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Drought is especially tough on agricultural production. Nearly all crops require moisture as they germinate, grow, mature, flower, and fruit. Yields of water-intensive crops especially depend on how much water is available during crucial life stages. For instance, corn yields are strongly associated with temperatures and precipitation totals in July: if conditions are cool and wet in that month, then yields will be high; if it is dry and hot in July, then yields will be low. Livestock operations also depend on water. For example, because feedlot cattle require significant quantities of water per cow per day, when drought strikes, feedlots must cut back on the number of cattle they process. It is easy to see that those areas experiencing increased frequencies and intensities of drought because of climate change will feel substantial impacts on agriculture output.
Drought influences many aspects of society beyond municipalities and agriculture. For instance, drought even has a big impact on transportation. A large proportion of U.S. commercial transport occurs on barges along the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi Rivers and their tributaries. Over 40 percent of all US grain exports travels on the Mississippi River alone. The devastating drought of 1988 stopped all barge traffic on the Mississippi for weeks and affected billions of dollars in exports. The less severe, but prolonged drought affecting the Missouri River drainage from 2003-2010 diverted products totaling many billions of dollars away from barges and onto less cost-effective trains and trucks. If climate change were to cause more droughts in the Midwest or generally dry out the area, then transportation costs and, subsequently, food costs would rise.
