WACO (April 17, 2009)—The Waco-based Texas Farm Bureau has launched a project to monitor the cost of common grocery items and has just completed its first statewide price survey.

Twenty-five volunteers fanned out across the state to check prices of 16 grocery staples.

“This is an exciting new project for our organization,” said Kenneth Dierschke, a San Angelo cotton farmer and Texas Farm Bureau president.

“Although a similar survey is conducted nationally by the American Farm Bureau Federation, those prices often don’t accurately reflect our Texas store shelf prices.”

“By monitoring Texas prices only, we have a much clearer view of the food price picture here in the Lone Star State,” Dierschke said.

“We hope that as we conduct future surveys we can report on the decreasing prices found at our store shelves. When prices were going up, grocers were quick to point to higher commodity and energy costs. As those prices have backed off substantially, we’re hoping to see our food prices follow a similar trend.”

The surveys will be conducted quarterly to monitor Texas food price trends.

The first survey was done from March 31 to April 3.

Price Watch Survey Results
(Source: Texas Farm Bureau)

One gallon whole milk $3.85
24-ounce loaf of white bread $2.60
14-ounce box of corn flakes $3.08
One-pound bag of long grain rice $1.09
A pound of lean ground beef $2.86
A pound of skinless chicken breasts $3.15
A pound of T-bone steaks $8.14
A pound of boneless pork chops $3.43
16-ounce package of turkey sandwich meat $4.79
Half gallon of ice cream $5.68
A pound block of cheddar cheese $4.97
A head of lettuce $1.20
A pound of grapefruit $0.77
A box of cake mix $1.17
A 64-ounce bag of pinto beans $3.68
A pound of tomatoes $1.51