It’s that time of year when the aroma of fresh-cut haylage lingers a little while longer in the air, plumes of dust billow along the side of the dirt roads as tractors and wagons run back and forth from the fields to the farm, and children are parading to the edges of a cornfield to see if it’s “knee-high by the Fourth of July.”
As evening comes, the brats sizzle on the grill and cheese slices blanket charcoal-stained burgers. There’s an ice cream dessert on the counter, thawing just enough to not break a spoon when it’s time to dig in for the first bite.
It’s the holiday weekend.
I’m not one to preference holidays, but I do find a little more joy in celebrating our freedoms during Independence Day. It’s also a humble reminder that this freedom isn’t free. Of course, we continue to commemorate the soldiers who fought for our freedom and the passage of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 as those first 13 colonies became established, separate from Great Britain. Yevet Tenney does a beautiful job reminding us of that in her column.
There’s another cost that most Americans will feel during the Fourth, and that’s the cost of barbecuing. According to Rabobank’s 2025 BBQ Index, a 10-person barbecue is 4.21% more expensive this year than last, with the average dinner party costing Americans $103. This is the first summer where Americans will spend more than $100 on grilling.
“On the whole, Americans still spend less of our wallet on food than our counterparts in most other nations, but that gap is closing across the board,” Tom Bailey, Rabobank senior analyst for consumer foods, expressed during a virtual conference release of the BBQ Index.
The rise in cost isn’t geopolitical-related, as a majority of our food supply is sourced domestically, but rather it’s consumer demand and limited supply that’s pressuring the grilling staples. The report noted that Americans’ love of cheese is not slowing down, with consumption of both processed and natural cheeses growing year over year for the last decade. Ice cream, too, continues to be a food of choice Americans enjoy on their plate. However, with butter prices being one of the influencing factors for the cost of ice cream and growing competition in the frozen dessert category, ice cream consumption has fallen to 11.7 pounds per person annually – the lowest level on record, according to Rabobank’s Global Dairy Strategist Mary Ledman.
“There’s good news, though,” Ledman said at the release. “Some brands have found success through innovation, particularly with lower-calorie and higher-protein offerings. Speaking of higher protein, who hasn’t seen the cottage cheese ice cream craze that has taken TikTok by storm and is likely cannibalizing some of the traditional ice cream demand?”
The one thing this report made clear was that while prices have risen because of our domestic supply and demand – influenced by both consumer options and inflation – the barbecue many will prepare for our Fourth of July celebrations is a heavily weighed all-American supply chain, and that’s a freedom I’m grateful for.
As we celebrate this Independence Day, thank you to the American farmers who grow and harvest the food, the hands that prepare it and those who have sacrificed their lives so that we may live in the land of the free.
