The US department of Agriculture has declared much of southern and central USA a natural disaster area due to continuing drought.
According to Money News:
Crop condition ratings for winter wheat were the worst on record in early December, the most recent figures available. Some experts said up to a quarter of the crop will be abandoned because of poor development. Winter wheat, the dominant U.S. wheat variety, is planted in the fall, goes dormant during the winter and is harvested the following spring.
Corn and soybeans are hurting too; according to Bloomberg Business Week:
The drought that ravaged U.S. corn and soybean crops and spurred record prices may persist, threatening a recovery in production this year that’s needed to bolster global inventories, according to forecasters. “Unless there’s a sudden change to very wet conditions, it sure looks like drought is going to be a feature going into the planting season, spring at least,” Bryce Anderson, an agricultural meteorologist.
Tipster and TreeHugger Emeritus John Laumer makes a prediction:
Wheat based food will become very much more expensive in 2013. US Exports to other nations will fall as production shrinks and Mississippi barge shipping comes to halt, from low water. Similarities may exist for corn. Many implications for diet, budgeting, gardening, beer prices, poverty levels, balance of trade, and the politics of climate.
via: treehugger
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