The latest Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation Marketbasket Survey finds the total cost of 40 basic grocery items was $93.02, down from the last survey by nearly 1 percent (.89 percent).
After prices had increased $1.81 in the fourth quarter of 2005, the price index lost 84 cents in the first three months of this year. Of the 40 items surveyed, 22 decreased and 18 increased in average price, compared to the last survey.
Whole fryers showed the largest decrease, down 33 percent to 47 cents per pounds.
Tomatoes followed closely, dropping 46 cents to $1.76 a pound.
Other items showing a decrease are: vanilla ice cream, down 38 cents to $2.51 per half-gallon; ground chuck, down 30 cents to $1.84 a pound; bell peppers, 29 cents lower to 69 cents and pound; and cucumbers off 23 cents to 63 cents per pound.
Items that increased in price during the quarter were T-bone steak, up 76 cents to $8.37 per pound, and bacon 32 cents higher at $3.03 a pound.
Roll sausage, corn meal and chicken breasts each rose 22 cents per marketing unit.
Higher energy prices still do not appear to be a factor in retail food prices in Kentucky, the bureau reported.
Although there has been some small quarter-to-quarter variation, food prices as reported in the marketbasket survey have been stable for the past several years.
The price for these same food items in the first quarter of 2002 was $90.43, averaging only $2.59 less than those items today.
However, the average food dollar that Kentucky farms receive has dropped over time, despite gradual increases in retail grocery prices.
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