SIOUX CITY, IA -
The Drought of 2012 has caused severe damage to the nation's grain crops this year, but those farmers aren't the only ones feeling the burn.
Cattle and hog farmers are getting nervous, because when there isn't enough corn, the cost to feed their animals goes up.
The heat and dry conditions have already affected the corn crop here in Iowa and other parts of the U.S., but this may only be the beginning.
That's because the corn that has survived will cost more, because there's less to go around.
"We may be over a billion bushels short, so when we talk about corn rationing, the price has to go up," said Dave Stender, a Swine Specialist at Iowa State University.
He says before 2006 the corn price used to average $2.30 a bushel, now it's three times that price.
That kicks off a domino effect. Cattle and hog farmers rely heavily on that corn to feed their livestock. If the cattle farmers can't afford the corn feed, they may be forced to shut down, which could lead to farmers selling their livestock, meaning less profit for them and higher prices for you at the grocery store.
"Pork is $3.50 a pound, so 30 cents, 35 cents, that'd be a 10 percent increase, so that's the kind of thing were talking about. We have to feed pigs, and there's not a lot we can do. I mean in Iowa, there is corn and soybeans, and we can find alternative feeds or try to, but we have to haul them in from somewhere else, there just not here," Stender said.
And well after this drought is over, consumers will feel the pinch.
Stendel also said a good option for cattle and hog farmers would be to sell their livestock now at a lighter weight while the market is high.
