Exclusive: When will food prices come down? Sitting down with U.S. Agriculture Secretary

WRGB — The United States Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack was touring in the Capital Region Tuesday as food prices and supply chain issues are top concerns for Americans right now.

CBS 6’s Anne McCloy sat down exclusively with Secretary Thomas Vilsack to ask the questions you want answered. Number one, when can we expect prices at the grocery store to get back to normal?

Anne: How is the Agriculture department addressing high food prices? Americans, New Yorkers are frustrated. They go to the grocery store and the can barely afford to buy meals for their families. Where are results and when can Americans expect to see a change?

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Secretary Vilsack: Well, actually if you look inside the numbers you’re beginning to see a change right now.

Vilsack says work at the federal level to lower high costs in the grocery aisle is already paying off, but he says don't expect to see immediate relief on every product out there.

Vilsack: We're beginning to see for example, lower costs in beef, lower costs in some fruits and vegetables. Where we are seeing increases is in eggs for example. Why are we seeing that increase? Because of Avian Influenza.

Secretary Vilsack points to several factors aimed at reducing food prices. One, the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

We're improving the infrastructure which allows us to see that the supply that we do have gets where it needs to more efficiently to be processed,” Vilsack said.

And a move to create more food supply.

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Secretary Vilsack: They took literally a million acres that was in a reserve program out of that program so they could create more crops over 2022 which is going to impact and effect supply over time

Anne: But what do you think the timeline is before we see prices back down to what we consider normal?

Secretary Vilsack: Again in certain categories they’re already down to normal but overall it’s going to take a little while. Why? You have a war in Ukraine. What does that have to do with food prices? It roils the wheat market.

Anne: When you say it'll take some time do you mean a year? Months?

Secretary Vilsack: If I had a crystal ball, I’d be able to answer that question specifically, but again, it is coming down now.

Also rattling the supply chain, a fertilizer shortage worsened by the war in Ukraine.

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At Tuesday’s event, at the Saratoga Hilton, Vilsack broke news when he announced a $500 million program incentivizing farmers to produce American-made fertilizer.

Secretary Vilsack: The challenge is 2023, the next crop year, and that’s why we made the announcement we made. So we put $500 million on the table, two application periods, one for 45 days, tell us what you can do to impact the 2023 crop and the 2024 crop to bring prices down.

Vilsack is also touting a program called Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities which will bring climate friendly projects to every state.

We're talking about is a $4.2 billion initiative which is massive the largest commitment of its kind in the history of the United States and frankly any country in the world,” Vilsack said.

One of those climate projects in New York State is aimed at finding farmers who will financially benefit if they can provide a source of organic feed for livestock.

Wednesday on CBS 6 News, more of our interview with Secretary Vilsack as he weighs in on a controversy in New York State as the NYS Dept. of Labor Commissioner weighs lowering the overtime threshold on New York farms. An issue that’s made it’s way to Capitol Hill amid the farm worker shortage. Part 2 airs 9/28 on CBS 6 News at 5pm and 6pm.