Current Farm Report...we're not the only doomers...

'expert consensus on climate change is greater than GMO safety, loss of confidence in scientific consensus might impact us on a big way.'

this as a follow up to newscaster reporting that farmers are googling facts, some of it solid some of it 'dubious,' to justify any opinion.

in other words...GLP effect.

Last Edited by Anne O'Mally on 07/03/2012 12:25 PM

in six months they're cutting farm price supports....

the perfect storm is building.....

Agriculture is taking a heavy hit right now. I live in Arkansas where rice, soybeans, corn, and cotton are huge. I believe that Arkansas alone is the second largest exporter of rice in the world.

We never got our spring rains here. The wells can't keep up with the needs of the farmers. It isn't out and out doom, but productivity will be down a lot.

It will hurt farmers and prices will go up some. However, the US is the biggest exporter of food in the world and by a huge margin.

IT is ironic that without US food that china and Russia would be in a serious bind.

Even if our production drops by a sizable amount there will still be enough to feed us. But if it gets bad and the US doesn't ban food exports then we will find ourselves in a bidding contest with the rest of the world for our own food. Capitalism at work.

I don't even know if the US can legally restrict food exports under all these agreements we have with others.

I don't see real doom over just this, not this year. It may add pressure in general that helps the economy fail. Given years of such weather we may have a compounding problem that adds up to a certain degree of doom.

Your thread does not fall on deaf ears of those that are aware, hence my signature.

thank you.

i cannot believe the way they are talking on this report...i did a bunch of background for recent farm reports and if you go the line of the usda, they are of course playing it all down but THESE guys are bringing it.

also that we are losing so much of our agriculture business to mexico.

"Both the US and EU removed the last roadblocks to Russia’s membership after Moscow agreed to change its rules on car assembly, the export of farm products and quotas for wood imports."

20 point decline in corn production in indiana in the last week.

The ENTIRE WORLD is headed to a big shortage of wheat, corn and soybeans by the end of 2012.

Epic Mayan doom.

Wait and see...

Gets you this.....look at the gaps week to week in the last three. [link to www.finviz.com]

My garden was such a fail this year I've mostly thrown in the towel for now. I have had some really good gardens in the past, and am not a novice but still a hobbyist, but a well educated and skilled hobbyist. That said, I'm betting on re-planting certain things after august you don't typically plant after may-june in my area. I have done this in recent years despite the naysayers and had success.

If you had trouble this year, no matter how much effort was wasted, start some new seedlings indoors again and plan to re-plant. It's going to be unseasonably warm until the end of the year and plants that wouldn't usually last past oct will still be going well in nov, maybe early dec.

that is exactly what they are saying. that while our drought is extreme, and making a major impact, the real doom (paraphrase LOL) is the global market, with 'all economies teetering on the brink of failure.'

THIS is great advice, thank you. we're doing the same here, but we've got a lot of rain still (PNW) and expecting late growing season.

it's not just the drought...consider all the other crap farmers have been going through...

june 4, 2012:

[link to www.businessinsider.com]

FOX BUSINESS INTERN: Here's How My Family Farm Lost Money From MF Global's Collapse

And yet, the inner workings of Wall Street weren’t something that we typically worried about. Like most farmers I know, we take risk on our business, not on whether the money in our brokerage account is safe from possible theft.

The best comparison I can give you is how the common consumer puts money in a checking account at any bank; you simply assume that the money will be there.

Following MF Global's demise, farmers can no longer assume their money is safe. As most people who have followed this story know, about $1.6 billion in customer money went missing when the firm declared bankruptcy. In the end, my father lost a relatively small amount -- $3,000 -- but we know people who are out a lot more.

*********************************

Since the Depression, when thousands of customers were wiped out by failing brokerage firms, the idea that customer assets are protected has been sacrosanct, embodied in laws and regulations that require the assets to be safely segregated. Violating these requirements is a crime.

The rules require a firm to put aside the amount it would owe if its customers’ accounts were liquidated. This would seem simple common sense: if a brokerage firm closed or failed, customers should expect to get the full value of their assets.

But the rules apply only to accounts in the United States. In 1987, the commodity commission approved a series of rules governing foreign futures and options transactions, one of which provided an alternative calculation of how much firms needed to put aside for accounts that traded on foreign exchanges.

[link to www.nytimes.com]

Last Edited by Anne O'Mally on 07/03/2012 12:59 PM

For all the prepping I do, I'm seriously considering hydroponic. One of the barns is already taking shape nicely.

[link to www.friendlyaquaponics.com]

This is a BIG deal. Floods, baking heatwaves, late freezes, wildfires, hail. The last couple of years has been rough on America's crops.

I am a big one for independence and self reliance, but there is only so much we can do to be self reliant and independent. We can't stop the sun from broiling our crops. We can't force a completely cloudless sky to open up and rain on a nation-wide scale. At some point we can only trust in the divine providence of God for the right amount of rain and sunshine. Kinda tough relying on someone you have abandoned though.

Last Edited by Resister on 07/03/2012 01:15 PM

if you have the funds and the long term power source, rock 'n roll!

it's a real eye opener to see how fast things can be destroyed, i hope you are not in the derecho line.

i advocate for SIMPLE gardening, as much as possible. that's the messed up thing is that even little gardens are taking big hits right now.

hope for the best, prepare for the worst. thank you for the link btw, little reality check there.

Well, some people think we do have the technology to do these things. The question though is if we do have this technology is it being used to create these problems? If not would they use it to solve the problems? Probably not because they want us to starve anyway.

we've got,

GMO crops failing,
insects getting stronger,
severe soil damage in the breadbasket,
drought/flooding/weather
spider mites, japanese beetle, etc.
foreclosures and farmers losing homes/going deep into debt,
no disaster relief,


hello july 2012.

[link to drought.unl.edu]

Drought Monitoring and Outlook


The U.S. Drought Monitor
Click on image to see current US Drought Monitor

Last Edited by Anne O'Mally on 07/03/2012 01:16 PM

Weather modificate science does exist, but the scale required to regulate an area the size of a nation is what is beyond our capability. Then there is the law of equal and opposite reaction. Something done in one place will affect another just as dramatically. Bottom line is that we are not God. We need Him.

Look into no-till gardening and rock dust. Add lots of mulch and compost tea.
This will give the home garden the strength it needs to to survive adverse conditions. Conventional gardening makes soil weak...thus plants weak.

Recommend this be PINNED immediately!

It'll take the middle class urban journalists in the UK ages to pick up on this.

[link to ticker.mesonet.org]


Pasture/rangeland in poor/very poor condition

Excellent thread Anne! We are in trouble in so many ways!

yes, there has been an ongoing issue (DECADES) with public lands ranching, soil erosion, loss of native plant species needed to maintain environmental integrity...

Public Lands Ranching
The Ecological Costs of Public Lands Ranching

Public lands ranching is the most widespread commercial use of public lands in the United States. Ranching is one of the primary causes of native species endangerment in the American West; it is also the most significant cause of non-point source water pollution and desertification.

Public lands ranching significantly contributes to climate change by emissions of the global warming gases nitrous oxide and methane; it causes loss of soil carbon reserves by causing erosion and by substantially reducing the landscape’s potential to sequester carbon.

[link to www.westernwatersheds.org]

THAT, of course, is on top of everything else.

this book is a fabulous read on the issue:

[link to wildhorsewarriors.blogspot.com]

Anyone familiar w/ Joe Salatins' work? Great stuff

Farmers in Iowa were very happy that they were able to get the crops in so early. BUT now that we aren't getting any rain, they aren't so happy about it. I haven't seen it this dry in a LONG time.

Yep, folks around here had gardens go bust a lot. Even the watered gardens burned up under this heat. Every gardener I know has lost most of their corn, most of them lost all their corn. Ironically, there is a large field of dent corn not far from here that looks ok and it isn't watered that I can tell. This makes me wonder if dent corn is more drought resistant than sweet corn. The only things doing ok are field peas and okra.

you are totally right on that.

thanks for the pin!