Droughts Hit World’s Agricultural Regions: Without Water, U.S. Corn Crop Faces Setbacks

Published on July 17, 2012 08:23 by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Government

Droughts have struck food-producing regions in the United States, Russia, China, North Korea, and South Korea, raising the prospect of higher commodity prices and localized food shortages.

Estimates for U.S. corn production dropped 1.8 billion bushels (46.2 million metric tons) from last month's projections to 12.97 billion bushels (330 million metric tons), and the expected corn yield per acre is down 20 bushels (0.5 metric tons) to 146 bushels (3.7 metric tons) per acre, according to the latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report released yesterday by the USDA. "Persistent and extreme June dryness across the central and eastern Corn Belt and extreme late-June and early-July heat from the central Plains to the Ohio River Valley have substantially lowered yield prospects across most of the major growing regions," the report said.

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