Drought in 2013: Major pains ahead? In 2012, the drought's
biggest effects were on the surface. Now if the drought
continues as we head into 2013, those agricultural implications
will likely unfold into deeper ones, figuratively and literally.
Experts at the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln,
Nebraska, are looking ahead to 2013 with a close eye on how the
drought will unfold and what it will mean to both crop prospects
and the condition of the soils in which those crops are planted.
Thus far, the drought's effects have been mostly in the top
tiers of the soil and what's growing there: Wheat, corn, and
forage yields were hit hard, and that alone has had implications
beyond the field, namely in the prices fetched for the
commodities in shortest supply. But 2012 began with a fuller
soil moisture profile than today. That's got some experts
bracing for more serious effects on the landscape if the
historic flash drought (one whose effects are felt immediately
instead of the more typical slow-moving natu