The heat and drought ravaging much of the nation will soon be hitting America at the supermarket counter: cheese and milk prices will rise first, and corn and meat are probably not far behind.
Price hikes in basic food staples are causing huge concern to milk producers and others who rely on dairy to sustain an important part of the national farming economy.
The rises foreshadow expected price hikes in coming months for other food staples, such as meat, says Bruce Jones, a professor of agricultural economy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dairy is affected quickly because cows immediately make less milk.
There will still be milk to buy, says Roger Hoskin, an agricultural economist with the Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. "I can't imagine situations where you'd have people standing in line to get milk at the dairy counter. But they might not want it at the price it's selling at."
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