Ag Weather Forum

A look at USDA's Ag in Drought report for the week of April 22, 2025, shows 26% of corn production areas are affected by drought. That percentage is higher than both a year ago and the five-year average. However, that percentage is mostly in line with recent years, and the drought-affected corn areas are less than half the assessment of drought in corn areas as recently as early March.

Back on March 4, 2025, the USDA Ag in Drought report placed 60% of United States corn production areas in drought -- an unfavorable outlook. This included much of Iowa, Minnesota and northern Illinois in addition to most of the Plains corn production areas. But after several rainstorms and snowstorms -- which also brought damaging severe weather and substantial blizzard impact -- the corn production areas assessed as being affected by drought now stands at the 26% figure. For this point in the year, that percentage affected by drought is very similar to the past three years while being a few points greater than the five-year average.

The average for U.S. corn areas in drought (of at least moderate-level intensity) going into the last week to 10 days in April is 22.8% for the years from 2021-25. So, the April 2025 figure of 26% in drought is about three percentage points above the five-year average. Crop years 2022, 2023 and 2024 had corn areas in drought at 27%, 24% and 22%, respectively. The week of April 20, 2021, had drought coverage in place over 15% of U.S. corn areas, according to the Ag in Drought report.

The description in that report noted: "Statistics are calculated each week by overlaying U.S. Drought Monitor data on drought extent and severity over maps of major and minor agricultural areas for several commodities. Agricultural data are obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service Census of Agriculture, which is undertaken every five years."

The decade of the 2020s is showing a larger portion of U.S. corn areas in drought at this time of the season than in the last few years of the 2010s decade. From 2016 through and including 2020, the April assessment of corn areas in drought was consistently below 10%, with the heavy rain and flood season of 2019 showing zero percent of U.S. corn areas in drought on April 23, 2019.

In contrast, the years 2012-15 had U.S. corn areas in drought assessed an estimated average of 28%. The largest corn production area drought-affected coverage number is from April 23, 2013, with an assessed 42% of U.S. corn areas in drought at this point in the season. That time frame, of course, was the year after the big Corn Belt drought of 2012.

The Ag in Drought report began in the summer of 2012. More details of the Ag in Drought report are available here: https://www.drought.gov/…

Bryce Anderson can be reached at bryce.anderson@dtn.com

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