Which U.S. soybean counties are most exposed to drought right now?
The U.S. Drought Exposure Monitor maps roughly 85 million planted soybean acres against the U.S. Drought Monitor's weekly severity map. The soybean view is a county-by-county picture of where the most soybean ground sits under active drought right now, and where conditions are headed over the next three months — refreshed every Thursday.
Where U.S. soybeans are grown
Soybeans are the second-largest U.S. row crop by planted area, behind corn. Roughly 85 million acres go in the ground each year, concentrated in the same Corn Belt geography as corn, with one important extension: soybeans push further south into the Mississippi Delta. Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and the southern Missouri Bootheel all run material soybean acreage that corn does not match. Illinois and Iowa lead the country in planted soybeans, followed by Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Kansas, and Arkansas.
Soybean drought timing is also different from corn. The critical stress window is August — pod fill and seed development — rather than corn's July pollination. A late-summer drought that arrives after corn has finished pollinating can still hit soybeans hard. The Monitor scores the two crops separately for this reason, even when they're rotated on the same ground.
How the soybean view works
The headline view shows planted soybean acres as columns colored by current U.S. Drought Monitor severity — hard data only, with no insurance assumptions. The watch list ranks counties by drought-weighted planted acres: planted acres multiplied by severity. A "Forecast Drought" view nudges current conditions by NOAA CPC's Seasonal Drought Outlook to show where the next three months point, and a "vs Last Year" view tracks the change in severity year over year.
Like corn, soybeans are heavily covered by federal crop insurance — in the major soybean states, participation runs at or near corn levels — so insurance is not the story for soybeans. Where it helps to know, the Monitor shows a per-county footprint across all federal crop-insurance programs, with crop-insurance acres, grazing and forage acres, and rangeland listed separately and never summed, since a single field can carry more than one policy.
The inputs are the same the rest of the tool uses: planted acres from USDA NASS, current drought severity from the U.S. Drought Monitor, the NOAA CPC outlook for the forecast view, and insurance context from USDA RMA's Summary of Business. Soybeans appear on their own tab in the live tool.
Data sources for soybean drought exposure
Every input behind the soybean view is public, free, and refreshed on a known cadence:
| Source | What it provides | Refresh |
|---|---|---|
| USDA NASS | Planted soybean acres by county, with three-tier waterfall for current-year coverage | Annual + intra-year revisions |
| USDA RMA Summary of Business | Per-county insurance context across all federal programs — crop insurance, grazing/forage, and rangeland shown separately | Monthly mid-year + crop-year close |
| U.S. Drought Monitor | Current drought severity (D0–D4) by county | Weekly, Thursdays |
| NOAA CPC Seasonal Drought Outlook | 90-day forward outlook — development, persistence, improvement, removal | Monthly |
Frequently asked questions
Which U.S. states grow the most soybeans?
Illinois and Iowa lead the country in planted soybean acreage, followed by Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Kansas, and Arkansas. The Corn Belt and the Mississippi Delta together account for the bulk of national soybean production, with the Delta states pushing the crop further south than corn typically reaches.
Does the soybean view account for federal crop insurance?
The drought view is built on hard data only — planted soybean acres from USDA NASS and current severity from the U.S. Drought Monitor — with no insurance assumptions. Federal crop insurance appears separately as per-county context from USDA RMA's Summary of Business. Soybeans are among the most heavily insured U.S. row crops, on par with corn, so this context is steady; it is shown alongside the drought picture rather than folded into it.
Why does soybean drought exposure differ from corn drought exposure?
The geography overlaps heavily but isn't identical — soybeans extend further south through the Mississippi Delta, where corn acreage is thinner. Timing differs too. Corn's critical drought-stress window is July pollination; soybean's is August pod fill. A drought that arrives in late summer after corn has finished pollinating can still hit the soybean crop hard.
Where are U.S. soybeans most at risk from drought this week?
It changes weekly. The Monitor reorders its soybean watch list every Thursday after the U.S. Drought Monitor publishes. Historically the western edges of the Corn Belt and the Mississippi Delta are the regions most prone to summer drought concentration. The current week's view is on the live tool.
Other crops
Each crop has its own geography, its own planted footprint, and its own drought-stress window — so the watch list for one rarely lines up with another.