Parched Corn Fields and the Global Market

Parched Corn Fields and the Global Market

Parched Corn Fields and the Global Market

An Ohio produce farmer’s fields of failed crop point to a problem that goes far beyond her family’s losses.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Corn prices have spiked 50 percent over the past two months—the same months that have established this season as our worst period of drought in more than fifty years. Lack of water combined with extreme heat for stretches of 100 or more days is spelling doom for crops like corn and soybeans, and prices are following suit.

On his show Sunday, Chris spoke with an Ohio produce farmer whose fields of failed crops point to a problem that goes far beyond her family’s losses: the reverberations of parched fields in the Midwest may be felt around the world.

—Zoë Schlanger

Support The Nation’s June Fundraising Campaign

With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Nation elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.

We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we’re raising $20,000 to power The Nation’s independent journalism in the run-up to November’s immensely consequential elections.

It’s in our power to build a more just society, and your support at this critical moment brings us closer to that bold vision. I hope you’ll donate today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Huevel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x