Grocery stores offer colorful produce aisles, where pyramid-shaped mounds of apples, oranges and lemons sit waiting for your inspection.

In that moment, you might wonder — how did the prices on those apples and oranges and lemons come to be? Who decided on that particular number?

Food prices are influenced by many factors. And in recent years, the numbers have been going up.

In 2022, food prices increased by almost 10% — the largest increase since 1979. And while they haven’t increased as much since then, fruits and vegetables are still becoming pricier. Lettuce, for example, is up over 7% since last year. Why? And how much have prices changed because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and immigration policies?

Bill Loupée is the COO of Ben B. Schwartz & Sons wholesaler, which operates out of Detroit. He spoke with Robyn Vincent. .

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Part of the affordability crisis hitting American families is happening on our plates.

One local wholesale distributor says multiple factors are driving food costs up: President Trump’s tariffs, labor shortages and heightened immigration enforcement, and problems in the trucking industry. And all of that hits Detroit harder than most places. Many Detroit families struggle with food insecurity, and Congress just gutted the federal safety net that millions of families depend on.

Still, whether prices go up because of a tariff or a drought or a trucker shortage — if you don’t control any part of the system, you just absorb the hit. You are at the end of a chain somebody else built and no food pantry, no matter how well-run, changes that.

Natosha Tallman says the answer is not more charity — it’s infrastructure: commercial kitchens, cold storage, distribution, ownership. A system where Detroiters grow food, process it, sell it, and keep the money. 

Tallman and her team at the Northend Christian Community Development Corporation, which runs the Oakland Avenue Urban Farm, are trying to build that infrastructure. She joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss what it takes to move from a system focused on food charity to one of food sovereignty.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

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