MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By David Zeiler – “A drought affecting one-third of the lower 48 states has hurt several key food crops, driving up prices this year and assuring widespread food inflation well into 2012.

According to the National Climatic Data Center, the drought has caused more than $10 billion in losses to agriculture and cattle, a number it expects to keep rising as the drought continues.

Meteorologists blame the drought on a La Niña weather pattern expected to last at least through the winter.

Crops most affected include corn and peanuts. In addition, the lack of rain dried cattle grazing pastures to dust, which has translated to higher beef prices.

‘Yes, we are going to see higher prices this Thanksgiving,’ Purdue University agricultural economist Corinne Alexander told The Atlantic.

The American Farm Bureau estimates that a Thanksgiving meal for 10 will cost 13% more this year than it did last year.

The U.S. economy already has inflationary pressure as a result of the stimulative policies of the U.S. Federal Reserve pumping it with hundreds of billions of dollars.

‘Ultra-low interest rates and excess money supply growth are what’s been driving inflation,’ said Money Morning Global Investing Strategist Martin Hutchinson. ‘They raise commodity prices, which over time feeds into inflation in general.’

Now the drought is pushing food inflation higher than overall inflation.” Read more.