Texas agriculture losses worst ever

Zardoz

The drought is killing them:

2006 ag losses worst single-year total ever

Doly · Expert Joined: Dec 03, 2004 Posts: 4031

dukey · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Feb 20, 2005 Posts: 1993

south UK has been pretty dry as well
basically not cut out lawn for most of the summer. Normally we are cutting like mad every week. It is just not growing. That's a reflection too on crop and grass yields. There seems to be very little grass for cows this year ..

kjmclark · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 09, 2005 Posts: 305

How is agriculture in the UK overall doing this year? The rest of Europe? It seems like the only grain/corn growing region I've read is doing well this year is the eastern part of the US grain belt.

dukey · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Feb 20, 2005 Posts: 1993

south england..
crap i think
north england/scotland fine i think

leal

No-Oil · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 31, 2004 Posts: 243 Location: UK

Just remember guys, the world grain surplus has been falling by 100millions tons every years since 2002. In 2001 the surplus was 800millions tons & every years since they have been trying to recover production to either halt the loss or restore the surplus. Every year since 2002 they have failed to do so !

Now I don't know how many people 100million tons of grain feeds, but they will go hungry or starve to death in 2009/2010 & the price of basic foods like bread will rise rapidly for the rest of us !

The US & many others have reduced their exports of grain due to poor harvests & now they are fixated on using that same surplus to make Ethanol or bio-diesel, they can't do both. So they either feed cars or people, your choice ! Sad

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The roller coaster is still climbing, but it's near the top now !
Where there's a WAR there's a WAY Sad

dukey · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Feb 20, 2005 Posts: 1993

at this rate, gonna be lucky to feed everyone
let alone use ethanol to power SUVs that do 15mpg or worse.

Seraphim · Coal Joined: Aug 11, 2006 Posts: 7

6
I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures. It said, "A ration of wheat costs a day's pay, 6 and three rations of barley cost a day's pay. But do not damage the olive oil or the wine."

How much longer til this is a problem? This is taken out of Revelations...

eric_b

from article (near bottom):

Golgo13 · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 13, 2004 Posts: 216

The U.S. is not looking like a good place to be as these situations worsen.

Don35 · Heavy Crude Joined: Feb 07, 2006 Posts: 114

I'm more afraid of Climate change than of Peak Oil. I can prepare for PO. We are storing, building, learning, gathering tools, etc. If GW and dramatic climate change happen and our area dries up, then all our preparations are TOTALLY useless. You can't survive without water.
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Everybody thinks they're righteous! Adam Baldwin "Jayne" Firefly/Serenity

gego · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2005 Posts: 1334

It is interesting that throughout history the human population has bumped up against the constrain of food production. Withdrawing the savings in the energy bank over the past 100 years has mostly created the illusion that food production is no longer an issue in human survival. So it is soon to be, surprise, surprise!

I am not sure that the entrant at the back door is global warming, as there have been cyclical patterns of drought in the 18-20 year range, but then global warming surely is having some effect. Part of the drought mechanism is the declination of the moon. If you look at the horizontal plane that intersects the center of the sun and the center of the earth, the moon in its path around the earth does not uniformly go through this plane. Over an 18+ period of time the moon traces a path that first reaches an extreme above the plane and then below it. The moon has a gravitational effect on the earth, including the earths atmosphere so the wind patterns are influenced by the declination of the moon. Of course there are many other cycles that involve the moon and the sun, so the droughts may be extreme in one cycle and moderate in the next.

The 1934 and 1954 droughts were severe. It is interesting that we are approaching the zenith of the 4th cycle since 1934 (18.6 X 4 = 74.4 yrs + 1934 = 2008). These cycles vary based on the influence of other cycles, but you can see the influence of this cycle on US agriculture happening now.

Gazzatrone

I wonder how in a few years time the bleeding heart liberals that have practically called a stop to GM foods will act when the accusation is levelled back at them, that had Mankind been allowed, (without their Holier than thou attitude,) to develop drought resistant crops etc, we wouldn't be in this mess.

I bet they are the same people that are calling for our cars to be filled with ethanol now so we may all live a cleaner, greener lifestyle.

AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!

seldom_seen · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Apr 12, 2005 Posts: 1946

It's looking like Malthus is finally going to get the credit he deserves.