Soggy Fields Equals Sky High Prices
This column was written by CBS News Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.
I was on the phone today with a friend of mine who lives in Iowa. He said, "It's been raining a lot". "We're soaked", he complained.
A quick look at the radar for the state showed a heavy band of thunder showers moving through with more rain expected later today.
In Iowa City college kids have been sand bagging along the river to protect the dorms at the University of Iowa. Up in cedar falls they have serious flooding. In Waterloo, a railroad bridge was swept away by the heavy currents.
I point this out because Iowa is the heart of corn country. Soggy fields in Iowa, Indiana and elsewhere led the Department of Agriculture to lower its crop estimates, which has sent the price of corn ever upward again.
Corn futures have almost tripled in the last year and that means you'll be paying even more for proteins like beef and chicken.
It used to be we could eat our way through miserable times. But inflation of food prices is making that difficult too.
By Harry Smith