Ninth District completely out of drought

Heavy rains across the district have people worried about flooding rivers and wet basements. But the silver lining from the rain clouds is that for the first time in three years, the Ninth District is completely drought-free (see top map).

Even with the late planting and wet fields, this bodes well for district farmers. A decade ago, the district was engulfed in drought (see bottom map). In some areas, the drought was extreme, and farm production was negatively affected. For example, wheat output in Minnesota, the Dakotas and Montana in 2010 (an ample-moisture year) was 17 percent higher than the 2003 harvest, while corn and soybean production was 38 percent and 45 percent higher, respectively, in 2010.