By Steve Patterson
Silex, MO (KSDK) - For a good idea on what the drought may do to food prices at your local supermarket, visit a local hog farm.
Mark Fleming owns a hog farm in Silex, Missouri where the price of corn-based feed is affecting every part of his operation.
Fleming says he usually purchases about 80 percent of his feed and produces the rest on his farm. This year, because of the drought, his corn crop is destroyed and he'll have to buy in its entirety.
Generally a bushel costs him about $2.50. Now it's up to about $7.50 to $8.00 per bushel because of the drought.
There are about 1,800 pigs on this farm. Mark says he's easily spending about $200,000 from about three years ago. He says it's tough to work when every day, he knows his farm is losing money.
"Well it's real frustrating. I mean it's, emotionally, it's hard to get up and want to go to work when you know you're probably not going to make anything today," he said. "You're probably going to lose money. I guess it would be like going to work and they're telling you 'you're not going to get paid for the next 30 days,' but you still come in and work."
KSDK