Rain for the next ten days will boost crop prospects only in some parts of the US Midwest, according to forecasts.
This is the most expansive drought in America's breadbasket in more than a half century. The drought has slashed corn and soybean crop prospects and boosted prices for each to record highs late last week.
A Reuters poll indicated corn yields could fall to a ten-year low and corn production may wind up the lowest in six years.
"There is improvement in the north and east, and we expect more showers today and tomorrow in the west central to northwest," said Don Keeney, meteorologist for MDA EarthSat Weather.
The turn to wetter weather over the weekend led to a sharp selloff of grain prices at the beginning of the week, but the market today showed signs of stabilising as crop experts continued to cut their estimates for this year's corn production.
"Monday's crop ratings showed losses on par with the damage seen during the 1988 drought if these conditions persist," said Bryce Knorr, senior editor for Farm Futures Magazine.
That is a far cry from early estimates. Corn production had been projected to hit a record high this year, approaching nearly 15 billion bushels, as U.S. farmers planted the most acreage since the late 1930s to capture profits from the highest corn prices ever.
"Weather so far has taken almost 4 billion bushels off the corn crop, so a lot of demand must still be rationed," Knorr said.
An MDA Earthsat Weather tour of the crops in the Midwest this week showed the devastating effects of drought in the eastern Midwest states of Indiana and Ohio.
In Putnam County, Indiana the crop scouts did not even stop to inspect corn fields because it was assumed the crop was so poor that farmers would plough it under rather than try to harvest nothing.
