Tag Archives: crops

U.S.

U.S. Food Crisis: Farmers told to “dispose” of crops if hit by floods! Against the law to sell flooded vegetables!

17 July 2015 (02:27 UTC-07 Tango 01)/26 Tir 1394/30 Ramadan 1436/02 Gui-Wie (6th month) 4713

“If your plants come in contact with flood water, the safest thing to do is to not eat them. Dispose of them……there could be e-coli, heavy metals, or other pathogenic organisms….”-John Bombardiere, West Virginia State University

West Virginia declared a state of emergency after severe flooding hit the east coast state on 12 July.   The West Virginia Agriculture Commission is warning farmers and victory gardeners not to eat any vegetables if their land has been by flooded.

The federal government says it’s actually against the law to sell crops soaked by floods: “If the edible portion of a crop is exposed to flood waters, it is considered adulterated under section 402(a)(4) (21 U.S.C. 342(a)(4)) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and should not enter human food channels. There is no practical method of reconditioning the edible portion of a crop that will provide a reasonable assurance of human food safety. Therefore, the FDA recommends that these crops be disposed of in a manner that ensures they are kept separate from crops that have not been flood damaged to avoid adulterating ‘clean’ crops (Ref. 1, 2, 3).”

Washington & Oregon ban fishing after mystery deaths! 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery, What Global Warming? It’s summer time and Crops in Mexico are being threatened by Frost, yet more reasons why food prices will go up

“The involvement is significant, because they are threatening more than 7 million hectares of crops planted in the spring-summer 2011, which are at risk for losing a harvest of 20 million tons of basic grains as well as lost income and liquidity of more 3.5 million basic grain producers.”-Salazar Arriaga, National Confederation of Corn Producers

To be sure Mexico’s agriculture industry is dealing with severe drought, but also flooding and…frost.

23 of Mexico’s 32 states are dealing with drought, but, now that the rainy season is about to start it looks like they’ll get hit with severe flooding, neither of which are conducive to growing crops.

In northern Mexico, winter is predicted to come on colder than normal, resulting in frost damage to many struggling crops.

Some of the worst hit states in Mexico are Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Durango, Sonora, Chihuahua, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí, Colima, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatán and Zacatecas.  Farmers in those states have lost too much of the growing year, which means it’s too late to plant anything.

Business/Economics, International

Food Crisis: Drought, Floods, now Locust in Australia

Australia is struggling to keep it’s lucrative agriculture industry booming.  Some areas of Australia are dealing with the worst drought on record.  Other areas are dealing with floods, and now Locust.

PARKES, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 26: A lamb stands in a dry paddock on the 10,000 acre property owned by the Orr family on January 26, 2010 in Parkes, Australia.The Orr family received 13 inches of rain in 2009 and have been hand feeding stock for approximately 8 years. Drought in New South Wales has increased by 1%, the state is now believed to be 95% marginally or fully in drought despite some rain during the Christmas period. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)
Parkes, Australia, dealing with drought.WANGARATTA, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 06: Floodwaters surround Painters Island Caravan Park on September 6, 2010 in Wangaratta, Australia. Many parts of Victoria were devastated by flood waters when heavy winds and rains inundated the area causing the worst flooding in over a decade. The State Emergency Service has ordered the evacuation of several cities and are warning residents that the threat is not yet over. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
Wangaratta, Australia, dealing with floods.
This is a major threat to Australia’s economy.  Their economy is based mainly on service industry, but, it’s their agriculture industry that’s boosting their economy.  Australia has profitable agriculture trade deals with other countries, that’s helping Australia see a 1.20% growth rate this year.  It’s also helping to keep their unemployment rate around 5.10%.
Margaret River Western Australia. 13/01/2010 Voyager Estate Winery www.voyagerestate.com.au Netting protects the crop from Silvereyes Photo Roger Parker
Margaret River, Australia, using Locust nets.

The struggles against Mother Nature in Australia will add to the growing price of agriculture commodities, and the looming Food Crisis.

Idaho, International

Food Prices Up, Crop Yields Down

27 September 2010

Signs of a coming food crisis are everywhere. Most notably at the source, the farms that grow the basic crops. Here on the east side of Idaho, farmers had to deal with a spring that was too cool too long, resulting in crops being planted weeks late, and then a short summer (www.noaanews.noaa.gov) (www.kidk.com).

It’s not just Idaho, but many of the crop growing states in the U.S. are experiencing lower yields, and you can blame the weather. Any type of extreme weather will affect crops (sciencepolicy.colorado.edu).  In Idaho it’s too cool & too dry. In other parts of the United States it’s too wet (just look at all the flooding in the southern states), or too hot & dry. And it’s not just the U.S.; Canada & Mexico, South America, Eurasia & Africa as well as Australia, are all dealing with the adverse affects of weird weather on their crops. Pakistan can kiss most of their crop production goodbye after the incredible floods they experienced. Russia is loosing crops due to record heat & fires (www.voanews.com) (rt.com) (rt.com). Just in the past couple of days flooding in Nigeria has destroyed 240 acres of farmland (www.cnn.com).

The result is that overall, globally, less product is heading towards the markets, which means higher commodity prices paid for those crops (Law of Supply & Demand). This is good for farmers who can still produce big crop yields, as farmers in Colorado are finding out (www.agweek.com), but it’s bad for the average consumer. Coffee retailers have finally started passing on the higher costs they’re paying for the beans (starbucks.tekgroup.com). This will only add to the specter of inflation, a three pronged attack caused by governments printing too much money, precious metal prices blasting off and food prices soaring.

Here’s what has happened to wheat commodity prices: In March 2010 Hard Red Winter Wheat was at a value of 191.07,  by August 2010 it hit a value of 246.35 (www.indexmundi.com).  Not all commodities have experienced such a big increase, a few have actually dropped. But, there is a trend of reduced availability & increased cost, so much so that the UN held an emergency meeting to discuss the issue (www.guardian.co.uk). Some UN officials blame inexperienced commodity speculators for the increases in prices. One example of that is that it looks like the December 2010 Corn futures were “overbought” (Idaho Grain Market Alert 9.23.10). This is a double whammy for the average consumer; not only will some foods become limited but some food will be too expensive. So the coming food crisis may probably be more about people not being able to buy the food, than it’s limited availability.

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