The United States Department of Agriculture has opened environmentally fragile land for grazing as the drought affecting the Midwest continues to worsen. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack made the announcement yesterday whilst updating the House of Representatives on the drought.

The American Midwest is currently suffering the most severe and widespread drought since the 1950s; maize and soy crops are thought to have been irrevocably affected by high temperatures and little rainfall. The situation has already sparked rallies in the world grain markets.

Mr Vilsack also used his address to the House of Representatives to call on members to vote on the Farm Bill within two weeks. This could speed up disaster relief programmes that have been eroded in past years. However, as it stands the Farm Bill has been criticised as being shaped by agribusiness lobbyists to the detriment of farmers and consumers.  

The US government officially declared the drought a natural disaster last week to speed up relief work in the worst affected regions. In all, regions of 29 states, covering 42 percent of United States counties, have been declared disaster areas.

In the worst affected areas, haying and grazing have been permitted on Conservation Reserves and Wetland Reserves.

According to the latest USDA data released yesterday, rain has provided some respite for crops in the Southeast of the affected area. However, despite some heavy rain in the Midwest, hot and dry conditions persist.

Last week, the proportion of the US corn crop rated in very poor to poor condition climbed to 45 per cent, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Soybeans, which have thus far proven more resilient, saw 35 per cent of the crop rated very poor to poor. Over the period from 3rd June to 22nd July, the proportion of the US maize crop rated good to excellent plunged from 72 to 26 per cent and Soybeans fell from 65 to 31 per cent.

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