USA: Farmers in the Midwest United States are struggling under a crippling drought that's shriveling crops, killing pastures, forcing livestock farmers to cull their cattle, and affecting global commodity prices.

Record ID: 813906

  • Title: USA: Farmers in the Midwest United States are struggling under a crippling drought that's shriveling crops, killing pastures, forcing livestock farmers to cull their cattle, and affecting global commodity prices.
  • Date: 14th July 2012
  • Summary: WELTON, IOWA, UNITED STATES (JULY 12, 2012) (REUTERS) VIEW OVER A CORN FIELD WHICH HAS SUFFERED WIND DAMAGE AS A RESULT OF THE DROUGHT CORN PRODUCER, BOB BOWMAN, WALKING THROUGH HIS CORN FIELD CLOSE-UP OF BOWMAN WALKING THROUGH CORN TRACKING SHOT THROUGH CORN FIELD (SOUNDBITE) (English) CORN PRODUCER, BOB BOWMAN, SAYING: "This corn, this corn should be as high as my
  • Embargoed: 29th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVA1Z4B7T2UNZ641RKT8CJAAJP02
  • Story Text: U.S. corn producers are struggling to keep their crops from dying under the effects of a harsh ongoing drought that is affecting large parts of the country, especially the Midwest.
    "It is very serious," said Philip Ayers, executive director of the Adair County Farm Service Agency in Kirksville, Missouri.
    "We're approaching 1988 standards for a drought. This is the main area of the United States where all the crops are grown: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, you know, we grow most of the corn and soy beans in the United States and this is right where the drought is centered this time. We're all...in Missouri, at least, we're all D2 to D3 and we're approaching D3 in the D2 areas. So it's very serious," he told Reuters.
    Corn fields scattered across Missouri and Iowa show signs of dried and yellowing crops - many will never recover, even if rain does arrive. And the impact is far reaching-- already affecting global commodity prices.
    Taking a cue from a deteriorating crop, the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday (July 11) cut its estimate of this year's corn production in the United States, the world's top grower and exporter, by 12 percent, slashing the average yield by a whopping 20 bushels to 146 per acre.
    Prices of corn future at the Chicago Board of Trade have surged 40 percent this summer in the wake of the worst drought in about 25 years in the Midwest grain belt.
    In Iowa, the top U.S. corn-growing state, there is still time for many fields to make at least half to three-quarters of their production potential. But some are already too far gone.
    "Our corn is 60 to 70 percent damaged now. Our beans are hanging on but without rain pretty quick they're going to be damaged a lot too...Once the corn turns grey it's about finished," Ayers said.
    He explained that a green crop doesn't mean a healthy crop.
    "It fires from the bottom. A lot of times you see that yellowing from the bottom. It does that. When corn tassels in real hot weather like we had last week when it was 105 to 108 degrees there for a week in a row, why it fails to pollinate. It just won't pollinate so even if you do have a green stalk out there, you have a bear cob with no kernels on it."
    Bob Bowman owns corn fields in and around Welton, Iowa. His fields look corn fields look green, but his plants are less than half the height they should be.
    "This corn should be as high as my head right now and it's waist-high," Bowman told Reuters, as he glanced over at the plants next to him.
    "It's been stunted because of the dry weather. It's early morning here and the corn is relaxed and looks pretty nice. By five 'o clock, if I was standing in this same spot, the corn would have a little bit of a grey cast to it and it would be all rolled up tight."
    For other farmers, like Tom Zaputil, who produces corn in the town of Mystic in Iowa, the situation is very much the same.
    As Zaputil walks through his crops, he stops to touch the leaves. "You can see what drought does to the leaves. It starts rolling them up tight and starts burning them on the edges. These leaves at this time of the year should be a real dark green. There should be no edges like that," he explained, touching the yellow edge of a leaf.
    "It should be green out to the very edge and they should be kind of hanging down. They shouldn't be reaching up like that."
    On international markets the price of U.S. corn, boosted by reports of crop damage in the U.S. Midwest, has risen so much that it has lost competitiveness against wheat, mainly EU wheat on export markets.
    And livestock farmers are also suffering.
    Many are rushing to sell off some of their cattle as the worst drought in nearly a quarter of a century dries up pastures, thins hay supplies and sends feed costs skyrocketing.
    The more desperate are hauling water into areas where creeks have run dry, and scrambling to secure scarce and high-priced hay to keep their cattle fed and watered in the Midwest.
    But some are giving up, or are about to.
    The drought in the Midwest follows another one last year in the southern Plains -- centered in the heart of cattle country in Texas -- that helped to shrink the herd to the smallest in about 60 years while sending beef prices to record highs.
    A rush by ranchers to sell cattle, and in some cases hogs, now could force consumers to dig deeper into their wallets next year as tighter supplies lead to higher beef and pork prices.
    There was an auction of more than 500 head sold on Thursday (July 12) in Centerville, Iowa, at the Appanoose County Livestock sale barn, according to sale barn owner Clarence Ballanger.
    Ballanger explained a lot of his customers are really getting hurt by the drought.
    "What'll happen here probably in the livestock business if it doesn't rain, say if it would continue a drought here through the bulk of the summer, we'd probably have some big runs early…And then next winter when we should have runs, they may not be out there," he said, wearing a hat to shade him from the sun as the cattle breathed heavily behind him in the heat.
    There has been a big jump in the number of cows slaughtered in the United States. In the week ending June 30, there were 52,700 cows slaughtered, which was 3 percent higher than a year during the peak of the Plains drought, USDA data showed.
    A key and growing concern for livestock producers is the supply of hay necessary to feed the millions of cattle that are produced across the U.S. Midwest.
    Missouri and many other states suffering from the drought have asked for federal approval to open up thousands of acres held for conservation in a Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to allow for haying and grazing. The aim is to help ease the shortage and prevent widespread sell-offs of herds. Seventy-five counties in Missouri will be released on an emergency basis on Monday (July 16), and all Missouri counties will be opened for potential levels of haying and grazing depending on individual producers' circumstances, according to the Missouri Farm Service Agency.
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