Scientists are trying to create varieties of corn, wheat and other crops that can thrive with little water.

Population growth, shrinking world grain stocks and a growing appetite for meat, particularly in the developing world, has collided with a shortage of fertilizer.

Farmers are taking their fields out of a government conservation program that pays them not to cultivate.

Farmers say they intend to significantly cut corn acreage this year in favor of soybeans, which may help alleviate global shortages that have hit poor countries hard.