WSAW - Agriculture - Headlines

Grocery Prices Expected To Rise

Updated: Fri 10:44 PM, Jul 27, 2012

Thanks to the recent drought, corn has become a hot commodity, setting the prices for almost everything.

Farmers predicted it and now it is being confirmed by the US Department of Agriculture.

Food prices will increase.

The worst drought in neary 25 years is expected to result in the largest percentage increase next year for products like beef, pork and dairy.

"Right now, producers have their animals sitting in the feed lot. They're working on beefing them up. They're giving them corn, but the price of corn is slowly going up," said UW-Extension Dairy Agent Heather Schlesser.

By 2013, the USDA projects the price of beef to rise 4 to 5 percent. The price of eggs to rise 3 to 4 percent. The price of pork to rise 2.5 to 3.5 percent. And the price hikes will not stop there.

Suprising to some, dairy products will also cost more and not just because of the drought.

Schlesser told Newschannel 7 that dairy cows prefer temperatures in the sixities. When the temperatures climb above 75, animals get stressed and drop in milk production.

This means prices on everything, from yogurt to frozen pizza, will go up.

But that is not stopping some of the people we spoke to from buying their grocery store favorites.

Others told us that while the rise in prices may not change their shopping habits, it might change other peoples.

Especially those who make minimum wage, live on a fixed income or live off social security.

Prices for beef are actually expected to go down before going up.

The reason, many dairy farmers are being forced to take their cows to market because they can not afford to feed them all.


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