Prices On the Rise as Drought Strikes the Corn Belt - East Idaho News
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Prices On the Rise as Drought Strikes the Corn Belt

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GETTY 071112 CornFields?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1342062694895Ablestock/Thinkstock(CHICAGO) — About 60 percent of the American corn belt is now trapped in a drought. Wide sections of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio aren’t seeing rain. This has left nearly one third of the corn crop in these states in poor or very poor condition.

The price of corn — which is used in everything from cereal to soda to livestock feed — rose more than 30 cents on Tuesday alone, and over the last month prices have jumped by 30 percent.

Experts say the first supermarket items most likely to be affected by the price jump are dairy products, beef and chicken, because they all rely on animals fed with corn.

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