The 2009 Farmer's Almanac hit store shelves Tuesday and it’s predicting a “numbing” winter for much of the country. On top of that, the Energy Information Administration Expects the cost of natural gas, electricity and heating oil to hit new records, which is not a good combination for local farmers and growers.

If you flip through pages of the 2009 Farmer's Almanac, you'll see it predicts a cold, wet winter is in store and that concerns people like James Combs, who grows a garden in the Jeff community of Perry County. He says he's always planted by the almanac.

“From the 16th to the 18th I was to do seed beds. Well, I did some seed beds the 20th, 21st and 22nd and had to re-do them because, they just didn't grow,” says Combs.

He says if a colder winter is on its way, his spinach, turnips and mustard greens could be in danger.

“If it gets cold early then of course it kills it off,” says Combs.

It also could mean tough times for cattle rancher Larry Clay.

“It would increase our costs. It would add to our overall production costs. We'd have to feed more hay, which would keep our tractors busy the more, we'd use more fuel,” says Clay.

He says the cold is hard on his cattle too.

“I've seen cattle stand out in 30 degree temperature with a cold rain. It seems like it hurts them worse than 20 degrees if it's dry,” says Clay.

“Going into a winter that's going to be extremely cold and a lot of snow is definitely going to affect agriculture. Fuel prices will definitely begin to rise again,” says Charles May, the Agriculture Agent with the Perry County Cooperative Extension Service.

“We'll put up all the hay we can or try to have enough to deal with whatever winter we get, you know?” adds Clay.

As for now he says he's just going to wait and see what happens.

The Farmer's Almanac is a 192 year old publication and claims an accuracy rate of 80 to 85 percent. National Weather Service forecasters say there is a 55 percent chance of having near normal or below normal temperatures this winter.