President Joe Biden tours a Kankakee farm and talks about rising food and gas prices before a stop in Chicago to address electricians union

President Joe Biden said his administration was confronting soaring inflation and food prices in the U.S. and blamed the escalating costs on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as he offered relief to farmers Wednesday during a visit to a farm outside of Kankakee as part of a visit to the Chicago area.

Speaking in front a sign that read “Lowering Costs for American Families,” Biden praised American farms as “the breadbasket of democracy” after taking a brief tour of the 800-acre corn, wheat and soybean farm accompanied by its owners, Jeff and Gina O’Connor.

“Right now, America is fighting on two fronts: at home, as inflation and rising prices, and abroad, as helping Ukrainians defending democracy and feeding those who are left hungry around the world because Russian atrocities exist,” Biden said in a short speech on the farm. “The American farmers understand the war has cut off critical sources of food.”

Russian warships have obstructed access to Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, leaving to starve those nations reliant on Ukraine for food supply, Biden said.

The president’s visit came as a report out Wednesday showed inflation slowed in April after seven months of relentless gains, a tentative sign that price increases may be peaking while still imposing a financial strain on American households.

Still, the report contained some cautionary signs that inflation may be becoming more entrenched.

The sharp price gains from March to April “make clear that there is still a long way to go before inflation returns to more acceptable levels,” said Eric Winograd, U.S. economist at asset manager AB.

In Kankakee, the president stressed that his administration was promoting ways to assist farmers in keeping costs down. Farmers in the U.S., including the O’Connors, are helping on both fronts, Biden said, cutting the cost of food at home and feeding those abroad.

“We have to keep investing in our farmers to reduce costs and ditch prices for consumers,” Biden said. “We have the most productive, most efficient farmers in the world here in the United States.”

Biden said his administration’s efforts to help farms include cutting the red tape to provide double cropping insurance to more farmers who take the risk of planting two crops in the same year. His administration is expanding the number of counties eligible for such insurance.

OC Farm has been taking that risk right for 30 years, O’Connor told the Tribune, planning to plant soybeans after a summer wheat harvest. But Kankakee County isn’t eligible for such insurance, O’Connor said.

The farmer said he “appreciates” the work Biden’s administration is doing to fill the holes in the agricultural industry.

“I applaud President Biden’s efforts to place a spotlight on global food challenges created by the Ukraine conflict right now,” O’Connor said. “I also applaud his eagerness to work hand in hand with farmers getting healthy, high quality food affordable and accessible for people everywhere.”

Other ways Biden said he’s working to help include reducing costs at the fuel pump by allowing the sale of biodiesel in the summer months, when it is traditionally phased out. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has also invested $250 million into fertilizer production as fertilizer prices soar, Biden said.

Biden, who earlier had doffed his jacket on a stifling afternoon, repeated his oft-cited complaint that four big companies dominate the meat production industry and a lack of competition has led to record profits for them but higher prices to the consumer.

Joining the president were U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, a Matteson Democrat and head of the Illinois Democratic Party, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

“Very few people in this country fully appreciate that agriculture is big business,” Vilsack said. “It is, in fact, the vehicle through which we become a food-secure nation.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has cut off a major source of agricultural products including wheat and corn, while also disrupting global supply chains for fertilizer, the White House said.

Consumer prices jumped 8.3% last month from 12 months earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday. That was below the 8.5% year-over-year surge in March, which was the highest since 1981. On a month-to-month basis, prices rose 0.3% from March to April, the smallest increase in eight months.

Categories including food and gas that are everyday costs for most Americans have skyrocketed over the past year. Grocery prices, for example, have shot up 10.8%, the largest year-over-year jump since 1980. The cost of a gallon of gas fell 6.1% in April but is still up nearly 44% from a year ago.

While Biden was still on his way to the farm, Trump supporters congregated outside the Kankakee fairgrounds bearing flags, posters and USA garb. “You owe me gas money,” one sign read. Several touted Donald Trump’s false narrative that he was the winner of the 2020 election.

In Kankakee County, though, Trump bested Biden by more than 8,000 votes in the 2020 presidential election.

Following his stop at the farm, Biden was scheduled to address the 40th convention of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers at McCormick Place. The president also planned to attend a Democratic National Committee fundraiser before returning to Washington Wednesday evening.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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cspaulding@chicagotribune.com