Grilling season is underway, and the cost of the homemade cheeseburger is going up. That’s today’s This Land of Ours.
Home-grilled cheeseburgers, a summer cookout staple, will cost consumers more this summer. USDA’s Economic Research Service says the ingredients for a home-prepared 1/4-pound cheeseburger totaled $2.07 per burger, with ground beef making up the largest cost at $1.20. This represents an increase of 11.3 percent compared to the $1.86 it cost to produce the same cheeseburger in 2021.
Ground beef prices increased 16.9 percent and accounted for 17 cents of the increase between 2021 and 2022. Cheddar cheese and bread costs each rose about one cent per burger from 2021 to 2022. Iceberg lettuce prices rose the most, by 23.3 percent, but the relatively small proportion it contributes to the total cost of a burger means it added just two cents to the total.
The American Farm Bureau Federation recently also released its Summer Market Basket Survey, showing the cost of a summer cookout is 17 percent higher than a year ago.
Listen to Sabrina Halvorson’s This Land of Ours program here.
Sabrina Halvorson
National Correspondent / AgNet Media, Inc.
Sabrina Halvorson is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker who specializes in agriculture. She primarily reports on legislative issues and hosts The AgNet Weekly podcast. Sabrina is a native of California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley.