Crunchy or smooth?
Doesn't matter -- the price of your favorite peanut butter is going to spike very soon.
"Smuckers is talking about 20% increase", said President and CEO of Sunland Inc. Jimmie Shearer. "Some of the others are talking about as much as 40% increase in the cost of their peanut butter."
As it has with meat, hay and some produce items, the drought is taking a serious toll on peanut farmers and their crop this year.
"It's probably one of the most expensive crops they've ever raised because they turned their sprinklers on and they never turned them off", said Shearer.
From competing with cotton farmers for land, the extreme triple-digit temperatures and even the wind storm we saw a few nights ago, peanuts have had a rough year and peanut producers like Sunland Inc. out of Portales, New Mexico are feeling the effects.
"At this time last year we had brought in over 20 million pounds. To date this year, we have brought in 2 million," reported Shearer. "What we receive in the next month is the peanuts that we're going to have and it's going to be at that price until next harvest."
But even though the shortage is causing peanut prices to shoot through the roof, there will still be enough out there to get stuck to the roof of your mouth.
"Peanut butter prices are going to go up but I think that there will always be peanuts and peanut butter on the shelves," said Shearer. "We're not going to be that short."
Even still, you might cherish that last bite of your PB&J a little more next time...just in case.
