The Cost and Consequences of the U.S. Drought
The 2012 farming season may be in its waning days, but the consequences of this year’s drought, the worst of its kind in 25 years, are yet to be known.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that the drought will push retail food prices up by between 3% and 4% in 2013. That’s a higher-than-average number, but only barely: over the last 20 years, average annual increases have been between 2.5% and 3%. Next year, most of the cost increases will be centered on animal products, like eggs, beef and dairy, which were particularly affected by not only this year’s drought but a similar dry spell across cattle farm-heavy stretches of the southwestern United States in 2011.
