US farmers struggle with drought

2012-08-03 10:02

分享到

 

Get Flash Player

Download

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

A drought across much of the United States is forcing farmers to make difficult decisions. Damage to corn and soybeans is already severe in the hardest-hit areas.

US farmers struggle with drought

Alan Bowers Junior is a farmer in the state of Illinois in the Midwest.

ALAN BOWERS JR.: "You get up in the morning, and you think it might be another 13 months before we get a paycheck. The corn and soybean crop is our paycheck."

The corn on his farm is so dry, the stalks break apart just by touching them. The maize is unusable. So in the middle of July, Alan Bowers decided to cut down his crop to avoid a total loss.

ALAN BOWERS JR.: "We are making what they call a corn silage out of this for the animals, for the cows. And if you wait till it's completely dried up, it won't even make suitable feed for the animals."

Alan Bowers and his wife, Lori, are hoping for a small insurance settlement to help them pay their bills until next year.

LORI BOWERS: "People don't realize we have no boss and we have nobody to help us. And it's tough. You have to work together. You have to work with a husband and a wife and family, and together try to work through it."

The Bowers could also lose their soybeans to the record high temperatures and lack of rain in the worst drought in more than half a century.

And Alan Bowers says if next year is anything like this, the farm itself may not survive. The farm has been in his family for four generations.

The drought is reducing the depth of the Mississippi River, the nation's longest and most economically important waterway. Last year, heavy rains flooded the banks along parts of the Mississippi. This year, the level is so low, shipwrecks normally hidden underwater can be clearly seen.

Jasen Brown is a hydraulic engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers.

JASEN BROWN: "So there's a lot of money at stake for these farmers, and there's other commodities that are coming down the river as well. It's not just grain, but it's also some chemicals that are coming down the river. Coal is coming down the river. Various different things like that."

60 percent of all grain exported from the United States travels on barges along the Mississippi.

An Army Corps of Engineers survey ship called the MV Pathfinder looks for places along the river that are not deep enough for traffic. Crews then either dredge the sites to make them deeper or mark them with warning buoys. Terry Bequette, the ship's captain, says companies have to lighten the loads of their barges when the water level is low.

TERRY BEQUETTE: "It's low and it's bad, but it's not the end-of-the-world bad. The industry just lightens their loads and hopes for the best."

A new American Meteorological Society study links climate change to a drought last year in Texas and to some other extreme weather events. Natural conditions played a part. But the study found that human activity made the Texas drought 20 more likely than in the 1960s.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. To read and listen to more stories for people learning English, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Jim Tedder.

silage: 青贮饲料(尤指贮藏在青贮塔内以备冬季饲牛的)

hydraulic engineer: 水利工程师

at stake: 危在旦夕

barge: 驳船(河流﹑ 运河等中载运客货的大型平底船)

dredge: (用挖泥机)疏浚(河道等)

buoy: 浮标; 航标

Related stories:

Steps toward drought-resistant crops, 'designer' rice

Drought-resistant seeds to help growers

As drought intensifies, Kenya fears famine

Researchers seek drought-resistant crops

(来源:VOA 编辑:实习生朱眉霖)

 

分享到

中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883561联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。

中国日报网双语新闻

扫描左侧二维码

添加Chinadaily_Mobile
你想看的我们这儿都有!

中国日报双语手机报

点击左侧图标查看订阅方式

中国首份双语手机报
学英语看资讯一个都不能少!

关注和订阅

本文相关阅读
人气排行
搜热词
 
 
精华栏目
 

阅读

词汇

视听

翻译

口语

合作

 

关于我们 | 联系方式 | 招聘信息

Copyright by chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved. None of this material may be used for any commercial or public use. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 版权声明:本网站所刊登的中国日报网英语点津内容,版权属中国日报网所有,未经协议授权,禁止下载使用。 欢迎愿意与本网站合作的单位或个人与我们联系。

电话:8610-84883645

传真:8610-84883500

Email: languagetips@chinadaily.com.cn