To say this is a bad year for corn would be an understatement.
One farmer's corn in Belmont County should be seven feet tall by now, but it's three feet tall.
Some of the ears are badly formed, others are not formed at all.
"We expected to get 125 to 140 bushels this year," said Jack Mazgaj of Belmont County. "Due to the dry weather, that's way down. We might get ten bushels per acre. It's a total loss."
"It's been dry throughout the country," said OSU Extension Educator Steve Schumacher. "Not only dry but awfully hot. And so the drought has greatly affected corn yields. And even the rain that we had recently came too late."
Corn prices are up 40% over last year.
Gas we put in our car is 90% gas, 10% ethanol.
Ethanol is made of corn.
So all of a sudden a crop failure doesn't just affect the grocery store and the dinner table, it affects the gas pump too.
"It may affect gas prices to some extent," says Schumacher. "But that pales in comparison to the effect that crude oil prices have on the price of gas."
However, the corn situation is so significant, Schumacher says officials are considering easing off the mandate that gasoline must contain 10% ethanol.
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