Price of corn is popping up

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Scott Jagow: I can’t imagine what the airlines are gonna start charging for meals. The price of corn looks like it’s going to be a killer this summer. Sarah Gardner reports from our Sustainability Desk.

Sarah Gardner: A wet, cool spring combined with recent flooding is fueling predictions of a smaller U.S. corn harvest this year. And that’s driving corn prices up to new records.

David Hightower: We’re in uncharted territory as we speak.

Commodity analysts like David Hightower watched corn futures surpass the $7 a bushel mark this week. Some predict prices are headed much higher. That doesn’t bode well for already-steep food prices, since corn’s an ingredient in so much processed food.

Dan Basse is president of research company AgResource:

Dan Basse: Somewhere at the end of this year and the beginning of 2009, the U.S. consumer is going to be facing probably a 30 to 40 percent rise in the price of hamburger, the price of milk, the price of eggs and all those other things that go along with high corn prices.

Analysts predict some pork and beef producers will go belly-up due to pricey corn feed. Basse says a few small midwestern ethanol producers have already closed down temporarily as corn prices soar.

I’m Sarah Gardner for Marketplace.