Millions of acres of U.S. corn and soybean crops have been swamped by weeks of ongoing storms.
An unfortunate combination of a shift to growing grain for fuel and chaotic weather conditions around the world could cause global grain reserves to plummet even lower than the current greatest shortfall in half a century, agronomists warn.
The latest crop losses have resulted from weeks of incessant storms that submerged vast tracts of fertile land across America’s breadbasket.
Over a million acres of crops were wiped out by soggy conditions in the top corn producing states before 2 million acres of soybeans became submerged by devastating floods in the mid-Mississippi Valley.
Even if drier weather were to return within the next two weeks, it is becoming too late in the season for farmers to successfully replant their crops.
The U.S. losses come on the heels of acute crop losses due to drought in Australia’s wheat belt and a complete loss of southern Myanmar’s rice crop due to Cyclone Nargis in early May.
Photo: Tom Campbell - Purdue University
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