12 Ways To Combat Drought’s Effect On Food Prices
Think food prices are painfully high? Wait a few weeks. The U.S. Drought Monitor reports that 88 percent of this year’s corn crop and 77 percent of the soybean crop are now affected by the most severe drought since 1988.
Corn is currently selling at around $9 a bushel, a 50 percent increase from June, while soybeans are selling at a record high of $17 a bushel as a result of drought-related losses in crop yields. Nearly half of all domestic corn production is used as livestock feed, a trend that is now encouraging larger livestock producers to import corn from Brazil while smaller farmers must reduce herd sizes by sending more animals to the market. Most immediately, poultry prices are expected to rise 3.5 to 4.5 percent due to the animals’ more rapid growth and therefore more sudden response to higher feed prices. The price of beef is projected to rise the highest — 4 to 5 percent by November — but at a slower rate, reflecting the longer growth period and higher feed requirements of beef cattle.
“The increased prices may benefit farmers in the short run,” said Danielle Nierenberg, director of the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project, ”but consumers will experience the aftermath of price increases in the form of more money spent on poultry, beef, pork, and dairy products.”
But according to the researchers at Worldwatch, it doesn’t have to be this way. The Project highlights 12 agricultural innovations that can help make U.S. and global agriculture more drought resilient, as well as sustainable. What do you think of this list? And more importantly, do you think the U.S. will implement even one of these ideas on a large enough scale to save our food system?
1. Agroforestry: Planting trees in and around farms reduces soil erosion by providing a natural barrier against strong winds and rainfall. Tree roots also stabilize and nourish soils. The 1990 Farm Bill established the USDA National Agroforestry Center with the expressed aim of encouraging farmers to grow trees as windbreaks or as part of combined forage and livestock production, among other uses.
Here are 7 diseases that are getting a helping hand from climate change. Happy Monday!
oh yeah: all those diseases that can only thrive in the tropics, AKA the worst diseases on the planet (think: Ebola), are going to be spreading as the temperature rises…
ShortFormBlog: NASA scientist: Global warming exists; these heat waves are proof
- claim The extreme temperatures felt across the U.S. and the globe in recent years are so crazy that they must be caused by man-made global warming according to James Hansen, a NASA scientist and the “godfather of global warming.”
- evidence “We are now experiencing scientific fact,” Hansen…
Shocking Forecast: A Century-Long Megadrought
The Insurance Bureau of Canada’s (IBC) new study warns Canadians “the frequency and severity of severe weather is on the rise,” and we had better prepare for it. “Telling the Weather Story” confirms the recent landslides, fires and drought are becoming the new norm.
Another study, this one published by Nature Geoscience, confirms the prediction. A team of Canadian and American scientists studied the drought of 2000 to 2004 and found it was the worst since the one that lasted from 1146 to 1151. They warn a “megadrought” could parch the planet through the entire 21st century.
Insurers have been hit hard by the impacts of catastrophic events. IBC reports insured losses internationally reached $10 billion to $50 billion a year over the past decade and exceeding $100 billion in 2011. In Canada alone insurers were on the hook for roughly $1.6 billion in 2011 and close to $1 billion annually in the previous two years. Aging infrastructure contributed to the losses, as older sewer systems are unable to handle the increased precipitation.
How Greenland’s surface ice melted in a flash
Scientists believe a a ridge or dome of warm air hovering over Greenland contributed to the drastic and sudden 4-day loss of ice.
Gen X-ers on climate change: “Mehh.”
Major News Networks finally link climate change to extreme weather events
“ABC World News, NBC Nightly News, and CBS Evening News all covered a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) linking extreme weather events to climate change. The New York Times, CNN, and many other media outlets reported on it, too.”
Great read from WRI on shifting priorities at news networks reporting on climate change.
(via socialuprooting)
Source: climateadaptation
Percentage of Stories Mentioning Climate Change April 1 to June 30, 2012
(via god-forbid)
Source: theyoungturks
U.S. Declares the Largest Natural Disaster Area Ever Due to Drought
The blistering summer and ongoing drought conditions have the prompted the U.S. Agriculture Department to declare a federal disaster area in more than 1,000 counties covering 26 states. That’s almost one-third of all the counties in the United States, making it the largest distaster declaration ever made by the USDA.
The declaration covers almost every state in the southern half of the continental U.S., from South Carolina in the East to California in the West. It’s also includes Colorado and Wyoming (which have been hit by devatasting wildfires) and Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and Nebraska in the Midwest. However, it does not include Iowa, which is the largest grain and corn producer in the U.S. This map show the counties affected:
The USDA’s latest crop report is projecting a 12 percent decrease in the corn harvest this year, which would still be the third-largest haul on record. Despite the negative outlook, grain prices remains quite low, according to CNBC.
The ruling allows farmers in those affected counties to apply for low-interest loans and face reduced penalties for grazing on protected lands. The USDA says the loans will only amount to around $4 million, but is one of the few “limited tools” the department has available to help farmers. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has asked for a complete re-authorization of all existing agriculture programs, including crop insurance, that can be used to support struggling farms.
About 53 percent of the country is facing “moderate to extreme drought” so far this summer.
(via socialuprooting)
Source: theatlanticwire.com
