Well, just when things could not be bad enough (these forecasts (article below) I wrote about 3 years ago...)
theeconomiccollapseblog.com...
The Corn Is Dying All Over America
All over America the corn is dying. If drought conditions persist in the middle part of the country, wheat and soybeans will be next. Weeks of
intense heat combined with extraordinarily dry conditions have brought many U.S. corn farmers to the brink of total disaster. If there is not
significant rainfall soon, many farmers will be financially ruined. This period of time is particularly important for corn because this is when
pollination is supposed to happen. But the unprecedented heat and the extremely dry conditions are playing havoc with that process. With each
passing day things get even worse. We have seen the price of a bushel of corn soar 41 percent since June 14th. That is an astounding rise. You may
not eat much corn directly, but it is important to realize that corn or corn syrup is just about in everything these days. Just look at your food
labels. In the United States today, approximately 75 percent of all processed foods contain corn. So a huge rise in the price of corn is going to be
felt all over the supermarket. Corn is also widely used to feed livestock, and if this crisis continues we are going to see a significant rise in
meat and dairy prices as well. Food prices in America have already been rising at a steady pace, and so this is definitely not welcome news.
The weather conditions in the middle part of the country during the last couple of months have been highly unusual. The following is from a recent
article in the Los Angeles Times....
It's not that the Midwest hasn't been extremely hot before, and it's not that it hasn't been incredibly dry.
But it's unusual for a vast swath of the Midwest to be so very hot and so very dry for so very long -- particularly this early in the summer.
The current heat wave -- which is spurring comparisons to the catastrophic heat of 1936 -- is "out of whack," meteorologist Jim Keeney said Friday in
an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Corn crops typically pollinate and mature in June and early July. That is why this time of the year is so vitally important for corn. We have
reached a make it or break it moment.
The following is how an Accuweather.com report described what is happening right now....
Either heat or drought can stress the stalks, but both can basically shut down the pollination process. When this happens few, small or no ears of
corn form.
According to AccuWeather.com Agricultural Meteorologists, you can't raise a corn crop with less than an inch of rain over six weeks, combined with
100-degree and higher temperatures. However, these conditions have taken place in much of the southern corn belt through the week of July 4, 2012.
If pollination does not happen, corn farmers might as well give up.
Just check out what agricultural economist Chris Hurt said the other day....
"Pollination problems just can’t be overcome, even if the weather turns. There’s no turning back. There’s just failure."
At this point, half of all corn in the state of Indiana is already in poor shape.
With each passing day, the condition of the corn gets even worse.
As a recent article in the Chicago Tribune detailed, many farmers feel completely helpless at the moment....
Dave Kestel, who farms about 1,300 acres in Manhattan about 40 miles southwest of Chicago, said he feels helpless.
"Every day you get out there and it's the same heat and cloudless sky," he said. "You see your corn just withering out there, knowing you can't do
anything about it."
The United States is suffering from a severe lack of rain. Just look at the chart posted below. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, most of the
country is experiencing drought conditions right now....
edit on 10-7-2012 by pityocamptes because: (no reason given)