The drought story is just getting worse and there is no significant weather relief predicted. 61% of the continental United States is now considered by the Drought Monitor to be in moderate to exceptional drought. This is the most since 1956 when 58% of the country was hit by drought. So in terms of the breadth of drought impact, this is the worst in 56 years.
Here are so quotes that put some detail on this developing disaster:
From the Associated Press:
Topsoil has turned dry while "crops, pastures and rangeland have deteriorated at a rate rarely seen in the last 18 years," (National Climatic Data Center)
Around a third of the nation's corn crop has been hurt, with some of it so badly damaged that farmers have already cut down their withered plants to feed to cattle. As of Sunday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, 38 percent of the corn crop was in poor or very poor condition, compared with 30 percent a week earlier.
"We're moving from a crisis to a horror story," said Purdue University
agronomist Tony Vyn. "I see an increasing number of fields that will produce
zero grain."
"They're moving corn from good-and-excellent condition to poor-to-very poor
in one week, which skips fair condition. What they're saying is it's a lot worse
than they thought," said farmer Larry Winger, who farms along the
Illinois-Indiana border 30 miles south of Purdue, commenting on the USDA
report.
"Corn and soybeans in the U.S. Midwest baked in an unrelenting heat wave on
Monday with fears rising of big crop losses that will boost food and fuel prices
and cut exports and aid from the world's top shipper of the key crops."
The message is the same as we always share in this blog: be prepared for any emergency or disaster. These things happen and we all need to take steps to prepare for them. Prudent food and water storage is one of the steps that we can all take.
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