Doug White never thought being a bread enthusiast would have an effect on how he budgeted for food. Food prices have been on a steep rise for the last year, but bakery items such as a loaf of bread have risen even more drastically.

“It’s not a real big deal, but sometimes I don’t let myself buy that cup of coffee on the way to work, or stuff like that,” he said.

White, a Lawrence resident, isn’t buying less bread than he has for the past 15 years, but his favorite food is costing him more. The prices at local bakeries and pizza shops have skyrocketed by as much as 46 percent in the past year and a half.

Bob Garrett, owner of Great Harvest Bread Co., 807 Vermont St., said his business had taken a financial hit from high wheat prices. His store produces 6,000 to 7,000 loaves of bread per month at a cost of about $1 per loaf. Garrett said that a year ago, a loaf of bread cost about $.80 to make. That means Garrett spends about $1,400 extra per month on making bread.

Garrett said it had become increasingly difficult to make a profit, but his business was constantly thinking of new ways to cut costs. He said the store had scheduled labor tighter and started shopping more competitively for the cheapest Hard Red Spring Wheat, the type of wheat used to make almost every type of bread.

“We decided months ago that we would not reduce the quality of our product,” Garrett said.

The bakery has raised its menu prices three times in the past nine months to keep up with the rising cost of wheat. A $5.50 loaf of honey whole wheat bread cost $3.75 last December. That 46 percent increase in menu prices has changed the way Garrett operates his bakery.

“Our prices should be higher, but we have continually stayed behind the average price of a loaf of bread,” Garrett said.

Terry Kastens, professor of agriculture economics at Kansas State University, said wheat prices 15 months ago were less than $5 per bushel. He said this month prices had been floating between $8 and $9. Three months ago, one bushel of wheat went for more than $12.

Kastens said the price of every crop had risen because of the soaring cost of energy, especially crude oil. The increased production of ethanol in 2006 and a massive world demand on limited supplies have caused wheat prices to rise more than other crops.

“When ethanol became more popular, a lot of the acreage for wheat was converted into corn fields and soy bean fields,” Kastens said.

Although the rise in grain prices has severely affected businesses and consumers, the agriculture industry has benefited.

“Generally, anybody connected to agriculture is making a pretty good profit,” Kastens said. “It has really provided an economic boom for all the rural areas.”

According to the Kansas Wheat Commission, wheat will have a $2 billion economic effect on Kansas in 2008. Farmers, mill operators and farm implement businesses will see the biggest profit.

Not everybody has been positively affected. At Muncher’s Bakery, 925 Iowa St., owner Mike Tennyson has been forced to raise the price of every item on the menu by 20 percent. The price change was made in April, but there hasn’t been a drop-off in business since then. Tennyson said that he believed most customers understood that increasing prices were necessary.

“It’s something you just have to do,” he said. “We had no choice. Once red flour went from $8.95 per bag to $29 per bag in one month, we had no option but to raise the prices. It would have devastated us.”

Pizza restaurants have also been affected by wheat prices. Papa Keno’s Pizzeria employee Emma Golden, said that Papa Keno’s, 1035 Massachusetts St., had a staff meeting a month ago about the rising cost of wheat. To save money, employees have been instructed to put fewer toppings on the pizzas.

Kastens said that wheat prices had started to decrease during the past few weeks, but that prices would never return to $5 per bushel. He said he didn’t expect prices to reach $12 per bushel again anytime soon.

“It’s very tough to predict because the market is extremely volatile right now,” Kastens said. “My guess is that the prices will rebound and start to go back up sooner than later.”

White said he would still buy two to three loaves of fresh-baked bread a week, just as he had for the past 15 years.

“Since I love the fresh bread, I try to cut out other expenses that aren’t necessary,” White said.

— - Edited by Jennifer Torline