With many farmers around here growing corn for ethanol production, the cost of corn has gone up.  Now you might not think a lot about that but that means that the cost of feeding cattle (we have a few hundred head in our far pastures) is going way up also.  That means the price of beef will eventually go up.

But that’s not all.  A few farmers around here who grow popcorn varieties have turned over that crop to on for ethanol.   So when we go to the movies, we’ll see higher prices for popcorn soon too.

So much of the news has focused on oil prices going up but the economy is getting hit on several levels which will make times tough for the foreseeable future.