Excerpts: Little empirical research has examined the influence of fuel prices in conjunction with driver availability on food transportation and distribution costs. However, the most relevant historical study, Volpe et al. (2013), provided insights into the ways fuel prices are transmitted to wholesale-produce prices through transportation costs. Building on the research of Volpe et al., which used only fuel price to represent transportation costs, the current study broke down truck-shipping costs into two major components: fuel price and truck-driver availability, which accounted for almost 70 percent of marginal shipping costs. Also, in contrast to the Volpe study, which focused only on California-sourced produce, the current study analyzed data that included food sourced from 16 States and shipped to 9 terminal markets, from 2017 to 2022. With these data, the current study analyzed the impact of surging fuel prices and truck-driver availability on food transportation costs and, in turn, on the retail price of four of the most popularly consumed produce items: onions, potatoes, apples, and tomatoes.
