drought
Water stress is growing risk for world’s crops, says think tank
One-quarter of the world’s crops, from bananas and plantains to rice, wheat, corn, and soybeans, are grown in areas where the water supply is highly stressed or highly variable, said the World Resources Institute on Wednesday. Rice, wheat, and corn, three of the most important crops, are particularly vulnerable, it said.
Projects will pay farmers to reduce water use in the West
Eighteen water districts in the arid U.S. West will receive a share of $400 million from the USDA for local projects that pay farmers to reduce water consumption while keeping land in production, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday. Irrigation use could drop by 50,000 acre-feet on 250,000 acres in 12 states, from Texas to California and Oregon.
Winter wheat condition improves as harvest nears
Half of the U.S. winter wheat crop was in good or excellent condition at the start of the week, a vast improvement from the drought-scarred 2023 crop, said the USDA's Crop Progress report on Monday. The USDA will make its first forecast of the harvest on Friday. Winter wheat usually accounts for three-quarters of all U.S. wheat production.
Drought imperils production of corn, a vital food, in southern Africa
Hot and dry weather has reduced corn yields throughout southern Africa, “threatening food security for millions of households depending on this key staple for a significant share of calories consumed on a daily basis,” said the IFPRI think tank. In South Africa, the region’s major corn grower, the harvest could fall by 18 percent from the previous crop, said the USDA on Thursday.
Drought more widespread in corn and soybean areas than wheat territory
Half of U.S. corn and soybean territory is in drought, compared to one-third of wheat land, said weekly drought reports on Thursday. Drought is far less prevalent for winter wheat than it was a year ago, while conditions for soybeans are little changed and corn has seen an 11 percentage point decline, said the USDA’s Ag in Drought report.
Surge in farmland values slows to 5 percent in Midwest
Agricultural land values in the Midwest rose by an average of 5 percent during the past year, the smallest gain in three years, said ag bankers taking part in a Chicago Federal Reserve Bank survey. While Indiana notched a 16 percent increase, land values in Iowa were stagnant and one lender expressed surprise that land values did not decline in the Hawkeye State, said the Chicago Fed's quarterly AgLetter.
California can do more to prepare for future floods, says think tank
As Golden State farmers brace for another rainy winter, a new report is urging state officials to aggressively prepare for wet years as much as it prepares for dry ones. Climate change is expected to fuel both more extreme droughts and more winter storms. And while California has made progress in managing drought conditions, it has a long way to go in managing floods. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Two MacArthur grants spotlight interplay of trees and climate
The MacArthur Foundation awarded “genius” grants this year to A. Park Williams, a hydroclimatologist who is developing a wildfire forecasting model after studying climate change and tree mortality, and Lucy Hutyra, an environmental ecologist whose studies show that conserving urban forest fragments helps mitigate local impacts of climate change.
Drought eases and growers plant more winter wheat
Growers are expected to sow the largest amount of U.S. land to winter wheat in nine years, encouraged by strong market prices, in part a result of warfare in Ukraine, and forecasts of better growing conditions in the drought-hit central and southern Plains. Winter wheat accounts for roughly seven of every 10 bushels of wheat harvested in the nation.
Hot, dry, windy events on the rise in Kansas wheat fields
It’s been a record-breaking year for hot, dry, windy (HDW) events in the Midwest, with Kansas — the nation’s largest winter wheat producer — hit worse than any other state. The events, in which all three conditions occur simultaneously for a prolonged period, inevitably lead to drought and lowered grain yields. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Drought spreads across the corn and soybean belt
Drought covers large portions of the Midwest from Ohio to the Missouri River, said the weekly Drought Monitor on Thursday. Less than an inch of rain fell in eastern Nebraska during May, and half of Illinois was in drought, an increase of 20 points in one week.
USDA announces $4.3 billion smorgasbord of ag aid
Farmers and ranchers who suffered losses due to natural disasters ranging from drought to hurricanes last year will receive $3.7 billion in aid in coming months, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The USDA also announced $500 million in additional funding for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program and $103 million to defray marketing costs for organic dairy farmers this year.
Report: Arizona must deploy a diverse range of strategies to solve water crisis
Arizona’s water crisis is getting worse, and on Wednesday, environmental groups warned that there’s no “silver-bullet” solution that can fix it. In a new report by the Water for Arizona Coalition, analysts urge the state to embrace a diverse range of water conservation and management strategies — and to start investing in them fast. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Global corn trade tightens as Argentine, U.S. exports dip
Drought in Argentina and lackluster sales in the United States, two of the world’s major suppliers, will reduce global corn exports to their lowest volume in three years, said USDA analysts on Wednesday. Shipments from another leading source, Ukraine, were in question because an extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative past March 18 has not been resolved.
Interior funds project to reduce Colorado River water use
The Interior Department will provide $125 million for a program that compensates water users, including farmers, on the Upper Colorado River who voluntarily conserve water. The money for the System Conservation Pilot Program was part of $728 million announced by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Monday for Western water projects.
Cotton growers make room for more corn and wheat
Battered by drought and rising costs, U.S. cotton growers will devote more of their land to corn, wheat and soybeans — crops that promise higher revenue this year — while sharply reducing their cotton plantings, said a survey released on Sunday. The National Cotton Council said its survey of growers indicated 11.4 million acres will be planted to cotton this spring, 17 percent less than last year.
Swap crop insurance for area-based coverage — analysts
The government could save more than $2 billion a year if it replaced the public-private partnership of the crop insurance program with simpler and more tightly targeted disaster programs, said two agricultural economists. In an analysis for the American Enterprise Institute, Eric Belasco and Vincent Smith said a template for the less expensive program was the Pasture, Rangeland and Forage (PRF) insurance product offered by USDA.
Report: ag corporations boom despite California’s historic drought
In a report released Wednesday, Food & Water Watch found that agricultural corporations have used California's outdated water rights system to their advantage and expanded their most water-intensive operations, even as some rural communities have run out of water completely. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>