own or rent the acreage for growing its feed and related equipment or may buy it on the spot or futures market. May own, mortgage or rent its milking equipment.
Every country’s subsidies work differently, and it’s a bit opaque since everyone claims they’re hardworking and don’t get/need subsidies, but sometimes they’re even securitized and bought/sold.
So as each farmer makes its own bets/hedges, there are winners and losers when interest rates go up or down, feed goes up or down, land value goes up or down.
So the story of the “farmers going bankrupt, we need more subsidies” will never end.
In Canada, becoming a new dairy farmer requires you to buy $$$ “quota” from an existing farmer. Possibly they grow organically as demand grows too.
This is very noticeable if you watch grocery budget challenge videos on YouTube. British people are finding cans of food for something like 20p. Even at a 2:1 ratio, there's almost nothing you could buy for 40 cents in a US supermarket. A can of beans is like 65 cents here on a good day.
My wife and I do online shops at Waitrose (which is probably the most expensive supermarket) and at a local butchers and don’t particularly try and save money on food. We spend about £100 a week on average including the delivery cost.
Where I’ve noticed increases this year it’s been on milk, butter and some basic vegetables like potatoes. But at the same time - there’s been articles about how dairy farmers were under such competitive pressure in the UK that they’re closing and going out of business in the last couple of years, so to some extent, price rises in that area were inevitable.