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all photos taken on 7/24/2012 by CraneStation on flickr
US Drought Outlook (hat tip cmaukonen)
US Drought Monitor, updated frequently (hat tip Missouri Mule)
These are popcorn fields in Western Kentucky near our home. One owner, who wished to remain anonymous explained that no one in the area has crop insurance, and that everyone will likely lose the crops. Of the fields we photographed, his looked the best because they are lowland fields. The lowland corn is pictured in the first three photos. Some of the corn growers may chop the fields down for silage. As you can see in the other photos, the creek beds are very low or dry (pictured). One ear we photographed had exposed kernels that appeared unhealthy and below the usual number.
This area relies on nature for water. It is usually extremely lush with swollen creek beds full of small blue gill fish. Many of these beds are dry or very low.
The popcorn grower we spoke to also confirmed the practice among livestock farmers in the region of selling animals for slaughter due to the pressures of drought this season.
Today it was 103 F, and there is no rain in the forecast. As far as corn is concerned, many growers have given up on this year’s crop.
Lowland popcorn ear, showing less than normal number of kernels, click to enlarge.
More lowland popcorn
Lowland
Corn that is not below the water table
Dry creek bed
Our area today:
…EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT EXPANDS SLIGHTLY…
SYNOPSIS…
THE TWO AREAS OF EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT /D4/ FROM LAST WEEK HAVE BEEN
MERGED. IN KENTUCKY…THIS AREA COVERS MUCH OF HENDERSON…UNION…
MCLEAN…CRITTENDEN…CALDWELL…LYON…LIVINGSTON…MCCRACKEN…
BALLARD AND CARLISLE. IT ALSO COVERS THE OHIO RIVER AREAS OF POSEY
AND VANDERBURGH COUNTIES IN SOUTHWEST INDIANA AND FROM SHAWNEETOWN
TO CAIRO ALONG THE RIVER IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. EXTREME DROUGHT /D3/
COVERS ALL OF SOUTHWEST INDIANA…WEST KENTUCKY…MOST OF SOUTHEAST
MISSOURI…AND IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS…THE AREA SOUTH OF A LINE FROM
MURPHYSBORO TO MOUNT CARMEL. SEVERE DROUGHT /D2/ COVERS THE REST OF
THE REGION.SUMMARY OF IMPACTS…
SOIL MOISTURE CONDITIONS.
SOIL MOISTURE DEFICITS CONTINUE TO INCREASE ACROSS THE REGION.
NINETY TO 100 PERCENT OF THE REGION`S TOPSOIL AND SUBSOIL IS
REPORTED AS SHORT OR VERY SHORT.AGRICULTURAL IMPACTS.
MANY CROPS ARE SHOWING STRESS ACROSS THE REGION AND THE SITUATION IS
BECOMING DIRE FOR MANY FARMERS. A MAJORITY OF THE CORN AND SOYBEANS
ARE LISTED POOR OR VERY POOR. INCREASING AMOUNTS OF LIVESTOCK AND
FIELDS ARE SHOWING STRESS. THE PERCENTAGE OF PASTURES IN THE AREA
RATED AS POOR AND VERY POOR CONTINUES TO GROW. PONDS ACROSS THE
REGION ARE DRY OR DRYING QUICKLY.
44 Comments
To see the photos enlarged, please click on the body of the photo.
And it’s expected to continue and even spread.
sigh…what can I say……
Yours and Wendy’s. Very depressing diaries.
Heart-breaking, CS.
If this drought continues for several years, then the results will be appalling on so very many levels, for so very many human beings, and lar ge numbers of “livestock”.
Recommended to the sober contemplation of everyone at FDL.
DW
Historically…lack of food sparks violent revolutions.
Wow. I just ripped that and put it in the body of the post, thank you and Wow.
Thank you DW. Yes, it is sobering. We used to take treats to the fish in the creeks, but we don’t do this now because the creeks are so low, or in many cases, completely dry. Very sad. I have never seen corn like this in my life.
And before that, sickness, malnutrition, possibly even starvation.
This drought, should it continue, and even this year’s loss, will affect more than just this nation, as many people in other nations depend on the crops grown in the USA … cmaukonen, as you know.
DW
I most certainly do, DW.
This site will let you look down to a county level at current conditions. It is updated every Thursday morning:
http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
Our local NBC station has an article on their website about beef. So many cattlemen have no feed for their livestock that the market is being flooded with beef. The article said that these cows will come to market about November and there will be a brief drop in the price we’ll pay at the store before it rises dramatically due to the subsequent shortage. I personally am planning to try to get my freezer filled by then even though I’m sure the higher costs will last more than a year. Herds aren’t built up that quickly.
It’s really tragic. Thank you for putting some pictures to the numbers and statistics.
Thank you Missouri Mule. I have placed your link into the body of the post with a hat tip. Yesterday I heard that Missouri has declared a state of emergency.
Tragic, all the animals going to slaughter because there is no feed. Apparently this is even affecting the dairy cows- they are also being sold.
I don’t know the long-term impacts- what will happen, but the whole situation is very sad.
Thank you again.
http://p.twimg.com/AyP9CKiCAAEWgkH.jpg
Corn growing areas.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Corn_belt.svg
Well, that sums it up!
Thank you for the map of the corn belt. The little fields around here are popcorn fields. Looks like the majority of the corn belt is north of us. Cannot imagine they are doing much better, though.
Thanks again.
It’s more than corn. You can name your price if you have hay. Here, farmers are already feeding the hay they had set aside for winter. Since they won’t have that hay for winter, they have to slaughter their livestock before then. Every county in Missouri was declared a disaster a week or so back, so that farmers qualify for aid. Of course, that aid doesn’t make up for all the corn, soybeans, and hay that won’t be there when we need it. Where I’m at in KC, we’re now in the next to last drought category in severity. I’m afraid to see the worst category, knowing how we are now. My yard literally crunches when I walk on it. It’s not dormant– it’s dead. There are a lot of comparisons to droughts in the 1980s, 1950s and Dust Bowl days. It’s scary to think that we’re getting close to Dust Bowl conditions (except without the dust, thanks to better farming practices). And the extent to which the entire country is affected is truly alarming. But of course there’s no such thing as global warming, right? (/s)
I remember in Jr. High here in Ohio part of our Social Studies was on the dust bowl and the correct farming practices. Proper plowing, crop rotation etc. to prevent erosion and top soil loss.
Without question these would be dust bowl days again without those practices. Heard the very same about hay from family in Indiana. Also did hear that Missouri was in bad shape. Tragic. Just waiting to see…as far as health, just waiting to see how public health is impacted by this. Other thing is, the available water. My understanding is that, for example, nuclear power plants are thirsty. Real thirsty, in fact, gobbling up huge portions of ground and surface water. Don’t know about KC (I was born there, BTW) but here, the ponds and streams are drying up.
Check this out:
The lowdown on topsoil: It’s disappearing
April 1, 2010 by Mark Sircus – Director
Filed under Featured Content, Food Shortages
1 Comment
Disappearing dirt rivals global warming as an environmental threat
http://agriculture.imva.info/food-shortages/the-lowdown-on-topsoil-its-disappearing
There are Eco-gardeners that make their own top soil using compost mixed with rock dust and they get very good results. Better than fertilizer.
Slightly OT Cs but we just lost power here twice for a short tonight.
And we are on the NE power grid.
In Cleveland. Not surprising. Ohio’s getting hammered with heat. Amazing how fast the place can heat up without power. I’m sleeping on the couch tonight. And we have power.
It has cooled down considerably here. Highs only the low 80s. But in the 90s tomorrow with rain tomorrow and tomorrow night. Then cool down again.
We’re so bad here that we’re supposed to cool down 15 degrees in the next day or two and that will *still* leave us above our average high. Yes, we’ll be having a cool day of 92. And today is day 12 of the current heat wave. (We had another 11-day wave just a couple days before this one began and our local met says we’ll be starting an even worse one in the near future. Oh boy!)
cmaukonen and Missouri Mule: Well, good to see rain in the forecast for Ohio, anyway. As for the Show-Me state- a disaster for real. Very sad.
89 F here, 102 F forecast, no rain. Couple more days and these corn fields are apt to burn, unless somebody cuts them down.
Extreme drought in Kansas City:
https://twitter.com/#!/search/Missouri%20drought/slideshow/photos?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftwitpic.com%2Fa9dika
News-Leader @springfieldNL
One dairy farmer’s drought situation: “There’s lots of cattle that will have to be slaughtered as there’s no food.” http://sgfnow.co/PlbSax
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I am always incredulous right now when I’m out driving and see someone carelessly flick a cigarette butt out the car window. What the hell are they thinking? We’ve actually had some fires here in the metro. Real grass (as in prairie) fires which have led to parts of a nearby town being evacuated. The same could easily happen in the corn fields.
Looking at the big picture, and the way this drought will affect the economy; we are all “super screwed”. Although corn went over $8.00 a bushel recently, it did that in 2011 when there was no drought. If you go to this website http://wp.me/p2vRlu-4 you will discover that we were paying drought prices for food when there was no drought, it was due to “commodity market manipulation”.
In this “me” society, no one cares what happens to the next guy; the morons don’t realize we are all in this together. For example: real estate has nothing to do with drought or farming, but if you have a house to sell and no one can buy it; what good is the house if it’s not the one you’re living in?
This economy is already depleted, the “higher” food prices caused by the drought will drain it. The farmer is suffering because he doesn’t have a crop. Somebody in the city is suffering because their grocery bill is so high they can hardly feed their family. When a necessity, like “food” drains the economy, it affects everyone; and it will go all the way around, to come back to someone trying to sell a house in the suburbs.
I know. During times I have scavenged for tobacco, I have retrieved discarded half-smoked cigarettes right out of the dry grass. Amazing, I don’t know what people are thinking. We have a burn ban and a fire advisory. The dry and the wind conditions are perfect for fires.
Sometimes, I want to start smacking people. This is not funny. Not at all.
Shameful, the market manipulation on top of this natural disaster. People were barely making it before. I have no idea how people are going to continue to get by in this free-fall spiral.
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news%2Fag_watch&id=8748140&rss=rss-kfsn-article-8748140&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Squeezing the little people who can’t afford to be squeezed. While our government is busy slashing SNAP. God Bless ‘Merikuh.
How roood of me!
Great diary again CS.
Yes, and yet food assistance is still going to get cut. Disgraceful.
Die quickly, indeed.
Why thank you, Kris!
Missouri Mule: Words fail.
Courtesy of Ludwig
http://www.greenguidespain.com/andalucia/2009/03/sinking-in-a-sea-of-sand-6/
Thank you, cmaukonen via Comrade Ludwig.
And to think, many people are in complete and utter denial and have no desire at all to even tap the brakes. I don’t understand it. Just came back in. It looks even worse out there today- heartbreaking. Lost track of the 3-digit heat index. And yet, some people would claim that I made the whole thing up.
Sad for everyone. And Spain…so beautiful.
C-S–
Thanks for another excellent diary.
I’m in a neighboring state to you, and thanks to Missouri Mule’s link, found out what I suspected. My area has been declared a “Primary Natural Diaster Area.” That’s “big time drought,” I suppose.
Highly recommended.
Blue
Missouri Mule–
Thank you for the handy link. (Guess I’m officially in a drought area.)
Blue
Thank you Blue. Sounds like you are impacted also. My computer screen says temp here is 100 F. Almost reminds me of when I lived in Tucson- hot and dry. Very strange. Corn looks even worse today. Sad.
This is a very cruel summer in the US (drought) and China (flooding).
Best wishes to the farm folks of western Kentucky through this. It puts a little more serious edge on that frequent internet statement “Get out the popcorn”.
Great diary Crane lots of facts funny how the Media does not mention higher food prices caused by global warming.
That’s because “commodity market manipulation” was winning over global warming until just a few days ago. Corn went to over $8.00 a bushel in 2011, but it didn’t make news because they didn’t want you to know that the commodity markets were being manipulated; and I just found out recently that Wall Street money was involved in that commodity market manipulation.
I have seen the bizarre changes everywhere. This would be a good topic for a post, I think. For example, a reader on another site who lives in Germany will lose roses due to the cold conditions.
Thank you for stopping by and commenting, THD.
ThingsComeUndone, thank you, and lakota, thank you for continuing to educate us about these markets. Maybe, the more we know, the less they can swindle us out of- I don’t know, but one can only hope.
There won’t be any popcorn coming from these parts. It’s over.
Hi, CS: Great diary, of course, as usual. I remember you talking about your trips to the streams to wade and feed the fish. It’s such a beautiful picture. We’ve got drought here, too, up “north” in Canada, and crunchy grass. What strikes me as so odd (or NOT) is that these conditions are coinciding with an economic crisis ~ and it looks more and more like a replay of the 1930′s! The crops and the weather and the markets and the economy ARE intertwined of course but that the weather is piling on against us at the same time just makes me feel like everything is connected in such mysterious ways that we really need to take notice and respect. Take Care.