Price Spreads from Farm to Consumer

Price Spreads from Farm to Consumer Marketing Bill At-Home Foods by Commodity Group

Overview

ERS compares the prices paid by consumers for food with the prices received by farmers for corresponding commodities. This data product has two components: 1) the marketing bill and 2) at-home foods by commodity group.

Data

Marketing bill

ERS’s most comprehensive measure of the value added to agricultural commodities by the food marketing system—the marketing bill—includes foods consumed both at home and away from home, excluding seafood and foreign-produced foods, such as bananas and coffee.  This data series includes a breakdown of the total value added by major food marketing services, such as transporting, processing, and distributing domestic farm foods. See marketing bill documentation.

At-home foods by commodity group

ERS compares farm and retail prices for foods belonging to each of several commodity groups.  Comparisons are made for some individual foods.  ERS also groups individual foods into market baskets that represent what a typical U.S. household buys at retail in a year. The retail costs of these baskets are compared with the money received by farmers for a corresponding basket of agricultural commodities. See at-home foods by commodity group documentation.

Related Resources

• Definitions related to the marketing bill
• Food Marketing System in the U.S. briefing room
• How Low Has The Farm Share of Retail Food Prices Really Fallen?
• Meat Price Spreads data product
• Calculating the Food Marketing Bill