This is the week that could break the Corn Belt

After a biblical spring, this is the week that could break the Corn Belt

By Andrew Van Dam ,Laris Karklis andTim Meko

A field of corn, shown on May 29, was flooded by waters from the Nishnabotna River near Anderson, Iowa. (Nati Harnik/AP)

Washington Post,

4 June, 2019

Corn Belt farmers are used to being at the mercy of the weather.

But they are not used to the weather being quite this merciless.

Through all of April and all of May, wave after wave of rain hit the nation right in the breadbasket, with April capping the wettest 12 months on record for the continental United States. The past 60 days, in particular, have coincided with planting season in much of the country.

Areas with more precipitation than normal in the last 60 days

Less than

normal

Normal

precipitation

1.5 times

2 times

2.5 times

3 times more 

precipitation

than normal

Major corn and soy

producing states

States across the Corn Belt led the way, nearing or breaking previous precipitation records. Midwest cities from St. Louis to Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., have reported unprecedented rainfall. Data for May will be released later this week and can be expected to set more records.

[Extreme weather is pummeling the Midwest, and farmers are in deep trouble]

Recent measurements show most of Illinois’s famous topsoils are more waterlogged than they have ever been, University of Illinois economist Scott Irwin said.

Farmers cannot plant in that muck. It fouls their equipment and strangles their seeds. It is not enough for the rain to stop. The soil has to dry for as much as a week before they can plant again. According to the latest forecasts from the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration, that does not look likely.

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