"U.S. farmers will plant crops this spring under the shadow of a persistent drought that grips prime farmland from the mississippi river to the rocky mountains, with grain supplies already tight from drought losses in 2012."

"In all, 56 percent of the contiguous United States is under moderate to exceptional drought, twice the usual amount, the Senate Agriculture Committee was told on Thursday.

Arid weather was expected to run until may in the wheat-growing plains and in the western corn belt, where corn and soybeans are the major crops."

Charles Abbott reports for Reuters February 18, 2013. [2]