Larry Elias Consulting

07/29/2026

How about you--if you're a pet owner, how has the cost of caring for your pet impacted you? Some people are surrendering pets due to affordability. Animal shelters nationwide report a surge in economic-related owner surrenders and overcrowding, driven by expensive pet food and soaring veterinary bills.

Pet owners are scaling back nonessential purchases and choosing lower-cost alternatives, a shift that affects routine care and everyday spending. The video outlines budget pet care strategies such as ...

07/02/2026

California got this one right. "Sell By" dates on food are misleading. "Best By" makes more sense. Our education system and food producers need to do a better job of informing consumers. Too much good food is wasted.

California is making food labels less confusing by banning "sell by" dates. The new law starting Wednesday requires manufacturers to use just two labels: "Best if Used By" for peak quality and "Use By" for safety.

07/01/2026

AI is now being accused of fixing gas prices. Doesn't AI do what it's programmed to do?

The complaint accuses several retailers of engaging in price-fixing through the use of Kalibrate’s fuel pricing technology.

06/08/2026

If you've never heard of The Farm Babe, she does a good job representing agriculture. I don't always agree with her. She often has a bent against retailers and wholesalers, generalizing about "big retail" making a killing while farmers get the short end of the stick. That's a half-true oversimplification at best. But she exists to help people who make their living in agriculture and I support that. She got her start by taking on The Food Babe--and that's good, because the Food Babe ignores science, nutrition, and uses fear to promote her personal agenda.

06/08/2026

Hy-Vee's sale of 21 C-stores is a big move for Pump & Pantry.

The sale to Pump & Pantry will allow the Midwest grocer to focus on running c-stores that sit adjacent to its supermarkets.

05/23/2026

“Non-GMO” has become one of the most successful marketing labels in the grocery store.

Not because it makes food safer... but because it makes people feel like it does.

Let's talk about what a GMO actually is - because a lot of people have been taught to fear a science term they don't even understand.

GMO stands for genetically modified organism. In farming, that means a plant has been modified to handle things like insects, disease & Weather conditions, better.

That's it.

Farmers aren't growing mutant food in some under ground lab. We're growing crops that can survive bugs, weeds, dry weather, rising costs, and completely unpredictable seasons.

But somewhere along the way, "GMO" got twisted into something scary - and "Non-GMO" got turned into a gold star.

Here’s a handful of GMO crops commonly grown in the United States:
• Cotton
• Soybeans
• Corn

So when you see things like "Non-GMO" water... or salt... or products that never had a GMO version to begin with...

That's not transparency.

That's marketing. PERIOD.

Meanwhile, most livestock are fed GMO corn and soybeans - because they're efficient, reliable, and help farmers produce more with less land, less fuel, and fewer losses to things that are preventable.

You don't have to like GMOs.

But you should at least understand what you're being told to be afraid of.

05/15/2026

Another successful year of Junior Achievement!

05/14/2026

Overall inflation was nearly 4% in April--the highest rate in 3 years. Grocery was almost 3%. Beef, produce and coffee continue to go up. I'm curious--what are you doing to fight inflation at the grocery store? I'd love to hear your comments.

Tomato prices were up nearly 40% year over year in April, the quickest rate of inflation among the food-at-home categories that the BLS tracks.

04/09/2026

Q: Why are we getting podcasts from the Secretary of Health and Human Services when he should be making our country healthier?
A: Because podcasts are better at getting out the vote.
A cabinet-level official that says "exspecially"? Incredible.

04/08/2026

Fuel surcharges are now increasing inflation. Amazon, UPS, Delta, United, USPS, and more.
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