Drought has big impact on farmers, food prices

As the extreme drought in Oklahoma continues, many people are concerned about the impact it will have on this year’s wheat crop.

State Climatologist Gary McManus tells KRMG this drought has been building for quite some time and other weather conditions have also contributed to the crop concerns.

“We had sort of a rough time after we planted and then we had a rough winter." McManus said.

On top of that, McManus says the late freeze that happened in April made things even worse.

“[The late freeze] impacted the drought-stressed wheat pretty badly in some areas.” McManus added.

He says tough conditions like this can force farmers to sell off cattle to lower their costs, which also hurts their profits.

All of these things tie together in the end when food prices go up for all of us in the grocery store.