Carolina corn crop bringing higher prices - wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina |

It has been a busy week in the cornfields of western North Carolina. The corn crop is ready for harvest and farmers across the area have taken advantage of the drier weather to get the combines in the field and the crop to the silos.

"It's a decent crop," said Chris Wilson. Farmers were plagued by a late frost in April and blistering heat in June, so the crop is not a record one this year for many growers but still a lucrative one this year. Corn prices on the Commodity Markets are the highest in years, due in large part to the weather problems in the Midwest.

Many farmers in that part of the nation lost their entire crop cutting supply and causing prices to go up. Those higher prices will likely be passed on to consumers. Everything from corn oil to corn flakes, gasoline with ethanol to the beef products on the store shelves will see higher prices in the coming weeks and months. "It's already going up," said Butcher Harold Canipe.

Most of the corn grown in the Carolinas is used for cattle feed. Farmers do not set the price of the corn. That is done in the commodity markets such as the one in Chicago. "All we can do is the best we can and see what happens," said Wilson. Other years have had prices that were just break even or below. "We need years like this to offset those bad ones," said Wilson. "It's all a part of farming."