Posted on 05/27/2009 9:51:14 PM PDT by UncleSamBO=USSA
Changes in the sun is shortening growing season while credit crunch leaves farmers unable to purchase fertilizer at a time when world food supplies are at all time lows. Crop failures around the world are snowballing into a dangerous climax that may lead to social unrest and famine. Suggest reading entire article and links within it. Very scary... and this is happening... it is not conjecture. A mini ice age may be on the way because of sunspot cycles and already existing empty grain, coffee, et al silos.
for later
Add in an epidemic and you have the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Meanwhile, we are burning up CORN in our CARS!!!!
Welcome to FR!
Yes it is a very scary thing that a famine could be nearing. Hopefully we can get things squared away before it happens.
Crop failure appears unavoidable, so it is only a matter of how to prepare personally for it.
Sorry, I had to stop reading here:
“In North America, in excess of 86% of the wheat crop is fertilized, in excess of 96% of the corn crop is fertilized. About 20% of the bean crop is fertilized. The reason for this is that corn and wheat need added nitrogen in the depleted soils where they are grown because as the plants mature they”strip” the soil of it’s nutrients, soybeans/canola are of much lower impact.”
First, fertilizer use is down due to high fertilizer prices.
Crops don’t “strip” the soil of nutrients. This is one of the henny-penny environmentalist loaded words. Plants don’t “strip” nutrients - they use them. If there are nutrients in the soil in excess of what the plant can use given the other growing conditions (soil moisture, growing degree days, pest pressure), guess what? The nutrients are left in the soil. Doesn’t matter what type of plant we’re talking about, they all need NPK and micro-nutrients in varying amounts.
Soybeans don’t merely use less nitrogen - soybeans are a legume, and legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil. Alfalfa, clover, peas, beans (inc. soybeans), peanuts, etc — all legumes fix nitrogen into the soil. But for maximum production potential, they still need phosphorous and potassium in the proper proportions.
hey! what ever happened to that global warming stuff? how could we be getting an ice age thingy? on a more practical note, flour, and cornmeal can be kept in a freezer for ages to keep out bugs. just so ya know.
we could stop making corn into ethanol
It is even more complicated than the author suggests.
Seed licensing is becoming a serious issue. The recent laws concerning plant variety protection have made it a legal nightmare to try and comply with.
Some parts of Texas have what I estimate as 50% crop failure due to the drought this year. And parts of Oklahoma have near 40% crop damage due to late freeze damage.
This will translate to at least regional short supply of planting seed for this Fall’s crop.
You can no longer simply buy seed from the elevator to plant next years crop. It never was a good idea from a quality standpoint, but now there are legal liabilities in doing so that are very serious.
I look for wheat prices to be much higher this fall, after the harvest. Historically the traders understand the supply trends, and few of the producers have storage capability.
This coupled with the financial trainwreck, this will not be business as usual.
i grew up on the farm my dad grew up on, and his dad before him. one year my grandpa planted soybeans and the crop was beautiful. when they were big and green and looking like a bumper crop, grandpa and dad plowed them all under. dad was appalled by this but the next year when they planted corn.....hooowhee. they had more corn than anyone. people were trying to buy corn from them and grandpa said no thank you. he sold what he needed to and used what he needed for livestock feed. i didn’t understand this as a kid but over the last few years i have gotten the point. with proper crop rotation and natural fertilizer options you too can have bumper crops. it translates pretty well into veggie gardens too.
Yep...Monsanto is screwing everyone...the entire world. What’s going to happen when we genetically alter our crops so much that they own everything?
Maybe we can get back to natural farming == grass feeding the livestock, using their fertilizer for the crops, etc.
Bring back the glaciers that covered the North American Continents!!!
Only then can true climate peace be achieved!
(I could be wrong)
Maybe we should STOP paying our farmers to NOT grow their crops.
Exactly.
I was thinking the same thing. Crop rotation. Crops DO use nutrients and that is why they rotate them.
Also notice the decline in bees which are necessary for most agriculture to survive. One theory backed up by recent research is that cell phones (microwave transmission) may interfere with the bees ability to navigate.....
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/are-mobile-phones-wiping-out-our-bees-444768.html
Add this to the perfect storm wiping out the food supply.
Nitrogen is only one of several nutrients that may be in fertilizer. Potash and other elements are also needed by crops and without their replenishment, crops are reduced in size.
Thank you for the input. Another problem is the disappearance of honeybees necessary for most crops to pollenate and even exist. If you Google “bees” and “disappearance” you will see another horror show happening to the food supply of the world.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/are-mobile-phones-wiping-out-our-bees-444768.html
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