Dude, Where’s My Corn?

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A record-setting drought grips more than half of the contiguous
United States. For farmers the drought is ruining harvests, but driving
up the price of crops that do survive. Higher wholesale prices will soon
translate into rising costs at the supermarket.

The United States Department of Agriculture
recently lowered the expected yield of 2012’s corn harvest by a further
1.8 billion bushels, meaning the projected corn crop has now dropped by
46.2 million tons. The ailing corn crop won’t be helped by the Nebraska
Department of Natural Resources’ order that 1,106 farmers stop
irrigating farmland on Friday of last week due to the drought affecting
the entire state, reported the DesMoines Register.

Nebraska is the nation’s third largest corn producer after Iowa and
Illinois. But unlike the other two states in the top three, Nebraska’s
corn relies heavily on irrigation. Across the country lack of irrigation
has led to failing harvests.

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