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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    Drought: A Slow-Moving Disaster

    Corn is basic to America's diet, from feed for all the animals we eat, to cereal and even Gatorade. We also depend on fuel from corn-made ethanol. This year's drought is making Midwestern cornfields look like the Dust Bowl of the 1930. Will prices rise at the grocery store?

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    By Warren Olney • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    Corn is basic to America's diet, from feed for all the animals we eat, to cereal and even Gatorade. We also depend on fuel from corn-made ethanol. This year's drought is making Midwestern cornfields look like the Dust Bowl of the 1930. Will prices rise at the grocery store? Because of American corn exports, the impact could be worse overseas. But, for some American farmers, there's surprising prosperity. We find out why.

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Anna Scott

      Former KCRW Housing and Homelessness Reporter

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      Frances Anderton

      architecture critic and author

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      Evan George

      Director of Content, News

    • KCRW placeholder

      Alan Bjerga

      Bloomberg News

    • KCRW placeholder

      Bruce Babcock

      Iowa State University

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      Aaron Woolf

      Documentary filmmaker

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