Food experts are warning that America's Midwest drought threatens a repetition of the 2008 global food crisis, when spiraling prices set off riots in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. With corn and soybean crops in the midst of an unrelenting heat wave, huge crop losses are inevitable. This will, in turn, boost food and fuel prices and cut exports and aid from the United States, the world's largest exporter of these key crops. "We're moving from a crisis to a horror story," said Purdue University agronomist Tony Vyn. "I see an increasing number of fields that will produce zero grain ". The drought is the worst since 1956, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a report released on Monday. Drought is now affecting 55% of the land mass in the lower 48 states. Marie Brill, a policy analyst at ActionAid joined the voices raising alarm saying "What's difficult is that we see a drought happen today but people really are going to be feeling that six months from now, possibly a year from now". Brill went on to say that it was already clear the reduced supply, and high prices of corn and soybean were set to cause serious hardship – especially among poor people in poor countries which depend on imported grain. Countries that are net importers of corn will be hit the hardest including South Korea, Japan, Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador and Columbia. Much of East Africa will also be badly affected, she said. Even those African countries that produce their own corn will suffer because they are locked into the higher global prices. America's demand for ethanol may further limit the amount of corn on the world market. This is because 40% of America's corn is used for ethanol which serves to drive up the price of corn. But there were some reports that American ethanol factories have been temporarily closed down across the mid-west, because high corn prices made ethanol production uneconomic.