 And Ag Secretary Vilsack told reporters compared to prices one year ago. The grocery store cost of food is now at an inflation rate of a little over 1%, which is well below the 20-year average for the inflation rate for food purchased from the grocery store. USDA has been projecting that food prices on average at the grocery store will still be up only 1% from last year. And in fact, some scenarios have prices dropping below 2023.