Peanut butter prices go way up after poor peanut harvest

A trip down the condiment aisle at your local supermarket will look different today, now that peanut butter price increases are in effect.

Following what CNN calls “one of the worst peanut harvests in decades,” manufacturers and merchants are hiking prices by as much as 40 percent.

Kraft, Peter Pan and Smucker’s are already costing customers more, with American peanut production expected to be down 13 percent from last year. Why the poor harvest? It’s being attributed to the drought across the Southern U.S. this year and to farmers turning their attention to other high-priced crops.