'Massive crop losses' feared from U.S. South drought

[ensho]

http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/04/28/idINIndia-56639620110428?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&dlvrit=70622


-snip-

Ranchers were struggling to feed and water cattle, and farmers were left to watch their crops shrivel into the dusty soil. Some experts estimated that producers were giving up on up to 70 percent of the state's wheat acreage.

"There are some scary things going on in Texas," said Brian Fuchs, climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center, which released its weekly drought analysis Thursday morning.

Fuchs said the drought in Texas was one of the worst in decades. The dramatically lower-than-normal amount of moisture in the soil has caused widespread crop failures, including to the state's hard red winter wheat crop.

-snip-

Excessive rainfall has slowed the planting of corn in the nation's bread basket and could threaten other crops like soybeans.
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not good at all

[PVnRT]

1. The Texas plains aren't really "South"

Someone needs to alert the Reuters headline writers that the South generally means the old Confederacy up to roughly I-35 in Texas. That South has plenty of rain at the moment.

Otherwise, yes, that is very bad news.

[Champion Jack]

3. I thought the "south" was anywhere below the Manson-Nixon line....

[PVnRT]

4. The Mason-Dixon line was surveyed when anything west of the Mississippi

was either New Spain or New France, and actually only extended along the southern border of what is now Pennsylvania. If you extend straight west, that would mean that southern Ohio, the southern half of Indiana and Illinois, most of Missouri and Nebraska would be considered "The South" as well.

[LiberalLoner]

7. I lived near Dayton for a few years. I think southern Ohio is indeed part of the south. n/t

[WinkyDink]

8. Well, that IS when America went south.

[Xipe Totec]

5. Texas was part of the confederacy

Only state that never actually signed articles of surrender.

Hence the only state technically still at war with the Union.

[patrice]

10. U.S. South =/= The South

[dkf]

2. Oh I am sure none of the extreme weather we are seeing will affect food prices too

Yeah sure.

[Xipe Totec]

6. I remember torching paddle cactus to feed cattle during a drought in 1970-1971

Cattle would follow us and would devour the cactus once we burned the spines off with a blow torch.

It was pretty bad.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. If it's hitting the corn fields, it might be a Godsend.

Now that we have limited agriculture, maybe we should be smarter about what we decide to grow?

[jwirr]

11. That means higher prices for meat, bread, cereals and rice. What

other crops are we looking at?

[liberalla]

12. Interactive drought maps and conditions here:

NOTE: To view regional drought conditions, click on map below. State maps can be accessed from regional maps.

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

[blogslut]

13. It's bad

Really bad. In the TX Panhandle this last winter was pretty dry and now, with no rain to speak of this spring, it's almost too late for some crops - not to mention the livestock.

[Aerows]

14. I can vouch for coastal Mississippi

I has been very dry. I can't imagine how horrible things are in Texas. the last thing that we need, considering how much food and gas prices have already gone up, is a drought. That will raise food prices even higher.

[HubertHeaver]

15. In the near-term meat prices should go down due to a glut

of meat on the market. We will see the spike in meat prices around December 2011 and the prices will stay high for a minimum two to three years after the drought breaks.