Fact:
Oil is the primary cause of food price increases. With the average food item traveling more than 1,500 miles before reaching the final consumer, it is no wonder that food costs are increasing when looking back the last seven years; gasoline prices have increased 198 percent per gallon, diesel fuel prices have increased almost 250 percent per gallon and crude oil has increased 453 percent according to the Department of Energy's Energy Information Agency. Ethanol is not even the primary driver of corn price increases. 75% of the increase in corn prices occurred because of higher oil prices, according to Wally Tyner at Purdue University.

Source: EIA, Purdue University