NEW YORK (AP) - Get ready for more sticker shock at the grocery store. Floods in the Midwest that swallowed crops and sent corn and soybean prices soaring are causing more grief.
Beef, pork, poultry and even eggs, cheese and milk are expected to get more expensive as livestock owners go out of business or are forced to slaughter more cattle, hogs, turkeys and chickens to cope with rocketing costs for feed.
The floods engulfed an estimated 2 million or more acres of corn and soybean fields in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois and other key growing states.
The government will give a partial idea of how many corn acres were lost before the end of the month. Expects say the trickle-down effect could be more dramatic later this year, affecting everything from Thanksgiving turkeys to Christmas hams.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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