Crop-withering drought intensifies across Plains

St. Louis - Drought conditions have worsened in several parched Plains states, further punishing withering corn and soybean crops and devastating the pastureland that ranchers depend on, according to the latest U.S. drought map.

Thursday's release of the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map came as the House took up disaster-relief legislation meant to help livestock producers who have seen feed prices soar due to what for many is the worst drought in decades.

That legislation, opposed by conservation and anti-tax groups who see it as another government bailout, was unlikely to receive Senate consideration before Congress adjourns for its August recess.

According to the latest Drought Monitor update, based on conditions as of Tuesday morning, the area of the lower 48 states experiencing extreme drought - the second-highest classification behind exceptional drought - rose nearly 2 percentage points from the previous week, to 22.3 percent. This was due largely to a worsening of conditions in parts of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

The area facing exceptional drought increased from 2.38 percent to about 3 percent.

While nearly two-thirds of the lower 48 states still is experiencing some drought, recent storms pushed the percentage down to 62.91, from last week's 63.86. Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center, said the improvement isn't much of a silver lining, because the rains did little more than "settle the dust."

"There are rain events that did take place, but we didn't see any widespread improvement to the core drought areas," Fuchs said by phone from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where the drought report is released.

"The heat kicks in and the dryness returns. To say that we've seen good widespread rain throughout the drought regions of the county, we just haven't. It's beneficial in some aspects, but in agricultural aspects it's too late."

As of this week, nearly half of the nation's corn crop was rated poor to very poor, according to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. About 37 percent of the U.S. soybeans were lumped into that category, while nearly three-quarters of U.S. cattle acreage is in drought-affected areas, the survey showed.

The drought has intensified in key farm states. Roughly 31 percent of Iowa - the nation's biggest corn and soybean producer - was in extreme or exceptional drought, up 3 percent from the previous week in a state completely covered by some form of drought.