I'm sorry, who exactly was the population sampled that was willing to pay $3.79/lb for pasta at the end of last year? Because I'm willing to pay about $0.99/lb, and only if I'm completely out, otherwise $0.75/lb.
I mean I don't see that survey jiving with reality when I go to the grocery store. I've never seen hamburger cheaper than chicken, so I don't understand in what world they think economically consumers are actually willing to pay more for chicken than hamburger, but dumb chicken farmers just haven't figured out they could raise prices from $1/lb to $5/lb and it would still sell.