Drought: Half of all counties in US now distaster areas

[Belfrybat]

This is getting really scary. We are used to droughts in Texas, but areas previously thought "immune" to drought are now affected.

U.S. drought: Half of all counties disaster areas - CBS News

[HermitJohn]

Seems lot of people are more worried about being politically correct as to why of the drought. Immediate problem is the drought itself. Two very severe ones in a row for Arkansas. This year its going to hurt food supply since its hit the grain states. Americans will just have to pay more. For many in rest of world that we have made dependent on our highly subsidized grain it is far more serious. Should be serious heads up that concentrating food production in certain parts of the world to control supply for economic reasons may be profitable, but it sure isnt very bright far as the overall human condition.

[fishhead]

For a so-called intelligent species we're as dumb as a box of rocks.

What person in their right mind would think that we could continue to add a billion more mouths to feed every 12 years like we've done for the past 25 years and continue doing today? And trying to do this on a finite amount of farm land and a changing climate that may very well make much of it useless.

We have the information we need to make informed LONG TERM decisions but continue to look the other way.

I'm not hopeful for our future at all and I'm starting to think it's all going to crash when I'm too old to take care of myself.

[Sonshine]

My area has been in extreme drought conditions for several years now.

[fishhead]

My area just broke the drought that's been here for the past 5-6 years. Hopefully the rain we're getting doesn't continue and turn into snow or I'm going to break down and buy a snowblower. Normally I shovel my 100+' driveway but we haven't had much snow for a long time and I'm not used to it anymore.

[Ravenlost]

My county and those bordering it were declared a natural disaster by the USDA over a month ago. It's bad. Lakes drying up with dead fish floating in them, corn fields just dried to a crisp...there's going to be no corn harvested here. Trees are dying, etc.

Doesn't seem to be as big a deal as supporting Chic-fil-a or Tom Cruise's divorce though. (That's sarcasm.)

[julieq]

Just because mainstream media doesn't cover it, doesn't mean that there aren't a bunch of us folk in the flyover zone who are wondering how long we're going to be able to afford groceries and livestock feed.

[MO_cows]

In our immediate area, and right on up the Missouri River valley northward, there has been a double whammy. Flooded fields last year because of too much water let down the river system by the Corps of Engineers. We actually had below normal precip last year, too, but millions of acres were flooded with water that came from up north.

Here is a beautiful stand of corn from last year, note it is standing in water and by the next day it was laid over and already starting to stink. A "corn paddy" just doesn't work.


I haven't taken any photo's this year, but the corn around our place looks like the ears are half the length and circumference they usually make. A neighbor farmer said he expects 40% of the typical yield. His corn was planted very early; the ones who got theirs in the ground later won't even do that well.

The predictions at drought.gov show the drought continuing right on thru October for most places and the drought zone expanding. Our pasture is toast. But if there isn't going to be fall moisture, can't even replant it.

It is actually a testament to the abundance of production and reserves we have in the U.S. that we can lose millions of acres of production two years in a row and not face mass hunger. For a lot of nations, that chain of events would already be SHTF.

[MO_cows]

In our immediate area, and right on up the Missouri River valley northward, there has been a double whammy. Flooded fields last year because of too much water let down the river system by the Corps of Engineers. We actually had below normal precip last year, too, but millions of acres were flooded with water that came from up north.

Here is a beautiful stand of corn from last year, note it is standing in water and by the next day it was laid over and already starting to stink. A "corn paddy" just doesn't work.


I haven't taken any photo's this year, but the corn around our place looks like the ears are half the length and circumference they usually make. A neighbor farmer said he expects 40% of the typical yield. His corn was planted very early; the ones who got theirs in the ground later won't even do that well.

The predictions at www.drought.gov show the drought continuing right on thru October for most places and the drought zone expanding. Our pasture is toast. But if there isn't going to be fall moisture, can't even replant it.

It is actually a testament to the abundance of production and reserves we have in the U.S. that we can lose millions of acres of production two years in a row and not face mass hunger. For a lot of nations, that chain of events would already be SHTF.