The drought of 2012 will go down in history as one of the worst droughts for the United States in recent history. However, while many crops failed from this summer’s drought, others had warm springs and winters making their crops incredibly successful. With that ebb and flow in mind, here is our list of crops that fared the best, and which have done the worst this year.
Best:
- Winter Wheat
- Spring Wheat
- Beets
While the summer wheat had to withstand one of the harshest summers in decades, the winter and spring crops fared well with the high levels of rain and the incredibly temperate winter and spring throughout the Midwest. Beets have also been incredibly resilient this summer despite the heat.
To be clear, these good crops may still not be any less expensive as those prices are set by the market. It should also be noted that, while the crops have fared well, we have seen other effects of the drought like main shipping arteries running low which continues to drive up shipping costs.
Worst:
- Apples
- Corn
- Soybeans
- Cherries
The crops that have had the worst year are well known. Corn and soybean crops have dried up all over the nation, especially with the record heat in the midwest. Apple trees enjoyed the early blooms which came from the temperate winter and spring weather, but many areas in the Midwest experienced a hard frost for a few days just after the apples began to bloom – which has ruined much of the crop. Many orchards located near us in Michigan, have experienced only 10% of their crop production when compared to last year. Michigan cherries also struggled this year for the same reasons. Early bloom and frost that lead most cherry farmers to see an 80-90% loss of both sweet and tart cherries.
It should also be noted that certain types of farmers of all crops have fared much better than others. Those farmers with deep wells and irrigation farms have fared much better than those without, this year. The irrigation farmers are seeing an ever increasing demand since those without the irrigation lost a large amount of the nation’s supply.
This has been a bit of hectic summer and the markets are reflecting that. Feel free to drop us a line and let us know how your business is faring through the drought.