‘It’s like when you see the tsunami coming in’: Agricultural economists are sounding the alarm about produce prices doubling

A woman with red hair raises her hand to her mouth in shock at her grocery bill at the store. (Credit: Murat Deniz—Getty Images)

Milk prices jumping from $7 to $14, strawberries that feel like luxury goods, and a switch to processed food: This is the six-month outlook economists studying labor and agriculture see for consumers. 

Yet these consumers “don’t have a clue what’s going on,” Raymond Robertson, a labor economist at Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government who has advised U.S. agencies on trade and labor policy, told Fortune.