Your Fourth of July Cookout Just Hit a Record High — Here's What That Means for This Fall

Send us Fan Mail The American Farm Bureau Federation just released their 2026 Summer Cookout Cost Survey — and this year's Fourth of July cookout hit a record high. Ground beef is now $14.06 for two pounds, the highest ever recorded in the survey. Pork and beans rose 13.8%. Fresh strawberries up 12.4%. But here's what I want you to understand: the cookout numbers are not just a news story. They are a diagnostic. The forces that drove those prices — the cattle herd at a 75-year low, the tarif...