I think this is the beginnings of an economy based on perpetual growth and fossil fuel energy running headlong into geological energy constraints. Basically I see an undulatory downward path for the rest of my life. From here out, I think any rallies in our economic condition are going to be met with spiking commodity prices that knock us right back down.
Joined: Oct 16, 2004 Posts: 1281 Location: Brisbane, Australia
Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 10:13 pm Post subject: Re: From drought to floods in NSW, Australia
Most of Australia's water storages are further inland where its easier to build the dams. Most of the rain fell in the flat coastal bits where it promptly flooded the creeks and rivers and flowed straight back out to sea. Of course everyone's rain water tanks are full, those that have them. And the gardens have been well watered. Those that survived the wind anyway. _________________ Kind regards, Katkinkate
"The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops,
but the cultivation and perfection of human beings."
Masanobu Fukuoka
Joined: Dec 09, 2005 Posts: 19 Location: Australia
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:54 am Post subject: Re: From drought to floods in NSW, Australia
I live in the wheat belt in NSW. We've had about an inch and a half over the last 6 weeks. Just enough to plant. These storms have delivered nothing to the real agricultural areas of the state.
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:12 am Post subject: Re: From drought to floods in NSW, Australia
dunny wrote:
I live in the wheat belt in NSW. We've had about an inch and a half over the last 6 weeks. Just enough to plant. These storms have delivered nothing to the real agricultural areas of the state.
So, what's your forecast for the agriculture of the area if it goes on like this?
Joined: Oct 23, 2004 Posts: 5928 Location: New Jersey
Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 9:41 pm Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
Quote:
Wheat prices surge to 11-year high
By Javier Blas in London
Published: August 7 2007 13:28 | Last updated: August 7 2007 13:28
Wheat prices surged to a fresh 11 year highs on Tuesday amid concerns about further production losses after extreme weather damaged the Australian and European cereals crops.
Middle East and North African countries, such as Morocco, have rushed into the market to secure wheat supplies, underpinning prices, according to traders.
Chicago CBOT September wheat pushed above the $6.70 a bushel level for the first time since 1996 and later was trading up 5¼ cents to $6.69 ¼ a bushel.
European milling wheat futures rose in Paris to €220 per tonne, the highest since the contract was launched on the Euronext.Liffe platform in 1998. The contract later traded €4 higher at €215.50 a tonne.
Rainer Guntermann, analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort in Frankfurt, said: “”Extremely hot and dry weather conditions in Southern Europe and Australia as well as rain and floods in Northern Europe have tightened global supply for agriculture products.”
Financial Times
subscription may be required _________________ It's already over, now it's just a matter of adjusting.
Joined: Jun 13, 2007 Posts: 3869 Location: Minniesotuh
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:23 am Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
Australia told to prepare for water crisis
Warming, population cited in report that urges desalination, recycling
CANBERRA, Australia - Nearly every Australian city will have to find new water supplies over the next decade as climate change and population growth stretch the nation's already limited water resources, according to a study released Tuesday. …
Joined: Oct 23, 2004 Posts: 5928 Location: New Jersey
Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:02 am Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
Quote:
Wheat Gains in Chicago as Importers Seek to Buy; Corn Unchanged
By Jae Hur
Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat in Chicago climbed almost to last week's record on speculation demand for U.S. supplies may rise as adverse weather cuts output in other countries. Corn was unchanged after falling earlier on better U.S. crop conditions.
Wheat futures for December delivery rose as much as 15 cents, or 2 percent, to $7.53 a bushel and traded at $7.52 a bushel in after-hours electronic trading on the Chicago Board of Trade at 5:16 p.m. Singapore time. Wheat futures reached a record $7.54 a bushel on Aug. 23.
The price of the grain has almost doubled in the past year as production fell in several exporting countries, including in Europe, Ukraine, Canada and Australia.
Temperatures yesterday in parts of New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria states were as much as 12 degrees Celsius hotter than normal for August, Thomas Saunders, meteorologist with the Weatherzone, said today. Warmer-than-average days are expected until a change on Friday, he said.
Bloomberg _________________ It's already over, now it's just a matter of adjusting.
Joined: Oct 22, 2005 Posts: 709 Location: European Capital of Kulcha 2008
Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 3:08 am Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
Drought conditions in key food-production parts of the world - then whatever production is possible being diverted into bio-fuels - makes for an unpleasant future for all of us.
Global warming skeptics
Sartor, like many conservative Australian farmers, is deeply skeptical about climate shift's role in the drought, despite U.N. predictions that temperatures could rise by 6.7 degrees Celsius by century's end.
"Find me the scientist that can stand up on a platform and say 'I know'," he says.
That skepticism runs even deeper south along the Murray, with many farmers certain irrigation shortages are the result of government bungling and a determination to claw back precious water for a green agenda driven by majority city-dwellers.
At least the US does not have a monopoly on the delusional.
Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 7:37 pm Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
This seems to be the deeply ironic and deeply disturbing pattern--environmentalists warn of disruptions that may come from business as usuall; disruptions come; environmentalists blamed.
The same is unfolding in Spain, where a biblical plague of voles is destroying vasts swaths of cropland. Most farmers are convinced that it is not the unusually warm winters that have allowed the critters to breed in such profusion. No, it must be those damn environmentalists who want to have a good food source for their precious threatened hawks.
FARMERS faced an unprecedented rural crisis within a month unless big spring rains arrive, Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran has warned.
"Unless there are spring rains in the next three to four weeks of substantial volume then Australia will have an agricultural and rural crisis on its hands like never before," Mr McGauran said yesterday.
The Bureau of Meteorology will release today its latest outlook, but he held little hope of a break...
..Mr McGauran said: "There's been too many predictions from the bureau that have raised expectations or hopes in the past. If by some miracle their predictions are more accurate this time then that will be a bonus.
"Otherwise, everybody else is preparing for the worst. It's a rapidly deteriorating situation in many parts of Australia."
_________________ Let us make him who shall nourish and sustain us. What shall we do to be invoked; to be remembered in the earth.
We have tried with our first creatures but we could not make them venerate us.
So let us try to make obedient respectful beings who shall
FARMERS faced an unprecedented rural crisis within a month unless big spring rains arrive, Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran has warned.
"Unless there are spring rains in the next three to four weeks of substantial volume then Australia will have an agricultural and rural crisis on its hands like never before," Mr McGauran said yesterday.
The Bureau of Meteorology will release today its latest outlook, but he held little hope of a break...
..Mr McGauran said: "There's been too many predictions from the bureau that have raised expectations or hopes in the past. If by some miracle their predictions are more accurate this time then that will be a bonus.
"Otherwise, everybody else is preparing for the worst. It's a rapidly deteriorating situation in many parts of Australia."
Is this true - is this the worst drought ever for this region of Australia?
Quote:
Wheat Rises to Record $9 a Bushel on Australian Crop Concern
By Madelene Pearson
Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat prices rose to a record, passing $9 a bushel in Asian trading, as concerns for Australia's crop increase and inventories head toward a 26-year low.
Wheat for December delivery rose as much as 10.25 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $9.0075 a bushel in after-hours electronic trading on the Chicago Board of Trade. The contract was at $8.995 a bushel at 10:16 a.m. in Sydney. Prices have more than doubled in the past year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Madelene Pearson in Melbourne on mpearson1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: September 11, 2007 20:23 EDT
Bloomberg _________________ It's already over, now it's just a matter of adjusting.
Joined: Jun 13, 2007 Posts: 3869 Location: Minniesotuh
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:42 pm Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
Is anything regarding desalination being done?
Call me silly, but that movie, "On The Beach," has stuck with me all these years since I first saw it, and I am reminded of it whenever I hear about Australia. I don't Want bad things to happen there.........
Joined: Dec 09, 2005 Posts: 19 Location: Australia
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 2:49 am Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
An update from the wheatbelt in NSW.
We had good rain early in the winter and everyone around here planted every acre they could with wheat. It hasn't rained since.
Over the last few weeks everyone has started putting the sheep onto the crop to get some return for their investment.
Bloody expensive sheep feed though. I know one bloke who borrowed 1.1 million dollars to plant nearly 12,000 acres of wheat and he gave up on it two weeks ago and has let the sheep on. The crop is so poor that he doesn't even expect to harvest next years seed back from what they sowed.
A little aside. The largest employer in the area is a feedlot. About a 1000 people work there. They grain feed cattle for the japanese export market. Big dollars. There are roughly 60,000 cattle on the place. They kill about 800 head a day. Last year they were worried that the lack of water would cause the place to shutdown. Now they are stressing about the price of grain. It's nearly doubled. And they still are worried about the water situation with summer coming.
What's really bizarre to me though, is that there is a 9 hole golf course attached to the feedlot for use by the staff and visiting japanese executives. It is irrigated and is in pristine condition... was kept that way last year too even though the water situation was dire. I shoot kangaroos for a living and I go out there once a month or so and shoot 60-80 big fat 'roos that regularly move onto the golf course because of the great feed. Sometimes they call me up to come out and shoot especially because they have VIP's coming from japan and they don't want too many 'roos getting in the road of those nifty little electric golf carts.
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 3:36 am Post subject: Re: Drought Spreads Across Australia/US Grain Prices Soar
A question for posters that are/know farmers in Australia:
What do farmers plan to do if the dry weather continues in the long term? Because I imagine some people are already thinking that droughts may be here to stay.
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