Word: droughts
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This much is certain: oranges are freezing in Florida, winter wheat on the parched Midwestern plains is threatened by drought, schools are closed in Boston because of natural gas shortages, heatless New York City residents are being forced to seek shelter in municipally heated armories, and barges are running aground as the water level drops in the less-mighty-than-usual Mississippi. Anywhere one looked, it was too cold or too hot, and nearly everywhere...
Indeed, over the past few months a dry spell has plagued much of the U.S.; if heavy snows and drenching rains do not hit before summer, a drought of near biblical proportions could affect some areas...
Many Midwestern farmers, still suffering from the crop losses caused by the summer drought, now gaze forlornly over their bare, frozen land. In Minnesota, where about 5 in. of snow should have fallen by now, only a light powder covers the earth. Says Ed Grady of the state's farm bureau: "Our concern is that the frost may penetrate the ground more deeply than it would with a snow cover," thus damaging crops planted this winter. "This is about as dry as I can remember," observes Eldon Merklin, an Oklahoma farmer who planted 1,200 acres of wheat last...
...summer, however, the farmers' plight had vastly improved. The drought in the U.S., plus bad harvests in Argentina and Australia, gave farm prices a big boost. The cost of grain suddenly shot up by as much as 50%; at that point, buyers snapped up all of the grain in sight and the result was a bonanza for farmers who had been able to ride out the early months of the embargo. "For the first time in 35 years, I'm out of debt," said Clarence Adams of McHenry, Ill. He had sold 30,000 bu. of corn...
...higher prices for farm machinery, stiff anticipated hikes in the price of diesel fuel, and, of course, the weather. The grain belt's perennial Cassandras are already predicting terrible weather for the spring and summer. This time, though, they have real reason for worry. Last summer's drought left the subsoil in the lower wheat-growing states of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas seriously dehydrated. Another dry summer would cut yields in these areas significantly, and the outlook for rain is not good. Says Iowa's agricultural climatologist Paul Waite: "When a dry spell goes over a year...