July 20, 2012

In the face of the worst drought in the United States in more than 50 years, soybean futures prices hit record highs yesterday. Soybean futures for November delivery climbed 1.8 percent, to an all-time high of $16.49 a bushel, at the Chicago Board of Trade. The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor showed more than 70 percent of the Midwest in some stage of drought, with more than half of the region in “severe” to “exceptional” drought. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has so far during the 2012 crop year designated 1,297 counties across 29 states drought-related disaster areas, making qualified farm operators in the areas eligible for low-interest emergency loans. The last drought in the United States of this magnitude was in 1956.

A farmer examines a field of corn stunted by a drought. (AP/Wide World)

Additional World Book articles:

• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• When the Rain Stops (a special report)
• Weather 1956 (a Back in Time article)