Almost two-thirds of US is facing drought!

July 27, 2012 04:11

The drought in America's breadbasket is intensifying at an unprecedented rate, experts have warned, driving concern food prices could soar if crops in the world's key producer are decimated.

The US Drought Monitor yesterday reported almost a threefold increase in areas of extreme drought over the past week in the nine Midwestern states where three quarters of the country's corn and soybean crops are produced.

"That expansion of D3 or extreme conditions intensified quite rapidly and we went from 11.9 per cent to 28.9 per cent in just one week," Brian Fuchs, a climatologist and Drought Monitor author, told AFP.

"For myself, studying drought, that's rapid. We've seen a lot of things developing with this drought that were unprecedented, especially the speed."

Almost two-thirds of the continental United States is now suffering drought conditions, the largest area recorded since the Drought Monitor project started in 1999.

"If you are following the grain prices here in the US, they are reflecting the anticipated shortages with a price increase," Fuchs said.

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