It looks like global food production could be well below expectations in 2019, and that could spell big trouble in the months ahead. In recent weeks, I have written extensively about the problems that we have been experiencing here in the United States. As many as a million calves were lost to the flooding that hit the state of Nebraska in March, farmers have planted less than half of the corn that is normally in the ground by this time of the year, and a lot of the crops that have been planted in the middle of the country are really struggling due to extremely wet soil. But it isn’t just the United States that is facing a very troubling year. Earlier today, one of my readers sent me an article entitled “Global food crisis ahead as extreme weather events devastate crops and fields around the world” which I would encourage everyone to read. In that article, we are told that after the worst drought in 116 years Australia has actually been forced to import wheat. And according to the Guardian, this is the first time in 12 years that this has happened… (Read More...)
Food
It Is Being Projected That U.S. Consumers Will “Pay 40% To 85% More For Vine-Ripe And Other Fresh Tomatoes” By The End Of 2019
It has been quite a year. In March, catastrophic flooding in the Midwest absolutely crippled thousands of farms and “as many as a million calves” were lost in Nebraska alone. Then in April we learned that African Swine Fever has wiped out “150-200 million pigs” in China. To put that in perspective, that is more pigs than the entire U.S. pork industry produces in an entire year. And now on top of everything else, the price of fresh tomatoes is about to go skyrocketing. But this time a natural disaster is not to blame. Instead, it is an action by the federal government that is going to cause us to pay much more for tomatoes at the supermarket. The following comes from USA Today… (Read More...)
Record Setting Flooding In The Heartland: “The Mississippi River Has Been At Major Flood Stage For 41 Days And Counting”
Thousands of farmers in the Midwest have been waiting for a very long time for floodwaters to recede so that they can finally plant some crops, but instead more rain just keeps on coming. As you will see below, it is being reported that the Mississippi River has now been at major flood stage for 41 days in a row, and a lot more rain is coming this week. Meteorologists are warning us that major flooding may extend into June, and that means that many farmers will not be able to plant crops at all this year. Unfortunately, as global weather patterns continue to shift many believe that what we are witnessing this year may become the “new normal” along the Mississippi River. (Read More...)
30 Inches Of Snow! Another Bomb Cyclone “Detonates” Over The Midwest, And The NOAA Is Warning Flooding Could Extend Into July
We aren’t supposed to have a major blizzard in April. Less than a month after a “bomb cyclone” caused apocalyptic flooding in the central part of the country, another “bomb cyclone” is hitting the exact same area. One meteorologist has called it “a life-threatening storm”, and at this moment over four million people are under blizzard warnings. South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Kansas are going to get absolutely hammered before the storm finally moves east on Friday. The authorities are warning that this new “bomb cyclone” will cause additional flooding in the region, but at this point we do not know how bad that flooding will be. (Read More...)
100s Of Millions Of Dollars In Crops Destroyed By Flooding, And Farmers Are Being Told “There’s Nothing The U.S. Government Can Do To Help”
This is the worst economic disaster for U.S. farmers in modern American history. Our ongoing trade war with China had greatly depressed prices for wheat, corn and soybeans, and so farmers were storing more crops on their farms than ever before in early 2019. And then the floods came. The water moved so fast that the vast majority of the farmers in the affected areas could not have moved what they had stored even if they wanted to, and the scale of the losses that these farmers have suffered is starting to become clearer. According to UPI, “hundreds of millions of dollars in crops” that were destroyed by the flooding were not covered by insurance… (Read More...)
200 Million People At Risk: National Weather Service Warns Apocalyptic Midwest Floods Are “A Preview Of What We Expect Throughout The Rest Of The Spring”
The flooding that just struck the middle part of the country was the worst blow to U.S. farmers in decades, but now the National Weather Service is telling us that it was just “a preview of what we expect throughout the rest of the spring”. Can that possibly be true? After the immense devastation that we have already witnessed, how much worse can the flooding possibly get? Already we have seen thousands of homes and farms be completely destroyed, and we are being told that the total economic damage is in the billions of dollars. Sadly, the truth is that a lot worse is still yet to come. Thanks to a very snowy winter, a massive amount of snow is going to melt during the next several weeks, and that alone would produce tremendous flooding. But on top of all of that melting snow, forecasters are telling us that it will be a very rainy spring. In fact, the Weather Channel is warning that there will be “above-average precipitation across much of the Lower 48” over the next three months, and one meteorologist is forecasting that it is “not looking like we are going to see any dry stretches anytime soon”. And this is on top of all of the very heavy rainfall that has been falling in recent weeks. At this point, the Mississippi River basin has already gotten “three times as much rainfall as in a normal year”. (Read More...)
Catastrophic Flooding In The Midwest Could Last “For Months”, And That Is Going To Mean A Dramatic Drop In U.S. Food Production
The worst flooding disaster in the history of the Midwest is just getting started, and as this crisis unfolds we are all going to be feeling the pain. The “bomb cyclone” that recently brought hurricane-force winds and blizzard conditions to the middle of the nation was the spark that set off this catastrophic flooding, and now all of the snow from one of the snowiest winters in decades is going to be feeding into rivers that have already shattered all-time flood records. As you will see below, most of the Great Plains and Upper Midwest is currently covered by more than 10 inches of snow, and all of that water has to go somewhere. As all of that snow melts, we are going to witness an agricultural disaster that is far beyond anything that we have ever seen before in modern American history. (Read More...)
Is The U.S. Food Supply Cursed?
Why are so many catastrophes hitting U.S. food production? This week, we have learned that more than 7 million turkeys and chickens have already been killed as the result of a devastating bird flu outbreak here in the United States. This particular strain of the bird flu has already spread to the states of Minnesota, Iowa, California, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin, and scientists are mystified as to why it is moving so rapidly. But what we do know is that this flu has the potential to kill an entire flock of chickens or turkeys in just 48 hours. This pandemic is quickly becoming a major national crisis all by itself, but when you combine this with all of the other disasters hitting our food supply, a very troubling picture emerges. Could it be possible that the U.S. food supply is cursed? (Read More...)