Large swaths of the United States are still dry as a bone due to record-breaking drought conditions, and America’s crops and cattle are suffering, as reported by Strange Sounds.
Almost the entire West Coast and maybe a third of the Midwest is seeing severe or worse drought conditions. This is affecting wheat, barley and alfalfa crops, as well as cattle herds that are not getting the water they need to live.
The following image depicts the U.S. Drought Monitor through July 27, 2021. As you will see, Eastern Washington and Oregon, and nearly the entirety of Idaho is in an extreme or exceptional drought. The same goes for California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Western Colorado, the Dakotas and Minnesota.
Fortunately for the Four Corners region of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, a large Southwestern monsoon recently hit, delivering some much-needed water to affected areas, as well as in the southern Great Basin.
Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, however, are not faring so well. These areas, along with Canada to the north, are seeing prolific wildfires sweep through the region, eating up anything vegetative they can find, including crops.
The Pacific Northwest has been hampered by a terrible combination of high temperatures, exceptionally low humidity, erratic winds and plenty of dry fuel. To the east in the central and southern Plains, the weather has similarly been hot, leaving rangeland, pastures and the southern crops that grow on them withering.
In these areas, soil moisture reserves have helped to keep things from getting too dry. The longer the droughts continue, however, the more these reserves will get depleted.
“Meanwhile, mostly dry weather covered the Midwest, continuing a trend that had developed in mid-July,” reports Strange Sounds.
“Short-term dryness was not yet a concern in the previously well-watered lower Midwest. However, reproductive corn and soybeans in drier areas of the upper Midwest were subjected to increasing levels of stress, especially as temperatures began to rise.”
86% of American sunflower production now within drought area
One of the most drought-affected crops in America right now is the sunflower. A whopping 86 percent of sunflower production is now in a drought area, the latest data shows, which could be problematic for the production of sunflower oil, sunflower lecithin, and other sunflower-based food additives.
As you will notice in the image above, most sunflower production occurs in North and South Dakota, the land masses of both states being almost completely stricken with drought.
99% of spring wheat, durum wheat production now within drought area
Spring and durum wheat are even more negatively affected by drought conditions, which cover at least 99 percent of their growing area – see below:
Barley is not doing much better with 84 percent of its production area now within a drought-stricken area – see below:
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