What is causing the recent food price uncertainty?

It’s been the case for about a year: prices at the grocery store going up, up, up.

"We’ve seen price increases across the board in every category," said Nolan Rodman of Rodman’s Discount Gourmet.

He showed FOX 5 some of the price increase emails he gets from suppliers. One of them, from a bakery, laments "unstable surging costs." Another came from a coffee company, with an official mentioning that "raw materials have increased across the board by more than 20 percent."

Asked how many similar emails he gets per week, Rodman replied, "dozens. Literally dozens."

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Dan Varroney, president and CEO of Potomac Core Consulting, said he wasn’t surprised. He added that energy prices, the war in Ukraine, and inflation have all already had a big impact on what we pay for food.

Employees stock a cheese and prepared foods display counter at Whole Foods supermarket in Chevy Chase, Maryland. (Photo by Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images)

"You put all three together and that’s where we are today," Varroney explained. He said the problem may still get worse.

"Ukraine and Russia are known as the breadbasket of Europe," Varroney said. "The crops in Ukraine as a result of the conflict may not be planted. So look at it this way: high scarcity and high demand equals what? Higher prices."

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It’s a sentiment Rodman and his customers have already heard a lot.

"We hear people every day coming in and complaining about prices," Rodman said. "In this day and age with what’s happening, it’s been really difficult to have good value for consumers."