Inflation Is Coming for Your Vegetables

Wholesale food prices rose 1.4% from June to July, with one big subsector leading the way: fresh and dry vegetables, which surged 38.9% in that same time period, per the AP. That's the largest month-on-month spike for veggies since March 2022, as well as the biggest increase in a summer month since record-keeping for this data started after World War II, reports Axios, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The outlet notes that these wholesale stats could portend a jump in prices soon at the supermarket as well.

So how much does this "veggie-flation" have to do with the Trump administration's ongoing global trade war? "Because we get most of that produce across the border, and they're imports, the tariffs have a lot to do with that," Phil Kafarakis, CEO of IFMA The Food Away From Home Association, tells Axios. "Over a third of our vegetables are imported," agrees Michigan State University food economist David Ortega, who tells Marketplace that items like tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, and asparagus are especially susceptible to higher tariffs.

Kafarakis, meanwhile, tells Axios that things could even get worse in the fall, when harvest season begins, with a possible decline in farm workers to gather that produce amid Trump's accompanying immigration crackdown. "Getting into October, the quality and then the capacity of what we're able to bring in is going to be a real, real problem," he notes. "Prices will soar to keep demand in check."