Marketing costs are by far the largest chunk of food expenditures. Over three-fourths of what U.S. consumers spent for food in 1993 went to pay for marketing, and only 22 percent represented the farm value of food. While the cost of providing marketing services beyond the farm gate increased modestly in 1993 due to the slow pace of the economic recovery, it continues to be the most persistent source of rising food expenditures. Food expenditures are divided into two main components: the farm value and the marketing bill. The farm value is a measure of the payments farmers receive for their raw commodities used in food purchased by consumers at foodstores and eating places. The marketing bill represents the difference between the farm value of food produced on U.S. farms and the final cost to consumers. Such costs of processing agricultural commodities into food and bringing them from the farm to the dinner table include labor, packaging, transportation, and energy.