Drought Worsens In Plains

While other corn growers already have knocked down their drought-ravaged crops to feed them to livestock, Nebraska farmer Doug Nelson still waits for his maize to mature, well aware it won’t be a banner year.

On the day a new report suggested the nation’s worst dry spell in at least a generation is deepening in America’s breadbasket, Nelson said Thursday he expects to harvest anywhere from nothing to 43 bushels per acre on his unirrigated acreage, a far cry from the 120 to 140 bushels he'd typically get. On the irrigated land, he could see 150 to 200 bushels an acre; in previous years, Nelson would see a minimum of 180 bushels.

‘‘For the most part, we haven’t seen a hit like this since 1974, as far as my career goes,’’ said the 61-year-old Nelson, who farms some 5,000 acres near Wayne. ‘‘But we'll have the combines going here in probably another month, and then we'll know for sure.

‘‘You can walk these fields and run into good spots, then walk another part where there’s a different soil and have nothing.’’

That’s part of the growing frustration with an increasing drought in Nebraska and several other farming states, despite recently cooler temperatures that have, at the very least, given people a break from this summer’s stifling heat.

The U.S. Drought Monitor’s weekly map showed that, as of Tuesday, just over two-thirds of Iowa, the nation’s biggest corn producer, was in extreme or exceptional drought — the worst two classifications. That’s up more than 5 percentage points, to 67.5 percent, from the previous week.

Nearly all of Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois are in extreme or exceptional drought, with Illinois showing the most dramatic climb, spiking 17 percentage points in one week to 96.72 percent, according to the map.

In neighboring Indiana, where 5 inches of rain fell in some parts over the past week or so, the area in exceptional or extreme drought fell 9 percentage points, to 37.09 percent.

Conditions cooled in the region, but little or no meaningful rain fell, said Mike Brewer, a National Climatic Data Center scientist who put together the latest map, which is released by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.

The lack of rain allowed exceptional and extreme drought conditions to continue expanding in the area from northern Missouri and into Kansas and Nebraska, he said.

On Wednesday, the USDA added 33 counties from eight drought-stricken states to its list of natural disaster areas, bringing that tally to 1,821 counties in 35 states over the past six weeks. That’s more than half of all U.S. counties, and the vast majority received the designation because of drought.

Plains farmers have begun harvesting what corn managed to survive, although many growers cut their fields weeks ago, chalking the year up as a loss. Some ranchers have sold livestock because they had no grass for grazing or money to buy feed, the price of which has soared.

In the lower 48 states, there was a subtle increase in the overall area experiencing at least some drought, from 61.77 percent last week to 63.2 percent. There was little change in the overall area seeing exceptional or extreme drought, which went from 6.26 percent last week to 6.31 percent this week.

Rain is expected in the northern Plains in coming days, though it may be too late to save many withered crops.

The U.S. Agriculture Department twice has slashed its forecast for this year’s corn and soybean output because of the drought. In the spring, it forecast the nation’s biggest harvest, as farmers planted 96.4 million acres of corn — the most since 1937. But the agency now expects the nation to produce 10.8 billion bushels, the fewest since 2006.

If that estimate holds, the federal government says it will be enough to meet the world’s needs and ensure there are no shortages. But experts say food prices will almost certainly climb — corn is widely used in products ranging from cosmetics to cereal, colas to candy bars.

While just 1 percent of the nation’s corn crop is brought in from the fields by this time of year, the USDA said Monday in its weekly crop progress report that 4 percent of the harvest is complete. The reaping is farther along in Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, Kentucky and Tennessee.

In an occupation that’s at nature’s mercy, ‘‘we've got to calculate we’re gonna lose a crop once in a while and calculate that into our expenses,’’ said Nelson, whose northeastern Nebraska farmland is about 60 percent corn, the rest soybeans. ‘‘Sometimes it’s heat, drought, excessive rains, bugs, winds. I guess that’s what keeps us coming back for next year.’’

© Copyright 2012 Globe Newspaper Company.

Drought 2012: Global Impact of Wilting U.S. Crops - Video

 

At least 32 states are feeling the effects of the drought as the unrelenting heat has pushed grain prices to record levels.

Corn is the major U.S. crop and a bad year drives the price up on everything from beef to cereal to fuel. As crops continue to wilt, farmers and consumers around the world are looking towards the sky, hoping for rain.

Drought 2012: U.S. Infrastructure Melting Under Record Heat

Airliners stuck in melting asphalt. Highways in Texas are buckling. A New York subway train derails after heat stretches the track. America is becoming alarmed by the effects of extreme weather on its aging infrastructure.

In the midst of the worst drought since the Dust Bowl, America's infrastructure is taking the toll. This year has recorded the warmest spring since record-keeping began in 1895. July 2011 to June 2012 was the hottest 12 months on record.

This summer, a Chicago nuclear power plant was required to get permission to keep operating because the pond it used for cooling water reached 102 degrees, surpassing the legal limit by two degrees, and a power plant nearby was forced to shut down because much of its cooling water had dried up.

Severe storms have also been leaving their mark. On June 29th, a storm in the Northeast left 4.3 million people without power, causing electric company Pepco to seriously contemplate burying its power lines – an endeavour which, at a cost of $1.1 to $5.8 billion, it ultimately deemed too expensive. In the past two and a half years, Pepco has dealt with five storms for which recovery took at least five days.

In 2011, 14 extreme weather-related events cost the US economy more than $55 billion.

And then there are the wild fires - like the fire that wiped out large parts of Colorado this summer. Aside from immediate damage caused by fires and storms, they can also affect water quality and water use, since run-off from storms and falling ash can shut down reservoirs.

As the US continues to melt, crack and burn with each major storm and drought, its infrastructure continues to collapse, as it already struggles with crop harvest shortages and rising food prices.

Drought 2012: Mississippi River On The Verge Of Shut Down

The record-breaking drought of 2012 is drying up the Mississippi River, which is critical for commercial travel. If the shrinkage continues at the current rate, all river traffic could be shut down costing the U.S. $300 million a day in commerce.

The Mississippi River is the highway accounts for 60% percent of grain, 22% of oil and natural gas and 20% of coal transportation.

But its narrowing and shallow waters are forcing barges to stop running or to reduce the weight of the goods they carry which is now showing up at the grocery store – leading to shortages. Areas of the river have dropped 20 feet below normal – and the decline is expected to continue.

If the Mississippi River is closed to all water traffic, goods like grain, oil, natural gas and coal will need to be transported by truck or train – costing the US an additional $300 million a day.

The American Queen Steamboat, which needs eight and a half feet (2.6 meters) of water to float, can no longer navigate the river after getting stuck in a town near Memphis, Tennessee. Its 300 passengers were forced to abandon their river voyage and reach their destination by bus instead.

In some parts of the Mississippi River, the salt water is moving upriver, threatening drinking water extracted from other areas. All river traffic was shut down for 12 hours to give the US Army Corps of Engineers time to try to keep the salt water contained.

In other areas, millions of fish are dying as the bottom of the river transforms into an exposed desert. The river flows into lakes and streams across the US, carrying the devastation to all corners of the Midwest. About 40,000 shovel-nose sturgeon fish were killed in Iowa in one week as water temperatures reached 97 degrees. In Illinois, fish carcasses clogged an intake screen near a power plant, causing it to shut down one of its generators.

But in some areas, dead fish can be found shrivelled up on barren land that used to be underwater.

If the Mississippi River continues to dry out, food shortages will only be part of the concern, as the economy could be slapped by rising cargo transportation prices.