The drought in California, which has resulted in the first water usage restrictions in the state's history, will have an impact much further than California itself,
David Weidner, a columnist for MarketWatch, told
Newsmax TV.
"California is bigger than the four next biggest states combined in terms of agriculture production," he told the network's "MidPoint" program.
"Farmers are going to be forced out of production, this is going to be very disruptive. How does this translate to you and me? We're going to be paying higher food prices."
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And how high will the price increases be?
"For specific food, it's going to be significant increases, 30 percent," Weidner said. "And this is just in the short term. This is just this year. Some of the produce that comes out of the state, asparagus, that kind of thing, is going to be much more expensive."
Food and beverages account for 18 percent of the consumer price index, so this is a big deal.
"The real problem starts next year when many of these crops are going to become particularly expensive to grow," Weidner said.
"That means we're going to see less in the marketplace. Supply and demand: we could see prices shoot up. Some experts talk about 50 percent, doubling in prices. That's going to hit pocketbooks."
Food is a key part of our budgets, Weidner points out. "And it's one that we can't really tinker with. I mean we can adjust our driver habits for gasoline, but everybody's got to eat and that's one overlooked point about the drought."
The drought isn't going to end soon, Weidner says. "Most climatologists say this pattern is going to persist for a while, so down the road, especially next year, some of these [water] reserves are either going to be running very low or dry up all together."
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