After suffering through the worst drought in decades last year,
farmers throughout the Midwest should brace for another round of
hot and dry conditions in 2013, weather forecasters warned. As
the spring planting season nears, forecasters have expressed
concern that much of the Midwest could remain starved for
moisture, though they caution it's still too early to safely
predict the weather several months out. The Midwest could see a
late summer increase in rainfall, but the relief will be much
too late to help farmers, according to one prediction from
University of Missouri Tony Lupo. The 2012 drought spread beyond
the Midwest to affect more than 60% of the contiguous United
States, making it the worst since the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. A
sharp drop in crop yields pushed corn and soybean prices to
record highs during the summer and costs to feed U.S. livestock
soared, forcing ranchers to send their herds to slaughter rather
than pay the higher feed costs.