USDA cuts corn outlook as drought takes toll

By Jim Suhr

Associated Press

Published: Friday, Aug. 10 2012 10:58 a.m. MDT

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Summary

The government slashed its expectations for U.S. corn and soybean production for the second consecutive month Friday, predicting what could be the lowest average corn yield in more than 15 years as the worst drought in decades grips major farm states.

Friday's USDA report amplified the troubling picture painted a day earlier when the latest weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map showed drought conditions continue to worsen in key farming states in the Great Plains. That update showed the expanse in extreme or exceptional drought — the two worst classifications — rose to 24.14 percent, up nearly 2 percentage points from the previous week.

Federal scientists say this July was the hottest on record, smoking out even the sweltering temperatures set in the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Wednesday that the stretch from August 2011 through July this year was the warmest 12-month period the U.S. has experienced.

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freedomingood

provo, Utah

And all those rural republican farmers allready have thier hands out to the federal government to bail out thier farms. Such the irony. Pass those commie potatoes please.

2:26 p.m. Aug. 10, 2012
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freedomingood

provo, Utah

If I have to work a few extra days evey year to pay taxes that bail out farmers doesn't that seem like some sort of forced agricultural labor? It's not like paying for roads, I use roads.

The farmers just charge me again for the More..

3:04 p.m. Aug. 10, 2012
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zoar63

Mesa, AZ

This will hit the poor nations that import corn from the U.S. the hardest. We will provide for this nation first and what is left which will not be much will be exported.

3:38 p.m. Aug. 10, 2012
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