Food prices on the rise again?

CENTRAL COAST, Calif. (KION-TV) -- Eating in or eating out is going to cost you more, regardless of what you decide.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture USDA, food prices across the board are predicted to rise.

"This is the first time in 40 years that we've had to deal with real inflation and so we're not used to this anymore. It's not like the 70s when we kind of got used to dealing with it," said Dr. Brad Barbeau, Economics Professor at CSUMB.

The increases we've seen recently are the highest in decades and have risen to nearly 9% for the year.

Forcing people to rethink their budgets.

"I usually allot like a hundred dollars every two weeks for food, and that's getting used up quick. So. It's a problem," said Don Cremin, Salinas shopper.

The biggest driver of this problem is fuel and transportation.

"A lot of the increase in cost is because of fuel, but it's not necessarily 100% on-farm costs. It's transportation costs, from the field to the market to the endpoint," said Richard Bianchi, one of the board directors for the San Benito Farm Bureau.

Prices for energy and fuel aren't expected to decrease for at least a few months.

"I would assume that energy prices are going to be high at least through the summer, which is going to keep the food prices high, and there are other things impacting us," said Dr.Barbeau.

Every time farming expenses go up, so do groceries for consumers.

"We've been getting literally increases every four to six weeks from some companies," said Bianchi.

Doing things economically for farmers is almost impossible considering all the limitations that have been implemented on them by the government.

"You throw in food safety and food security issues that they keep limiting us on where we can farm, how much we can farm, and the timing of what we're doing," said Bianchi.

Some people have taken matters into their own hands.

"I am starting a victory garden to help get fresher products and to help save on cost," said Toun Ray, Salinas shopper.

The cost of food going up is potentially harmful to those already living paycheck to paycheck.

“Anybody that lives on a fixed income, as I do, is particularly hurt by it," said Cremin.

Some said it's hard not to feel stuck with the situation at hand.

“A rise in food prices is particularly difficult because we can't substitute doing something else. We have to eat," said Dr.Barbeau.

The USDA's March report show that food prices are expected to go up between to 3-4% in the coming months.

The only food category expected to go down a little bit is fresh vegetables.