Thursday, September 13, 2012

Droughts, Item Prices, and Globe Wide City Unrest

By John B. Emmerson III


Perhaps, you have been following the news recently (Summer of 2012) and observed that we've had a horrible issue with droughts in the Midwestern component of the United States. This indicates the price of grain, grain, corn, and soybeans between many other crops here at home have increased. We also have a concern because it will take water for livestock; those animals need feed which is also grown. If the ranchers don't have that, they have to take the animals to slaughter early, trimming down the herd, and that raises the cost of meat. We also have mandates for ethanol, and it takes water to perfect ethanol, and it takes water to increase the corn - seed experts are working feverishly on drought immune corn strategies.

Now we have competing issues for foods, much of this meals we export to various other nations. When we have shortages here, and because we grow so much of the world's food supply due to our mechanization, amazing agricultural technology, and streamline submission system when our prices go up, it impacts world commodity meals prices. We are not the only country that is having a drought scenario, and there are other difficulties as well this sort of as the ever-growing Ug99 fungus which is challenging wheat vegetation in other pieces of the world.

A couple of decades ago Russia had big wildfires, and they were worried they wouldn't have adequate wheat, so they canceled all exportation of wheat so that their personal citizens would have enough. This then wheat item prices worldwide to go heavens high. Many countries such as Egypt needed that wheat to give food to their people as over 80 million of them only make one to two dollars per day. Without the wheat, there was civil unrest, which was part of the purpose for the Arab Spring.

They say a the world is only three meals away from chaos, if that is true we might be went for more challenges in the coming year. In fact there was an intriguing article in the Wall Street Log on September 5, 2012 by Michael Haddon and Christopher Emsden titled; "UN Calls for Measures to Avert a Food Crisis," and they are asking the United States to forgo its mandate on ethanol manufacturing, and use that water and territory to grow agricultural goods to ship to other components of the world to reduce the price.

Yes, commodity costs matter around the world, and when they get too far out of hit they can deliver down entire civilizations governments. You should expect to see more problems ahead in 2013. Please consider all this and feel on it.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment