'82 food costs may be up 9% or so

Consumers will pay 9.6 percent more for food this year than last, reports Outlook, a newsletter to agribusiness from Farm Journal Magazine. This total is estimated by the United States Department of Agriculture at $285 billion. The farm value of these foods will be up 3.5 percent, while the marketing bill for food after it leaves the farm will rise 10.6 percent. This bill, including labor , fuel, freight, packaging, wholesale, and retail profits, comes to 69 percent of the food bill total.