Farmers in the Midwest are watching the spring planting season shrink due to the climate crisis as damaging storms and flooding are making fields from Oklahoma to Arkansas impossible to sow, a situation that is driving grain prices up in futures markets in a way that could have devastating consequences. 

A lower yield of corn and soybeans is already jacking prices for the staple cereals up, which could lead to a ripple effect across the economy. And farmers can lose crop insurance if they don’t hit growing planting deadlines, most of which are in late May and early June, a major source of recovery for struggling farmers in an already volatile economy.

Per Reuters:

As Common Dreams has reported, the increasingly dangerous and damaging storms and flooding are likely due to the climate crisis, the sign of what environmental activist Bill McKibben calls “a hot new world.” 

There’s a direct connection between climate change and the Midwest deluge, according to Wired. And it’s only going to get worse. 

Rain, tornadoes, and melting snow have combined over the past two months to make the ground in the Midwest impossible to plant in corn and soybean.

And the weather doesn’t appear anywhere near letting up. 

Per brokerage firm Allendale, Inc.:

The delay is becoming a serious issue for the U.S. farming industry.