The crop failures are set to push corn and soy bean prices upward of today’s all-time high. Corn prices have risen by about 40% in the last few weeks. Photograph: Getty
America’s corn farmers high and dry as hope withers with their harvest
Brutal mix of triple-digit temperatures and lack of rain forces farmers in the corn belt to consider abandoning entire crop
The worst drought in a generation is hitting farmers across America’s corn belt far harder than government projections and forcing them to a heart-breaking decision: harvest what’s left of their shrivelled acres or abandon their entire crop.
That, in time, will mean higher prices for milk, poultry and meat for American consumers, and misery – possibly chaos and unrest – in African and Latin American countries, which depend on imported grains,food security experts say.
The US government warned this week that a third of the corn and soybean crop in drought-stricken areas was in poor condition.
But in Indiana, at the centre of the drought, they say the true extent of the crop losses will be far higher.
