Word: droughts
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
This summer, though, boaters accustomed to placid rides along the Tenn-Tom are complaining about the growing number of barges loaded with coal, chemicals and other freight. Since the drought has made the Mississippi more hazardous for some vessels, many shippers have turned to the Tenn-Tom, still easily navigable. Says Joe Pyne, president of Houston-based Dixie Carriers: "Without it, some companies would have shut down." In July the waterway carried 2 million tons of cargo, the first time that mark was reached in a single month. So far this year, 5.8 million tons have been hauled...
...drought has reduced parts of the mighty Mississippi to a slow, shallow stream, stalling barge traffic amid rocks and sandbars. But as the water recedes, the river bottom emerges, providing clues to a lost past. On an ugly beach of sand and clay in Arkansas, just downstream from Memphis, archaeologists have struck what they consider gold: large chunks of riverboats built in the late 1800s and long buried in silt...
When the Agriculture Department released its first estimate of drought damage last month, the news was grim. But when an updated outlook was released last week, the figures were even worse. The Government forecast that the year's corn harvest will reach only 4.48 billion bu., down 37% from last year. A month ago, the decline was pegged at 26%. The estimate of the wheat harvest, down 13% for the year, is virtually unchanged from July, but the soybean crop is looking far more stunted than it did a month ago. Production may total just 1.47 billion...
...discouraging report might have caused grain futures to surge at the Chicago Board of Trade, but traders expected the worst and took the news in stride. Prices for corn and soybeans actually fell slightly the day after the report was released. Still, prices were far higher than before the drought got bad. Soybeans sold for $8.50 per bu., up from $6.92 in May, and corn was $2.87 per bu., compared with $2.02 three months...
...disheartening as the federal crop estimates are, they may prove too optimistic, says Conrad Leslie, a private crop forecaster. He puts the corn crop at less than 4 billion bu. and soybeans at 1.4 billion bu. Says he: "This is the worst drought of the century...