Could that make food more expensive? Allen Henry from WCCO went to a farm in Wright County to see for himself and find out.
Dan Glessing, a dairy farmer, said, “It’s disappointing when you get in the combine and think you’re going to have a good harvest, but those bushels just don’t add up.”
But that’s what many farmers had to deal with this year during the harvest. Some people are going through their second drought in a row, and the costs keep adding up.
“It’s not necessary for us to play the Powerball. Every spring, we have the Powerball here,” said Glessing. “Every acre of this crop costs a lot of money, and you’re taking a chance that you’ll get your money back at the end of the season.”
Farmers told WCCO that cornfields show the effects of the drought. Not only does it affect how much this field can grow, but it also makes the normally soft soil as hard as a rock.
“They’ve always had to adjust to the weather, but it seems like disaster after disaster this year,” said Whitney Place, State Executive Director for the USDA Farm Service Agency.
Due to the drought, the USDA has said that 18 counties in Minnesota are natural disaster areas and will help farmers with money.
But the drought may have already hurt your finances.
“It’s clear that these big events can have an effect on the food market,” said Place.
Farmers say that even though rain is expected, it might not be enough to get next year off on the right foot.
“Three-tenths won’t be enough. “We need inches, but not all at once, if that makes sense,” Glessing said. “You need to let each drop of rain soak into that soil.”
The USDA says that it’s not clear how much the drought is affecting food prices because there are so many other things that affect prices.
Prices are also going up because of things like problems with the supply chain that keep going on, the war in Ukraine, and the cost of fuel.
