Drought spreads, boosts corn to record price
Source: Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The worst drought in a half century will continue to plague most of the U.S. Midwest crop region for at least the next 10 days, with only occasional showers providing some relief mainly in the east, an agricultural meteorologist said on Thursday.
America's top two corn and soybean producing states, Iowa and Illinois, are now in the center of the drought as the dryness spreads to the northwest to leech what little moisture remains in already parched soils.
"It looks a little wetter today for Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, but the west is still dry with above-normal temperatures," said Jason Nicholls, meteorologist for AccuWeather.
Rain for the next 10 days will run the gamut from just 40 to 75 percent of normal, with the greatest stress in the western Midwest crop states such as top producer Iowa.
"It got up to 102 to 103 degrees Fahrenheit in Iowa yesterday with no rain, and will be in the 90s today with no rain," Nicholls said.
Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-drought-cropsbre86h0mp-20120718,0,7620626.story
docgee
(870 posts)If anyone has any data regarding whether GMO crops are better in the drought or worse.
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)Welcome to DU, docgee!
harun
(11,351 posts)argument that they want GMO's because it will help with drought tolerant varieties.
I am not buying it but would like to see any real data on them one way or the other.
NickB79
(19,489 posts)And has been for years, but crop yields are still falling by the day.
There are GM crops in the works specifically designed to survive better in drought conditions, but the problem is they aren't addressing the high heat that typically accompanies it now. This heat interferes with the corn's ability to pollinate, so even if you have healthy-looking cornstalks, they'll have precious few cobs on them.
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)SoapBox
(18,791 posts)...if you thought theater popcorn was expensive before, just wait.
Time to expand the garden.
amandabeech
(9,893 posts)They are major feed for poultry, pigs and cattle. When the price of the feed goes up, so does the price of the meat animals, except the sell off of the animals at the beginning of the drought when feed gets too high in price.
Tofu is made out of soybeans, so even some vegetarians will notice an uptick in soy prices.
NickB79
(19,489 posts)So even if you eat no food made from corn, your bill will still go up as there's more demand for groceries made without corn as alternatives to increasingly more expensive corn-based foods.
lovuian
(19,362 posts)Now our farmers US farmers are going to be under stress because we sold our corn to China
and US people paying more at the stores
which will drag the economy down further
the stupidity of Capitalism again
banned from Kos
(4,017 posts)Corn should not be processed into transportation fuel.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)murielm99
(31,235 posts)We are. We have property and Illinois and Iowa.
This is very scary, people. And with global warming, it may be only a taste of what is coming.
alp227
(32,423 posts)"The latest outlook released by the National Weather Service on Thursday forecasts increasingly dry conditions over much of the nations breadbasket, a development that could lead to higher food prices and shipping costs as well as reduced revenues in areas that count on summer tourism. About the only relief in sight was tropical activity in the Gulf of Mexico and the Southeast that could bring rain to parts of the South."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/science/earth/severe-drought-expected-to-worsen-across-the-nation.html?pagewanted=all