Ed Jones / AFP - Getty Images
Harvested corn dries on the ground as a girl runs past in a village near Gaomi, in eastern China's Shandong province on Oct. 13. China is the world's second-biggest corn producer, with output set to increase 3.7 percent this year from 2011, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
John Brecher / NBC News
Farmer Justin Waddington, foreground, repairs a combine during a wheat harvest in Washington state's Yakima Valley. Growers in the Pacific Northwest are benefitting from high prices created by the drought affecting the Midwest. Waddington grows corn, wheat and alfalfa. According to him, as the price of corn spikes, as it's doing now with the drought, wheat and soybeans follow because farmers substitute the other grains in animal feed.
John Brecher / NBC News
Waddington watches newly harvested wheat pour into a truck in Washington state's Yakima Valley.
There are other factors affecting farmers' good luck in Washington. A frost that struck the northeast in late April will be "every bit as devastating as the drought" to this fall's apple harvest in Michigan and New York, according to Mark Seetim, director of regulatory and industry affairs at the US Apple Association. Farmers in Washington, the nation's largest producer of apples, face a good crop and a reduced supply from other regions.
Watch the video below to hear farmers reflect on their good fortune amid the suffering of others.
Jeff Beiermann / The Omaha World-Herald via AP
Corey Mcintosh harvests what's left of his uncle's corn field on the Missouri River bottom west of Loveland, Iowa. Corey's uncle, Lyle Mcintosh, said the field was 80 acres big before the Missouri River flood covered the field for 2.5 months. Afterwards, there was only 3.5 ares of standing corn left. The field produced 87 bushels per acre instead of a decent year's average of 200 bushels per acre.
Forunately, the Missouri River bottom land represents a tiny portion of farmland in Iowa and Nebraska.
The Omaha World-Herald reports:
The once-raging Missouri River has calmed, but the flood fight continues for Nebraska and Iowa farmers who work the rich bottom ground along its banks.
In many places, the churning water left behind ravines, gullies and drifts of sand several feet deep.
Many affected farmers quickly finished their scanty harvests and turned their attention to mending their scarred land.
Tannen Maury / EPA
A farmer drives his combine as he harvests his corn crop from fields near Dwight, Ill., as windmills tower over the field, Oct. 15. The 2011 crop is projected to be around 12.497 billion bushels which is 50 million bushels more than the 2010 crop according to agricultural economists at the University of Illinois.
Because of the better-than-expected yield, corn and wheat prices fell earlier in the week. Read more here.
Growing up in the South, visions of corn fields out the window on long road trips were common, along with the occasional corn field family shoot, 'Field of Dreams' style, with my brother and I walking through the corn. These images below reminded me of that time, although there wasn't such a drought.
Luke Nichols / Beatrice Daily Sun via AP
Children walk the rows of a corn field near Dorchester, Neb., removing tassels along the way, on Tuesday, July 26. Detasseling is a popular summer job for high school and middle school students.
Scott Olson / Getty Images
A corn crop dries up in a field near Perryton, Texas, on Thursday. A severe drought has caused most dry-land (non-irrigated) crops in the area to fail and forced farmers to abandon some fields in order to conserve their limited resources. The past nine months have been the driest in Texas since record keeping began in 1895, with 75% of the state classified as exceptional drought, the worst level.
Bethany Clarke / Getty Images
Top Pearsy's Harry potter corn maze, which he calls "Maize Maze," in York, England, on July 11.
There is no shortage of people who go to great lengths to create a stir. Farmer Tom Pearcy is among them. The English farmer has created two portraits of Harry Potter in his cornfields. The two corny Potters, measuring 150 feet in diameter, make up the largest 'Maize Maze' in Europe and one of the largest in the world.
Related content:
"Harry Potter" casts his final spell
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