This summer is one of the hottest that this country has experienced so far, with record breaking heat waves and no end in sight. The bread belt in particular has suffered droughts, resulting in shortages of one essential crop: corn. But the shortage of corn will have greater impact than simply the price of corn.

Brad Rippey, a meteorologist for the Department of Agriculture, said “We’re expecting significant reductions in production potential yield, potential for corn and soybeans in particular.” According to government surveys, around 88 percent of the corn crops are currently effected by the drought.

A corn shortage has the potential to raise the price of goods all across the market. Corn is in many products. This includes not only the expected chips, grains and cereals, but also any item containing high fructose corn syrup. Non-food products that contain corn ingredients include diaper liners, feminine hygiene products, and some types of plastic. This number increases when you include goods with a cornstarch base as well.

When the cost of the main ingredient is higher, the consumer is going to make up the difference.

The drought will impact another area: the livestock industry. Most feed for poultry and cattle is corn based. According to the New York Times, the price of chicken, turkey, and dairy will rise between 3.5 and 4.5 percent, the price of beef between 4 and 5 percent, the price of pork between 2.5 and 3.5 percent, and the price of eggs between 3 and 4 percent.

In addition, farmers will substitute other grains like wheat and soy. Expect those prices to go up, too.

Despite the shortages, the global demand for corn is at a high. Since Russia stopped exporting wheat last year due to their own droughts and food shortages, the demand for corn feed skyrocketed. Yet the U.S. is exporting twice the amount of corn for fuel instead of food. Farmers have to utilize valuable crop land to meet the demands of the petroleum industry as opposed to the hungry.

Many believe that the crisis can be solved if priorities are realigned. Commodities analyst Shawn Hackett told Minyanville “It is a reason we’re having trouble with corn acreage right now. It’s forced farmers to plant more and more acreage to cover the extra demand from ethanol.”

The New England Complex Systems Institute believes this could result in a food crisis that impacts all countries. Their analysis of the problem concludes that “all the factors proposed to be responsible for the recent dramatic spikes and fluctuations in global food prices, rapid increases in the amount of corn-to-ethanol conversion and speculation on futures markets were the only factors which could justifiably be held responsible.”

Without selling corn for ethanol, however, farmers are likely to go out of business, and then there won’t be any corn at all. The price of gas will go up because a key ingredient is missing.

The corn shortage is guaranteed to have economical impact. While it is too early to tell the scale, whether more countries and products will be effected, consumers should be aware of the potential of so little rain.

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Expired foods mistakenly made its way to public school cafeterias last week, declared the Massachusetts State Department of Education. Roughly a dozen of schools reported expired food shipments from warehouses of at least six weeks past the expiration date.

Expired food first showed up last month in Boston. Since then the problem has been targeted state-wide.

City councilor of Boston John Connelly said that many of the students from Boston are given discounted or free food at school. Now that expired food has been surfacing in these schools, Connolly fears that the students may be receiving food of no or low nutritional value.

Due to these events, school board members and officials have asked the Agriculture Department to place a more standardized system of determining expiration dates.

The current system consists of randomization of coding practices to date the food. Some food packages are labeled with an expiration date, some with a packaged-on stamp, and others with no dates.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines complicate the situation, saying that the food products may be fine to eat even after the date listed.

The food is supplied by USDA and is stored by four different warehouse facilities.

According to JC Considine, spokesperson of Elementary and Secondary Education of Massachusetts, the expired food has been coming from one of the warehouses that deliver food to the northeastern part of the state.

All of the warehouses are currently under review to ensure there will be no more expired food delivered.

In Boston last month, officials reported 280 cases of food with questionable dates in 40 of 46 full service kitchens that serve 135 public schools. Out of date products included cheese, chickpeas, and beef patties. Some of the dates were as old as 2009.

Recently, officials identified over 3,000 cases of expired food at the storage facility.

”We uncovered some real fiscal waste because of inventory mismanagement that was resulting in the expired food making its way into schools,” Connelly said.
This news has prompted an immediate upgrade to the inventory management and changed long-term menu planning.

Boston school officials have reassured parents and students the food being served is safe, but some schools have reported a decrease in breakfast and lunch participation since the situation came to light.

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