Ashur Mohammed, 60, checks his land in Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, on July 9. Below-average rainfall and insufficient water in the Euphrates and Tigris rivers — something the Iraqis have blamed on dams in neighboring Turkey and Syria — have left Iraq bone-dry for a second straight year. Hadi Mizban/AP hide caption

Baker Bertrand Houlier with the sweet treats and breads he sells at the Montgomery Farm Women's Cooperative Market in Bethesda, Md. Marisa Penaloza/NPR hide caption

President Obama meets John Roos (left), U.S. ambassador to Japan, in the Oval Office at the White House on Aug. 6. Roos is a Silicon Valley lawyer who had not been to Japan before his appointment — and who raised money for Obama's presidential campaign. Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

A farmer plants soybeans in an untilled field. No-till farming, in which crops are planted into last year's field stubble without plowing, has gained acceptance in the past two decades as a way to build organic matter, reduce erosion and control pesticides and fertilizers. J.D. Pooley/AP hide caption