August 11, 2012 by desertrose
Crossroads News : Changes In The World Around Us And Our Place In It
Published on Aug 11, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish
The US is facing its worst harvest for 15 years, and as corn production plummets, global food prices are rising.
Temperatures in some states have been even higher than in the devastating Dust Bowl summer of 1936.
Al Jazeera’s Jesse Mesner-Hage reports.
US food prices spike amid record temperatures
August 11, 2012 by desertrose | Edit
Crossroads News : Changes In The World Around Us And Our Place In It
Published on Aug 11, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish
The US is facing its worst harvest for 15 years, and as corn production plummets, global food prices are rising.
Temperatures in some states have been even higher than in the devastating Dust Bowl summer of 1936.
Al Jazeera’s Jesse Mesner-Hage reports.
USDA cuts corn outlook as drought grips
The US government has slashed its expectations for corn and soybean production for the second consecutive month, predicting what could be the lowest average corn yield in more than 15 years as the worst drought in decades grips major farm states.
Nonetheless, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Friday insisted US farmers and ranchers remained resilient and the country would continue to meet demand as the global leader in farm exports and food aid.
The US Agriculture Department cut its projected US corn production to 10.8 billion bushels, down 17 per cent from its forecast last month of nearly 13 billion bushels and 13 per cent less than last year. That also would be the lowest production since 2006.
The USDA, in its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, now expects corn growers to average 123.4 bushels per acre, down 24 bushels from last year in what would be the lowest average yield in 17 years.
Soybean production is now forecast at 2.69 billion bushels, a 12 per cent decline from last year and well off the 3.05 billion bushels the USDA had expected last month. The expected average yield of 36.1 bushels per acre would be the lowest since 2003.
Corn farmers had expected a record year just months ago, when they sowed 96.4 million acres – the most since 1937. The USDA now predicts only 87.4 million acres will be harvested, although it notes the crop still could be the eighth-biggest in US history.
On Thursday, the UN food agency drew a direct correlation between price hikes in basic food commodities and the months of parched conditions in farm states.
The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation said in its monthly price report that its overall food price index climbed 6 percentage points in July, although it was well below the peak reached in February 2011.
The FAO’s index, considered a global benchmark used to track market volatility and price trends, measures the monthly price changes for a basket of food, including cereals, oils and fats, meat, dairy products and sugar.
Severe drought punishing the US’s midsection has sent corn prices soaring, and expectations of crop damage from dry weather in Russia sent world wheat prices up 19 per cent, according to the FAO. Spikes in the prices of staple foods have led to riots in some countries in recent years.
Vilsack tried to tamp down such concerns on Friday.
‘Americans shouldn’t see immediate increases in food prices due to the drought,’ Vilsack said as he visited drought-stricken Nebraska. ‘What is important going forward is that we continue to do all we can to help the farmers, ranchers, small businesses and communities being impacted by this drought.’
Rick Whitacre, a professor of agricultural economics at Illinois State University, said consumers may see modest price increases at grocery stores because corn is found in everything from cosmetics to cereal, soda, cake mixes and candy bars. He said the biggest price jump is likely to be a 4 to 6 per cent increase for beef and pork, as many ranchers have sold livestock as pastures dry up and feed costs rise.
Federal scientists say this July was the hottest on record, smoking out even the sweltering temperatures set in the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on Wednesday that the stretch from August 2011 through July this year was the warmest 12-month period the US has experienced.
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Related articles
- Report: Drought worsens in key farm states (kansascity.com)
- Report: Drought worsens in key farm states (cnsnews.com)
- USDA cuts corn outlook as drought takes toll (kansascity.com)
- July was the hottest month ever recorded in the continental U.S. (news.nationalpost.com)
- July Heat Broke 1930s Dust Bowl Record (stlouis.cbslocal.com)
- Drought-hit U.S. busts heat record from Dust Bowl days (reuters.com)
Comments
Amrah, this piece has not referred to ET's making anyone or anything. Nor has it touched on scripture. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs. However, religion and scripture should be taken to the religious groups. Just as debates about ET's and their role or non roles in our lives.
The Admin Team appreciates your cooperation in keeping it so . Thank you :)
There is another way to look at the corn and soy bean devastation. Both of these once great foods are 90% or more Genetically modified and in 27 nations of the world they are banned because they are poison to the human body and will end the fertility forever. I am sorry for the monetary loss to the farmers but growing poison and having it put in almost every processed food on the market as High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFC) and feed to the livestock we consume. I see this as a good thing, so dry up and die and good riddance. Thanks for the sermom Amrah it is sunday but not all of us need it, there is a section for preaching.
And we havent seen anything as of yet! The future months and even years on this planet will astound even the Wise! You see but a small wind at the present, but i will bring the Storm and it will scour the earth and reinvigorate it back to its original intentions that I have set forth for it! For no man can accomplish anything against the will of the Prime Creator of all host, it shall be so! I do not speak this but he who has sent me to speak. But then many of you channel ET's? Did they create you? Will they save you? If so then let them do so! For the GOD of all creation says, I am against those who teach my children they must fly away to save their Souls! Did the writers of the bible know in those days know we might need to fly away from Nibiru? There is nothing wrong to accept an Angel of light offer to be taken to a place of safety! But it will still bring you back where you are. Some must endure what they endure, and others are ordained to be given a place of safety for three years. Do not judge the message or the messenger for you do not know what the next days of your life will entail. Only have have much Love and compassion in all things!