It's not just that there's drought, there's also something called atmospheric thirst.
Simply put, it means the atmosphere in part of the country is just generally drier than it used to be, so crops will actually need MORE water than they used to, in order to survive.
The Rio Grande Valley is the center of the situation, but researchers found big increases in atmospheric thirst across much of the country in the last 40 years. Climate change is indeed the main cause.
Lead author Christine Albano of the Desert Research Institute--acronym DRI--visits with co-author Dan McEvoy to add details.