US Faces Worst Drought in 56 Years

July 24, 2012

Corn stalks struggling from lack of rain and a heat in Farmingdale, Illinois

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

The United States is suffering its worst drought in almost sixty years. Moderate to extreme dry conditions spread to fifty-five percent of the country in June. That was the most since December of nineteen fifty-six.

The National Climatic Data Center also says high temperatures in June added to the warmest twelve-month period on record. Recordkeeping began in eighteen ninety-five.

The U.S. Drought Monitor map created from data released on June 26, 2012

The drought map showed that conditions improved in the Southeast in June compared to May. But they intensified from the Midwest to the Great Plains and much of the West. Predictions through the end of October suggest that the drought is likely to improve in areas of the Southwest and Southeast. But the drought is expected to continue or intensify in large parts of the country.

Last week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack met with President Obama. Mr. Vilsack says the drought has severely affected corn and soybean crops. The United States is the world's leading producer of maze and soybeans.

TOM VILASK: " Thirty-eight percent of our corn crop as of today is rated as poor to very poor, thirty percent of our soybeans, poor to very poor."