Farmers growing corn and soybeans are getting more for their crop than they did a year ago, but farm bankruptcies are still up nearly 19%.

These workers are spending more on essentials like fertilizer and fuel.

The Agriculture Department expects farm income to drop 5.5% once inflation is accounted for, and that’s with $47 billion in government payments holding it up.

What does this look like on the ground, in the field, for a Michigan farmer?

Mark Zacharda is the manager of Zacharda Farms II in Owosso, which sits between Lansing and Flint. Zacharda spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent to discuss how they have managed the recent price squeeze of supply purchases.

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The new inflation numbers came out last week, and they say something most of us won’t believe. Grocery prices have stopped going up. Less than 2% over the past year. Down slightly last month.

Now go pull that crumpled Kroger receipt out of your pocket. Do those numbers seem to track?

Groceries still cost about a third more than they did before the pandemic and beef is likely to climb more than 9% this year.

In metro Detroit, groceries rose almost 4% over the past year. The national figure for that same stretch was closer to 2%.

That gap between what the numbers say and what the checkout line says is where we’re going next.

David Ortega, Michigan State University’s chair in food economics and policy, spoke with host Robyn Vincent about why the inflation numbers look better and your grocery bill doesn’t.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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