Drought in Summer 2012

Because of the climate in states that have a lot of farms, farmers are watching their crops wither and dry up. These farms that are dried up show farmers watching their livelihood for the year.

So many people are suffering from drought around the U.S. that it is the most widespread has had since 1959.

A climatologist named Brian Fuchs who works at the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska said, “I think we’re still developing , we’re intensifying and spreading , until we kind of see a peak in it and start seeing some improvements, it’s tough to say where this one will rank, it has the potential of being a very bad drought of memory for many people.  He also said that according to forecasters several months yet will be hot and dry like the summer of 2012.

For those who were hoping, July was just as hot and dry as June 2012. During this July there has been extra hot weather. Evansville, Indiana had 9 days over 90 degrees with July 5, 2012 reaching 107. On June 28, 2012 the temperature in Norton, Kansas  had 107 degrees and it was 111 disease one day this summer in Yuma Colorado.

The USDA said Michigan’s crops ranked 56% of ranked poor or very poor; Ohio had 47% that ranked poor or very poor. In Missouri 72% of the corn crops are poor or very poor. My own state of Pennsylvania fared much better with only 16% rated poor or very poor.

The reason prices are going to go up because farmers have to feed their animals which with the drought they have to buy feed. Dairy operations are going up in price and processing will go up in price. We will see prices higher at the supermarket. But don’t worry yet, you still have some time to stock up on staples because higher prices won’t be for awhile and the prices might not go as high as some people might think they are going to go.

Ricky Volpe, an economist with the department of agriculture says, “People need to understand there’s so many other factors that drive up the prices we see at the supermarket. There’s labor, overhead, advertisement, transportation and a lot of these factors  and a lot of these factors are even more important in the restaurant industry.”

Only 14 cents of each dollar spent on food goes back to the farmers.Mr Volpe said, “It’s not nothing. It’s not insignificant but it’s more than a lot of people think..”

The food products most likely to go up in price  are dairy products, eggs, meats grains like wheat and corn. It is not known how food prices will be impacted until harvest time.

Todd Nicholson of the Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association said, “It’s all anecdotal at this point and farmers tend to be pretty conservative. There’s no doubt it’s going to be a down year, but the degree…won’t really be answered until we get into the field for harvest.”

Chris Hurt agricultural economist at Purdue University said in processed food has such a low amount of corn. His example, corn flakes contain only 5% corn so that a box that was $3 it would be a 15 cent increase a box. Most feed grain for animals are 95% corn, which means the prices in food is going up in meats.