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Cleveland Plain Dealer...
Drought could push food prices up by 3 to 5 percent next year, USDA warns
By Shaina Cavazos
Thursday, July 26, 2012 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- This summer’s record-breaking heat could push food prices up by 3 to 5 percent next year, nearly double the normal rate, according the latest projection from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Expect to pay up to 5 percent more for beef, 4.5 percent more for dairy, 4 percent more for eggs and poultry and 3.5 percent more for pork because of soaring animal feed costs. 

“It’s all contingent on corn prices, and here in Ohio, corn is just now starting to come in,” said Nate Filler, president and chief executive of the Ohio Grocers Association in Columbus, which represents more than 400 food retailers. “If corn prices head higher, you can expect higher prices.” 

As the hot, dry weather dries out fields and withers crops across 60 percent of the mainland U.S., the largest area since the epic droughts of the 1930s and 1950s, prices have risen for corn, soybeans and other crops used to feed livestock. 

“It’s a disaster,” said Rick Tolman, chief executive of the National Corn Growers Association, according to the Associated Press. 

Farmers started out anticipating a record 14 billion bushel corn crop this year, but the drought could cut production by roughly 3 billion bushels. 

Steve Prochaska, an agronomy systems field specialist with the Ohio State University Extension, said that while drought conditions across Ohio vary from farm to farm, some growers are already seeing losses. 

Henry and Wood counties in Northwest Ohio have some of the better growing conditions in the state, Prochaska said, but some of those farms have already lost up to 50 percent of their yield potential. If there isn’t rain, it will continue to decline. 

“Sadly, we can start to get some idea of where we stand,” Prochaska said. 

“For some farmers, there’s just no way you can make up for the lost kernels that’s on those ears. We’re going to need timely rainfall to bring the rest of the crop in.” 

Depending on the farm, crops could still need up to 6 inches of rain to finish out the season. 

Read the rest of this article at the Cleveland Plain Dealer



 
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