US drought intensifies in key farming states

Drought has worsened in key farming US states of Kansas and Nebraska.

The U.S. Drought Monitor said recent rains helped some farming states, but the land across the contiguous US aside from Alaska and Hawaii under some form of drought was at 61.8 percent as of Tuesday. That was a drop of less than 1 percent from the previous week.

Worries continue over rising food prices in the U.S. and around the world. The U.S. is by far the leading global corn producer and is the top producer of soybeans and wheat. All have been hit hard.

While Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has said he is optimistic the U.S. would continue meeting global demand for grain, the United Nations has warned of rising food prices.
Effects go beyond the crops themselves.

Meat producers have been hurt by the rising cost of feed, and experts expect that prices of processed food on grocery store shelves will go up in coming months.

In Iowa, the nation s leader in corn production, the latest drought report said the land in extreme or exceptional drought the two worst classifications dropped 7 percentage points to 62.05 percent over the past week.

But the amount of Nebraska in exceptional drought jumped 19 percentage points to 22.5 percent. That number in Kansas rose from 38.6 percent last week to 63.3 percent now.