KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The national inflation rate in the U.S. is the highest it’s been in 41 years at 8.5%, causing local farmers to raise the price of their produce and other goods.
There are several farmers markets in East Tennessee where farmers have higher prices than last year, including a Lenoir City man raising the cost of a dozen organic eggs by a dollar due to the rising cost of animal feed.
Nick Race, the owner and operator of Race Family Farms, explained that locally sourced goods come at a higher cost anyway due to the hard work and labor of one or two farmers opposed to mass-produced food, but he claims the freshness and organic nature of his eggs is worth the extra money.
“At the end of the day you're paying for how is that animal being raised, how's that product being grown. So here, we grow ours, you know, out in fields out in pasture up in the woods,” Race said. “Conventionally, I can't speak to exactly how they do things, but I can't imagine that all the conventional eggs you can purchase at a grocery store are grown like this.”
The national egg shortage and inflation are attributed to a deadly bird flu, but Race said that is not affecting his rising costs— it is mostly the rising cost of animal feed and the fact that his family does all of their own labor.
He encouraged people to come to see him and other local farmers at the New Harvest Farmers Market on Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
“The local guy down the road from you or in the Farmers Market next to you is the face that you purchased that from,” Race said. “You now had the connection and puts you that much closer with that product. It keeps their family pushing forward and it also shows that you appreciate the product that they are providing to you and your family.”
Over a dozen vendors will be in East Knoxville at the New Harvest Farmers Market on Thursdays selling local produce, meats, flowers and other home goods.
The market runs from April 14 to September 29 at 4775 New Harvest Lane in East Knoxville.