Indiana residents will pay an average of $68.33 for a summer cookout feeding 10 people — a 2% decrease from last year — according to the 2024 Indiana Farm Bureau (INFB) summer market basket survey results released Wednesday. This rounds out to approximately $6.83 per person. 

Although the $68.33 price tag of the cookout decreased from last year, food costs in Indiana are still significantly higher than costs in 2021 ($56.70) and 2022 ($64.32). 

The INFB conducts the annual survey in conjunction with the American Farm Bureau Federation’s national survey. This year’s results indicate Indiana’s prices are 4% or 29 cents less per person than the average U.S. prices.

While inflation has slightly cooled nationwide, high interest rates and prices have generally curbed consumer spending in recent months. Janis Highley, second vice president of the INFB, said part of the reason the Indiana consumers may see lower costs at a grocery store or farmers market compared to restaurants is because there are lower overhead costs. 

“There is a little glimmer of hope out there for us,” Highley told the Capital Chronicle. “Cooking at home, and these farmers markets and just farmers in general were resilient. And the good healthy food that we can provide for the consumers — this really shines a light on that.”

Which items saw price changes? 

Costs for a 10-person summer cookout reached an all-time high in 2023, with the average total meal price reaching $69.48, according to data from the INFB. Todd Davis, chief economist for the INFB, said inflation for the cost of food purchased at grocery stores has been slower than the overall inflation for the economy. 

Indiana’s prices are on par with prices for other Midwest states. Davis said the general location of Indiana helps keep the costs for consumers low.

“Indiana and the Midwest is at the heart of where a lot of food is produced, and if it’s not produced here, it’s nearby,” Davis said. “We’re the crossroads of the nation. And so logistically, our costs are lower than if you are on the east or west coast.”  

The survey includes the cost of 12 items; ground beef, cheese, cookies, ice cream, strawberries, chips, chicken breast, pork chops, pork and beans, hamburger buns, lemonade and potato salad. 

While the overall cost of a cookout decreased, some items — specifically proteins — saw increases. The price of ground beef increased 14% from last year to $13.88, a cost 9% higher than the U.S. average cost. Costs for pork chops also increased by 64 cents. 

The cost of hamburger buns, lemonade, potato salad and strawberries also increased from last year. 

“Even though we are in the Midwest, I think we’re still seeing recovery from COVID,” Highley said. “With these interest rates and the supply and demand, what is available, even in the Midwest, we really do feel that pinch”

Prices for cookies, cheese, ice cream, chips and chicken breasts decreased from 2023. 

The INFB conducts the survey in June by having volunteer shoppers look for prices on specific food items at their local grocery stores. These shoppers look for the best possible prices and do not use special coupons or purchase deals. However, Davis said it’s important to look at the survey results as “a snapshot in time of what shoppers experienced on a certain day” in June. 

“A lot of supermarkets are now getting their Fourth of July promotions and sales out for customers,” Davis said. “You could likely find better bargains, especially proteins.” 

Impact on farmers

Highley, whose family are corn and soybean farmers in Northeast Indiana, said that high costs don’t necessarily mean farmers see higher profits. 

“If you envision a $1 bill, 15 cents out of that goes back to the farmer himself,” Highley said. “The rest of it goes into transportation, production, what have you. But input costs continue to be relatively high on our farm.”

An Investigate Midwest analysis found that Midwestern states saw the combined loss of around 30,000 farms from 2017 to 2022 as many farms were consolidated or went out of business.

“Farmers are price takers, not price makers,” Highley said. “We’re less than 2% of the population that’s feeding 98% of the world. And so we are working hard, but we do feel the pain as well.” 

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers did not make a pick in the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft. Their top selection of the draft proceedings isn’t until the 36th overall pick, and they didn’t move up into the top-30 on Wednesday night.

“The draft this year, we’re limited a little bit because we don’t have a first-round pick,” Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan said late last month. “But that’s not to say we won’t try to be aggressive if there’s something out there to try to address some needs that we have.”

A few teams moved into the late first round, including the Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC traded five future second-round picks for the 26th overall selection, and both Washington and Denver made deals to move up within the 20s.

Indiana has three second-round picks this year and entered Wednesday as one of seven teams with more than two picks. They have extra second rounders in future drafts as well, and that could have created an attractive trade package. But Indiana, who already has a deep roster and a ton of youth, has less need for another first-round pick than other franchises. Their future assets can be better used.

The blue and gold also currently only have three roster spots, so fitting in draft picks to their plans may be difficult. They ran into a similar problem last year, which is another consequence of having as much depth as they have.

Now, the Pacers turn to night two. They will be one of the busiest teams in the NBA on Thursday as they sort out their three picks (36, 49, and 50). Indiana may be looking for two-way contract talent with their later choices or perhaps draft-and-stash candidates. With their best pick, Buchanan said the team will get the best player they can.

“We look at it as we have the sixth pick in the draft on Thursday night,” the GM said of the two-night draft.

Coverage of the second round begins at 4 p.m. EST on Thursday. There will be four minutes in between picks, and the proceedings will take place at ESPN‘s Seaport District Studios. Recent mock drafts show that there are a number of things the Pacers could do on Thursday, and there isn’t a bad strategy.

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana is one of 27 states where state-backed executions are still legal, but no one has been put to death in a Hoosier prison in 15 years. Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and Attorney General Todd Rokita look to change that.

On Wednesday, Rokita’s office filed a motion with the Indiana Supreme Court seeking to set a date for the execution of Joseph Corcoran — a Fort Wayne man found guilty of murdering four people in 1997.

If put to death, Corcoran will be the first person to be executed in Indiana since Matthew Eric Wrinkles was killed via lethal injection in 2009.

Why the pause in executions? While Indiana’s death penalty remains in effect and eight convicted murderers currently sit on death row, a lack of drugs has meant a lack of executions.

Drugs used in the lethal injection cocktail include methohexital, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. But the drugmakers behind those drugs don’t want their products used to kill prisoners.

Some states have even sought workarounds by passing “secrecy statutes” to prevent companies from learning if the drugs were being purchased for execution purposes.

But Holcomb said, after years of effort, the Indiana Department of Correction has acquired a drug — pentobarbital — which can be used to carry out an execution.

“I am fulfilling my duties as governor to follow the law and move forward appropriately in this matter,” Holcomb said.

Corcoran was found guilty by a jury in 1999 of shooting and killing his brother, James Corcoran; his sister’s fiance, Robert Scott Turner; and two of their friends, Timothy Bricker and Douglas Stillwell. Corcoran has exhausted all his appeals in 2016, according to Rokita, and has been sitting in death’s row awaiting execution since.

“In Indiana, state law authorizes the death penalty as a means of providing justice for victims of society’s most heinous crimes and holding perpetrators accountable,” Rokita said. “Further, it serves as an effective deterrent for certain potential offenders who might otherwise commit similar extreme crimes of violence.”

In his filing, Rokita called on the state’s high court to “immediately enable executions in our prison to resume” now that a lethal injection drug has been acquired. Corcoran is the first of Indiana’s death row convicts who could face the needle if the Indiana Supreme Court agrees to set an execution date and resume the death penalty.