Drought stretches across America, threatens crops

Retrieved from: CNN

“A dry and mild spring led Don Villwock, like all of Indiana’s corn and soybean farmers, to plant two weeks early this year. He was hopeful for a bountiful Labor Day harvest.

“But the rain didn’t fall and June brought blistering heat.

“Now, as punishing drought grips the Midwest, Villwock, 61, walks his hard-hit 4,000 acres in southwest Indiana in utter dismay.

“Where there should have been tall, dark green, leafy plants, there now stand corn stalks that are waist high or, at best, chest high. They are pale in color and spindly. Fragile. Tired.

Pull back an ear’s husk and you find no kernels, he says. With temperatures rising above 95 degrees, the pollen starts to die.

“It’s emotionally draining,” he said. “The crop got out of the ground very well. We were so optimistic. But maybe a few of us were counting our eggs before they were hatched.”

“The costs of America’s worst drought in 24 years is obvious to Villwock, who has been farming for four decades. They are not so apparent to American consumers — at least, not yet.”

Read more: CNN