Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

US: Six earthquakes hit Oklahoma today

Brian Sargent
NewsOK
Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:44 UTC
Six earthquakes struck Oklahoma today, including five in Jones. Magnitudes of the quakes in Jones ranged from 2.5 to 2.7 on the Richter scale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. All five epicenters were near the intersection of Main Street and SW 3. They were reported at 7:58 a.m., 10:17 a.m., 10:31 a.m., 12:13 p.m. and 1:32 p.m.

Today's strongest quake measured 3.4 on the Richter scale. It was reported at 3:22 a.m. in Seminole County about 15 miles northeast of Ada.

There were no reports of damage, said Pontotoc County Emergency Manager Chad Letellier, whose office is in Ada. More than 30 people reported feeling the quake, he said.
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Cow

UK: Farmers issue warning after fatal cow attacks

Alexander Monro
Reuters
Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:30 UTC
The deaths of no fewer than four people after being trampled by cows in the past two months has prompted Britain's main farming union to issue a warning about the dangers of provoking the normally docile animals.

Cows can become aggressive and charge, especially when calves are present and walkers are accompanied by dogs, said the National Farmers Union (NFU).

The union and the Ramblers' Association both advise that walkers release dogs from their leads when passing through a field of cows.
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Bizarro Earth

Canadian crops off

Ian Elliott
Feedstuffs
Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:57 UTC
With farmers stung by a terrible growing season, Canada will produce less grain and oilseeds, Statistics Canada says in its new estimate of field crops released in Ottawa last Friday.

Crops will be off for almost all crops, the federal agency reports in first estimate for this summer's crop. Spring wheat production at 16.1 million metric tons (mmt) will be down more than 12% from last year. The durum harvest is expected to be off more than 18% at around 4.5 mmt.

Feed grains like corn and barley will also be down from last year at 9.4 mmt (-10.9%) and 8.9 mmt (-24%) respectively.

Canadian farmers will also take in a smaller oilseed crop, although increased soybean output will reduce the drop from last year. The canola crop at 9.5 mmt will be down 24.5%. Soybean output at more than 3.4 mmt is up 4.4%.

"In the West, late germination caused by unfavorable conditions this spring has held back progress by about two weeks compared with normal," Statistics Canada says. "Yields will drop for all major crops compared with 2008. In the drought-stricken areas of Saskatchewan and Alberta, higher than normal abandonment was also shown to be a factor in the loss of production."

"In Ontario and Quebec, excessive moisture and cool growing conditions held back growing progress."

The report summarizes results of a survey of 14,600 farmers undertaken by the government agency between July 27 and August 4.
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Bell

Guatemala at food shortage risk after drought


People's Daily Online
Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:51 UTC
Guatemala is at risk of a food shortage because a drought has reduced more than 60 percent of the production of corns and beans in five key provinces, the Food Security Ministry said on Monday.

According to news reaching here, the ministry said the worst hit provinces are Zacapa, Chiquimula, Jalapa, Jutiapa and El Progreso. In El Progreso, 90 percent of the bean crops that farmers planted have been lost.

Around 4,000 settlements across those provinces will suffer food shortages, a figure which represents around 80 percent of the population there.

State-run welfare body the Social Cohesion Council said it is already financially supporting 136 towns at the highest risk.

In May, the government approved a plan worth 273 million quetzals (around 33 million U.S. dollars) to cover such emergencies.
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Cow

Canada: Alberta ranchers forced to sell herds


CBC News
Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:45 UTC
Alberta cattle drought
© CBCMany Alberta ranchers are being forced to sell cattle because drought and hail have decimated pastures and sent the price of hay spiking.

Many ranchers across Alberta are being forced to sell off part of their herds because they can't afford to feed them.

The summer drought has more than doubled the price of hay and a hail storm earlier this month damaged what was left of many farmers' pastures.

Loretta Blain and her husband, who have ranched near Olds for 40 years, have just had to sell most of their cattle.

"This year, I have talked to so many people who are in the same position as us that are having to sell their cows," Blain said. "I don't know where there are going to be cows had in this country pretty soon."

Many cattle producers face the same situation. They've had a series of difficulties over the last seven years: a drought, export problems with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), a huge jump in the price of fuel and this summer's drought and hail.
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Ambulance

U.S. Corn, Soybean Crops Stunted by Unusual Weather

Jeff Wilson
Bloomberg
Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:12 UTC
Corn and soybean crops in the U.S., the world's largest grower, may be smaller than the government predicted after planting delays and an unusual dry spell, said Jerry Gidel at North American Risk Management Services Inc.

Parts of the Midwest, the main growing region, received less than 50 percent of normal rainfall in the past 30 days, according to the High Plains Regional Climate Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Corn plants that farmers will begin harvesting next month are growing at about half the five-year average, and the rate of pod-filling by soybeans is 17 percentage points below normal, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show.

Corn prices plunged 43 percent in the past year partly because the USDA predicted the second-largest crop ever, and soybeans are down 23 percent on the government's forecast for record production of the oilseed. Analysts, traders, farmers and processors who start the annual seven-state Professional Farmers of America Midwest Crop Tour today probably will find fields are likely to produce less than expected, Gidel said.
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Cow Skull

US: Wyoming drought thins cattle herds

Matt Joyce
Star Tribune
Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:07 UTC
Cheyenne - Wyoming's cattle population dropped 21 percent during the past decade as ranchers struggled through a persistent drought that gripped much of the state from 1999 until last year.

The cattle count in Wyoming fell from 1.66 million in 1998 to 1.3 million in 2008, according to the newly released 2009 Wyoming Agricultural Statistics report. January's count was up 3 percent from the year before.

The United States Department of Agriculture, the Wyoming Business Council and the University of Wyoming produce the annual report.

Wyoming is particularly sensitive to drought cycles because ranchers in the state rely heavily on grazing forage rather than irrigated pastures or croplands, agriculture officials said.

"When we have drought, we just don't have the carrying capacity out on the range, you can't put as many out there," said Jason Fearneyhough, Wyoming Department of Agriculture director. "So people have got to sell off cattle to maintain the range and also to maintain the economic viability of their place."

A drought ranging from moderate to severe gripped Wyoming -- the nation's fifth driest state -- starting in 1999 until conditions eased in mid-2008, according to the State Climate Office. Last year saw improved but spotty moisture around the state, while 2009 has been a plentiful year for mountain snowpack as well as spring and summer rains.
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Document

US: Food Firms Warn of Sugar Shortage

Scott Kilman, Carolyn Cui, Ilan Brat
Wall Street Journal
Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:00 UTC
sugar imports India
© BloombergWorkers unload imported unprocessed sugar in India. Sugar prices hit a 28-year high in New York as low monsoon rainfall in India threatens to limit cane yields and excess precipitation delayed harvesting in Brazil.

Some of America's biggest food companies say the U.S. could "virtually run out of sugar" if the Obama administration doesn't ease import restrictions amid soaring prices for the key commodity.

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack, the big brands -- including Kraft Foods Inc., General Mills Inc., Hershey Co. and Mars Inc. -- bluntly raised the prospect of a severe shortage of sugar used in chocolate bars, breakfast cereal, cookies, chewing gum and thousands of other products.

The companies threatened to jack up consumer prices and lay off workers if the Agriculture Department doesn't allow them to import more tariff-free sugar. Current import quotas limit the amount of tariff-free sugar the food companies can import in a given year, except from Mexico, suppressing supplies from major producers such as Brazil.

While agricultural economists scoff at the notion of an America bereft of sugar, the food companies warn in their letter to Mr. Vilsack that, without freer access to cheaper imported sugar, "consumers will pay higher prices, food manufacturing jobs will be at risk and trading patterns will be distorted."
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Cheeseburger

US: Eastern Wheat Harvest Hurt by Rainfall and Fungi

Rick Rojas
Washington Post
Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:57 UTC
The frequent downpours of rain from May into late June -- and the cool and overcast conditions that followed -- drenched the region's grain crops, leaving them susceptible to damaging fungi and farmers with diminished profits, agriculture experts say.

The fungi, known as vomitoxins, thrived in the dampness and spread across the region. Grain farmers from Maryland to North Carolina reported crops with too high a fungi count to be sold for flour -- the market in which they could make the most money -- and, in some cases, too high to be used for animal feed, which farmers sell at a heavily discounted rate.

For a smaller number of farmers, the fungi count reached a level at which the only option would be to try to use the grain for seed next season, said Maryland Agriculture Secretary Earl F. "Buddy" Hance.

Maryland farmers noticed a problem with the crops about a month ago, said Sue DuPont, a department spokeswoman. The state chemist's office then began distributing test kits to farmers across Maryland. Increased vomitoxin counts have been found across the state, with the bulk of them reported in Southern Maryland, according to University of Maryland agriculture extension agents.

A multitude of cases has been reported in North Carolina, where farmers were also at risk of losses because of the vomitoxin, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said in a statement.

Hance said the vomitoxin was an unexpected problem that he had never experienced as a wheat farmer.
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Key

Potential food shortages...in America?

Elizabeth Delaney
Examiner
Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:38 UTC
In a strange type of deja vu reminiscent of the spring of 2008, states ranging from Maryland all the way down to North Carolina are experiencing a damaged wheat harvest according to a Washington Post article from Thursday. Some of the crops were so badly damaged by excessive rain that not only can much of it not be sold for flour, but it can't be used for animal feed, either.

Back in 2008, the Midwest had an overabundance of rain that led to shortages of rice, flour and cooking oil in some states. The shortages then brought about rationing. The rationing of grocery items in America: that all by itself seems surreal. And with the present damage being reported in a new region, it leaves me wondering if we will see shortages and rationing again in the coming months in some states.

To make matters even more interesting, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that various large American food companies are warning that there could be a sugar shortage, "if the Obama administration doesn't ease import restrictions amid soaring prices for the key commodities. " Since many preprocessed food items purchased in the typical grocery store use sugar as an ingredient (sometimes within the top 5 listed on the label) this has the potential to affect more than just your typical bag of sugar or bakery item.

Comment: Many warnings seem to be cropping up about crop damage, potential food shortages and the like. This article, (minus the godly invocations that remove living, thinking human beings with brains from the equation), is one more person noticing the potential for what may be brewing.

Overall the United States harvest for corn, soy beans and wheat still looks favorable even though many crops are behind schedule in maturing due to a cool spring and summer in many major growing regions. However, early frost or any of several other weather factors may still endanger the current forecasts. We can only wait and see.

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