CSBJ Daily

The Associated Press

The steepest run-ups in food prices since 1990 are hurting grocery shoppers, restaurants and school cafeterias, but they’re making others rich.

The winners in the new food economy include crop farmers selling corn and wheat for near-record highs after years of crushingly low prices. Ingredient makers like Cargill and ADM are rife with profits. Fertilizer and tractor companies are cashing in. Hedge funds operators who made big bets on rising wheat, soy and corn were correct. Oil and gas companies, too – it takes natural gas to cook those Wheaties and diesel to haul them around the country.

Travel along the nation’s food chain and you’ll find some of the biggest profits closest to the land.

The nation’s farmers, who raise everything from cows to cucumbers, saw their average household income climb about 7 percent last year to more than $83,000. But in grain-rich states, the results were dramatically higher. In Minnesota alone, the median income for crop farmers soared 80 percent to $95,000.