(NewsNation) — After Wall Street’s tumble into a bear market Monday, with rising interest rates sending the S&P 500 more than 20% below its record set early this year, one fourth-generation farmers is warning the worst is yet to come,
“People are going to see the rising cost of food in their local grocery stores in the coming month,” John Boyd Jr. said during Monday’s edition of “On Balance with Leland Vittert.”
Along with a farming background, Boyd Jr. is the president of the National Black Farmers Association and a member of President Bill Clinton’s Tobacco Commission.
“Farmers are feeling the pinch from high cost of diesel fuel and fertilizer, truckers are feeling the pinch and you have a certain region in the world that’s not planting crops at this time in Ukraine, so there’s going to be a shortage of wheat and commodities that they’ve been producing there, as well,” Boyd said.
While the Federal Reserves’ plan to raise interest rates — a blunt tool that risks a recession if used too aggressively — is supposed to remedy a fast-rising inflation, it’s also souring sentiment for shoppers across the country.
And it goes far beyond the gas pump: Eggs are up 32%, poultry is up 16.6%, milk is up 15.9% and fats and oils are up 16.9 %, Axios reports. Overall, the cost of food is up about 12 % — the largest increase since 1979.
Boyd went on to explain food staples such as corn, corn syrup and soybeans are all the types of products local farmers produce daily, which, in turn, helps place the major products on shelves that shoppers are accustomed to seeing.
Inflation, however, makes these deliverables more difficult.
“For so long, we’ve enjoyed lots of food in this country, so we’ve never ever faced a food shortage and I think that’s coming in the coming months,” Boyd said.
Boyd, who, in representing other Black farmers in the U.S. help place a piece of legislation called the farm bill on the Senate floor, is still seeking help from the president.
“The Biden administration that I’ve been urging to take more of a swift action, still hasn’t taken the action I believe thats needed,” Boyd said. “Farmers are the last person on the totem pole. You may not need a doctor or a lawyer today, but every day in this country, you need a farmer,” he said.