Corn crop near Elgin, Nebraska withers under the drought and heat wave of 2012. The dead corn on the edges of Farmer Phillip Starman's field does not get irrigated. His only hope was his irrigation system and his drought-resistant crops. Eric Francis / USA TODAY [Indeed; we could be headed for something much worse. –Des]

By Chuck Raasch, USA TODAY
19 August 2012 The severe drought that has hit the Farm Belt does not immediately threaten to create another Dust Bowl or widespread crop failure, thanks to rapid innovations in the past 20 years in seed quality, planting practices and farming technology, farmers and plant scientists say. Expected average national yields this year would have been records in 1991, and soil conservation is generally holding land in place despite record heat and lack of rain in June and July. “Between the genetics and the different management systems … we would not expect to see any devastating soil effects” as in the 1930s, when dust storms blew from the nation’s midsection to the Atlantic Ocean, says Jeff Schussler, a leader in drought research on corn at DuPont Pioneer, a seed company. While technology and innovation have staved off greater damage, agricultural experts caution that conditions could worsen and yields drop further if drought persists. “2012 has been a wake-up call to the entire agricultural industry in terms of just how vulnerable our corn crop production is,” Purdue University agronomist Tony Vyn says. “It also drives home the point that technological solutions need to be continued to be pursued.” […] Seed companies have built drought-, disease- and insect-resistance into plants. That not only helps crops resist extreme weather and pests but also requires fewer tractor passes through fields, lowering production costs and leaving the ground less packed and less likely to let moisture run off. “The seed we have in use now is quantum leaps ahead of where we were 20-30 years ago,” acting Iowa State Conservationist Jon Hubbert says. […] Another factor keeping another Dust Bowl at bay is soil conservation. Taxpayers paid roughly $1.7 billion last year to keep about 31 million acres of marginal farmland out of production through the Conservation Reserve Program. The land, planted in grass and other cover for wildlife, would be highly susceptible to wind erosion, the Department of Agriculture says. But that acreage, while the size of Mississippi, was down by about 6 million acres since 2007. A new report released this month by the Environmental Working Group, a conservation group that questions the use of chemicals in farming, also cautions that record grain prices prompted farmers over the past three years to convert 23 million acres of potentially fragile grassland, shrub lands and wetlands into crop production. Schussler directed development of Pioneer’s Optimum AQUAmax hybrids, a new drought-resistant seed corn that was introduced in 2011 and was planted this year on about 2 million acres in the Corn Belt. Pioneer’s field tests indicated that the corn outperformed other hybrids by 3.4% in drought conditions and by 7.1% in more normal conditions. “Our growers in the United States have learned a great deal from those previous episodes regarding managing water and managing their soil even under stress environments such as this,” Schussler says. In Elgin, Neb., corn and soybean farmer Phillip Starman, 54, says he hopes his no-till practices and the use of Pioneer’s new drought-resistant corn will stave off a disastrous harvest in a little more than a month. Rain in early August perked up Starman’s crops, but for the most part, the summer has been dry. […] He says “the seed technology in the last few years has really exploded” in helping plants fend off corn borer and rootworm, pests that can add to drought damage. He says he’s worried about his yield this year, though. The new drought-resistant corn may just be “the last to die,” he says.

Drought-stricken Farm Belt not headed for another Dust Bowl