Drought remains very much active in the Plains, said Joe Vaclavik of Standard Grain. The Western Corn Belt, even parts of the Central Corn Belt remain drought-stricken. There are a lot of areas with a lot of drought issues. The government says 32% of the U.S. corn area is experiencing some sort of drought. That number was just 19% at the end of last year. Winter wheat areas experiencing drought rose to 72%, from 58% at the end of 2021. “That’s the number that may matter the most here for the markets over the near term,” he said. “I don’t think this matters for the row-crop markets, but as we get closer to planting it’s going to start to matter.”