In several recent columns, CNBC.com senior editor John Carney has dismissed any notion of a farm labor crisis, claiming that record farm profits suggest no such crisis exists. The senior editor’s all too common error is to grossly oversimplify American agriculture and draw the wrong conclusions as a result.

U.S. farmers are heading for their most profitable year on record despite the worst drought in half a century as high grain prices and payouts from a federal crop insurance program compensate for a smaller harvest, the Financial Times reports.

Calls are growing to suspend the federal ethanol production mandate next year, as the worst drought in more than half a century has devastated the corn crop in the U.S. The question is whether a waiver of the Renewable Fuel Standard will actually bring down sky-high corn prices.

The extreme heat wilting crop harvests across the U.S. is exerting a “big” toll on input prices, the chief executive of Sunny Delight told CNBC Wednesday, issuing a call for the government to suspend mandates that divert corn into biofuels.

While wreaking havoc on grain crops, the worst U.S. drought in a half century is providing opportunities for companies that provide and pump the most precious of commodities — water. While the drought is testing farmers and food producers, the volatility in weather patterns is giving water companies new revenue sources, as they provide solutions to the environmental challenges.

Back home in Kansas we are spending our time looking up to the sky, praying and hoping for rain. Our state, along with much of the country, is suffering from a very serious drought. Crops are dying, cattle are hungry and being sold off, and water is in scarce supply.

In Illinois, we’ve experienced the sixth-driest growing season on record. Of 102 counties, 100 are disaster areas, the state's governor addresses the issue of what's been done and what still needs to happen to help his state.

As a result of a Congressional mandate passed in 2005 and expanded in 2007, over 40 percent of this year’s greatly depleted corn crop will be diverted from food and livestock, and instead be sold at the gas pump. We are trading our precious, fertile acres of farmland for a small dent in our oil usage. We are prioritizing our goal to reduce oil dependence over providing food to people.

Food inflation will start hurting Asian economies by the end of the year if the current high prices are sustained over the next few months, with Vietnam, China and Hong Kong the most vulnerable, economists tell CNBC.

As the U.S. drought continues and global grain prices soar, G20 leaders are considering an emergency meeting at the end of August to consider what measures to take to combat the growing food crisis. But the surge in corn, soy and wheat prices could also lead to some benefits for the agricultural sector and an opportunity for investors, according to one fund manager.

G20 countries are to step in to try and co-ordinate a response to surging food prices, after the worst U.S. drought in half a century devastated crops in the world’s largest agricultural exporter, the Financial Times reports.

The worst fears for the U.S. corn crop are being realized, as the government now expects the lowest yield in 17 years and a total crop about a third smaller than what was projected at the start of the growing season.