(Iowa Capital Dispatch) At a 4% increase from last summer, the cost of backyard barbecue has grown in price at about the same pace as inflation, according to the annual American Farm Bureau Federation survey.
The survey estimates a 10-person feast of cheeseburgers, chicken breasts, pork chops, potato chips, pork and beans, fresh strawberries, homemade potato salad, fresh-squeezed lemonade, chocolate chip cookies and ice cream will cost $73.82 – a little more than $7 a plate.
This cost is $2.90 greater than the cost of the cookout in 2025, and the highest price tag since Farm Bureau initiated the survey in 2016. A decade ago, the summer cookout ingredients totaled $56.67.
The inflation-adjusted price, however, has fluctuated only only $2.41 over the past decade. Accounting for inflation, the 2026 cookout is actually cheaper, by more than $1.50, than the cookout cost in 2016.
Farm Bureau economists say the inflation-adjusted figures show the “purchasing power” cost of these items.
All of the cookout ingredients, aside from eggs and potatoes, increased from 2025 to 2026.
Canned pork and beans topped the list for highest cost increase for the second year in a row. Farm Bureau said the increase, now at an average of $3.06 — nearly 14% more than last year — is due to higher aluminum prices.
Strawberries cost about 12% more this year, and the average cost for two pints came to $5.27. The report said frost damage, transportation and labor costs all contributed to the rise.
The Farm Bureau report said egg-laying flocks have largely recovered from the highly pathogenic avian influenza, allowing eggs – a key ingredient in potato salad – to drop $0.71, per four eggs, from last year’s price. Potatoes also declined in price, making potato salad cost nearly 18% less than it did in 2025.
Cookout proteins increased across the board, according to the survey, which pulls information from volunteer shoppers that report the cost of the grocery items across the country. The average cost for 2 pounds of ground beef rose from $13.33 in 2025, to $14.06 this summer — a 5.5% increase.
Ground beef prices have been steadily rising over the past several years. In early 2026, prices topped $6.50 per pound and President Donald Trump to signed a trade deal to increase the amount of beef the U.S. imports from Argentina in an effort to lower prices at the grocery store.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show prices for ground chuck have continued to increase.
The Farm Bureau report also showed a rise in the cost of pork chops and chicken breasts. A 3-pound purchase of pork chops increased 4.7% from 2025 and cost $14.79 for a cookout this summer. Chicken breasts were reported at a cost of $8.06 for two pounds, which is $0.27 more than last summer.
Farmers see pennies on the dollar
Of the grocery items included in the summer cookout survey, beef offers farmers the greatest share of the dollar, according to a report from the National Farmers Union. For a $6.49 pound of ground chuck, farmers receive $2.42, which is far more than the nickels and dimes farmers receive from the sale of other ingredients like hamburger buns, lettuce, corn on the cob and potato chips.
An increase at the grocery store doesn’t necessarily mean more income for farmers, as Farm Bureau President Brent Johnson said, farmers are “price takers” rather than “price makers.”
“That’s why an updated farm bill and risk management tools are critical in helping family farms during times of hardship and to protect food security for our nation,” Johnson said in a news release about the cookout report.
The Farmers Union report shows farmers and ranchers receive just under $0.12 for every $1 consumers spend on food. Rob Larew, the union’s president, blamed the low farmer share on corporate consolidation in the market.
Larew called for a farm bill that delivers “structural reforms” that will support family farmers, “rather than accelerating consolidation.”
“These numbers tell the story of a farm safety net that isn’t working; one that is too often slow, inconsistent and disconnected from the realities farmers face, reacting to crises rather than preventing them,” Larew said.
“Two hundred and fifty years in, family farmers deserve better,” Larew said, referencing the nation’s 250th anniversary.
(Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
