Archive
Top 10 Dos and Don’ts for Fall Gardening
“From the crisp mornings and yellowing leaves to football games and the start of another school year, there’s no denying that fall is in the air. While fall induces thoughts of warm apple pie, tailgate parties, and hot cocoa, it’s also a very important time for gardeners who are ending another successful growing season. The same tender love and care that you have given your garden throughout the spring and summer months must be shown just as equally as the plants finish producing fruits and vegetables in the fall. Here are a few tips for making the transition as fruitful and efficient as possible.”
From the crisp mornings and yellowing leaves to football games and the start of another school year, there’s no denying that fall is in the air. While fall induces thoughts of warm apple pie, tailgate parties, and hot cocoa, it’s also a very important time for gardeners who are ending another successful growing season. The same tender love and care that you have given your garden throughout the spring and summer months must be shown just as equally as the plants finish producing fruits and vegetables in the fall. Here are a few tips for making the transition as fruitful and efficient as possible.”
Corn Soars As USDA Reports Crop Devastation
“U.S. corn and wheat stockpiles shrank far more this summer than grain markets thought, the government reported Friday, and corn prices soared on prospects that heavy demand and drought-decimated crops will keep markets tight.
Corn futures were limit up — at the daily ceiling — at $7.56-1/2 a bushel in Chicago at midday. “Synthetic” bids indicated corn was worth $7.59 a bushel.
Corn futures surged nearly 6% and hit the daily limit on the Chicago Board of Trade after the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported corn stocks on Sept. 1 were below 1 billion bushels for the first time in eight years. The surge in corn prices pulled up wheat and soybean prices, too, analysts said.
The worst U.S. drought in half a century has decimated crops, and tight supplies should keep commodity prices at record levels and boost prices at the grocery store.
USDA’s survey of farmers and warehouses showed 988 million bushels of corn on hand — 11% less than expected — on Sept. 1. That date is the start of the corn marketing year and the traditional low point for supplies, as it comes before this year’s harvest gets added to the stockpiles.”
Some U.S. farmers now feeding their cattle gummy worms, marshmallows, and ice cream sprinkles in response to skyrocketing feed costs
“The cost of genetically-modified (GM) corn and soy feed for conventional cattle is surging so high, and availability plunging so low, as a result of persistent drought conditions and resultant crop failures that conventional feedlot farmers are having to seek out less expensive and more plentiful alternatives. But such alternatives are not exactly the types of things you would typically expect a farmer to feed his animals: corn syrup-laden gummy worms, nutrient-devoid marshmallows, and chemical-laden ice cream sprinkles are among the many junk foods now being served to American cattle.
The Vancouver Sun reports via Reuters that a whole new “alternative” feed market is emerging out of the ongoing crop crunch, as farmers all across the U.S. are running out of common feed options for their herds. Because corn-based feeds are now too expensive or simply unavailable, feedlot operators in Indiana, North Dakota, and elsewhere are buying leftover candy scraps, pastries, extruded cereals, gummy snacks, and even food waste to feed to their cows, which end up directly fueling the production of conventional meat and dairy products sold nationwide to American consumers.
“Brokers are gathering up discarded food products and putting them out for the highest bid to feed lot operators and dairy producers, who are scrambling to keep their animals fed,” says Reuters. “In the mix are cookies, gummy worms, marshmallows, fruit loops, orange peels, even dried cranberries. Cattlemen are feeding virtually anything they can get their hands on that will replace the starchy sugar content traditionally delivered to the animals through corn.”"
Via Natural News
Prepare For A 15% Food Price Surge, Rabobank Warns
“The record US, and global, summer drought has come and gone but its aftereffects are only now going to be felt, at least according to a new Rabobank report, which asserts that food prices are about to soar by 15% or more following mass slaughter of farm animals which will cripple supply once the current inventory of meat is exhausted. From Sky News: “The worst drought in the US for almost a century, combined with droughts in South America and Russia, have hit the production of crops used in animal feed – such as corn and soybeans – especially hard, the report said. As a result farmers have begun slaughtering more pigs and cattle, temporarily increasing the meat supply – but causing a steep rise in the price of meat in the long-term as production slows. “Farmers producing meat are simply not making enough money at the moment because of the high cost of feed,” Nick Higgins, commodity analyst at Rabobank, told Sky News. “As a result they will reduce their stock – both by slaughtering more animals and by not replacing them.” Somewhat ironically. food prices are now being kept at depressed prices as the “slaughtered” stock clears the market. However once that is gone look for various food-related prices to soar: a process which will likely take place in early 2013, just in time to add to the shock from the Fiscal Cliff, which even assuming a compromise, will detract from the spending capacity of US (and by implication global) consumers.”
“The “mass liquidation” of animals – which Rabobank said will pick up pace in the beginning of 2013 – will contribute to food prices hitting new highs.
The cost of pork is expected to rise at the fastest pace – by 31% by the end of June next year – while beef costs could increase by up to 8%.
“This record cost of meat and dairy will combine with already-high crop prices to increase food prices by 15% by the middle of next year,” Mr Higgins added.’
Via Zero Hedge
Big Bad Scary Corn Takeover
“Ready to test your knowledge of the Corn Monster? The statistics and comparisons below will be sure to astonish you.
Interesting that America’s most constant symbol – corn – shared at our first Thanksgiving amongst natives and pilgrims alike – has now been twisted and manipulated to exploit consumers and environment the globe over.
Although not directly stated, you may see indirectly, a few of Marx and Engels’ Communist Manifesto Planks throughout:
1) Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
7) Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State, the bringing into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
9) Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of population over the country.”
Via Activist Post
Rising Food Prices Continue to Climb, with Prices Up 10% in July Alone
“Food prices are rising, and consumers are feeling it. Rising food prices aren’t only hitting America, they are happening around the world. Costs have gone up 10 percent between June and July alone, with corn, soybeans, and wheat reaching record prices. This outpaces the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s estimate of a 6 percent increase.’
Via Activist Post
Does Explosion in Food Stamp Spending Contribute to Higher Food Prices?
‘
It seems whenever the government injects money into a specific industry, prices climb quickly and a bubble of some sort ensues.
We had the real estate bubble which was aided by government guaranteeing the risky loans that banks made to unqualified buyers. Likewise, we’re still in the midst of an unprecedented college bubble which is inflating costs far beyond the official rate of inflation due to the government’s monopoly and loose requirements on student loans. And, predictably, the mandates of the Affordable Care Act (sic) are already driving up healthcare costs even faster than quasi-monopolies were afforded before the law passed.
This government spending has, for all intents and purposes, created a false demand that would not have naturally existed in the marketplace. Could the same thing now be happening to food prices due to an infusion of government money?
As food prices are already skyrocketing from the pressures of record droughts, biofuel mandates, commodity speculation, and good old fashioned currency debasement, there is certainly enough blame to go around. But should government spending on food stamps be added to this list of culprits?”
Via Activist Post
Food Inflation, Food Shortages And Food Riots Are Coming
“A devastating global food crisis unlike anything we have ever seen in modern times is coming. Crippling drought and bizarre weather patterns have damaged food production all over the world this summer, and the UN and the World Bank have both issued ominous warnings about the food inflation that is coming.
To those of us in the Western world, a rise in the price of food can be a major inconvenience, but in the developing world it can mean the difference between life and death. Just remember what happened back in 2008. When food prices hit record highs it led to food riots in 28 different countries. Today, there are approximately 2 billion people that are malnourished around the globe. Even rumors of food shortages are enough to spark mass chaos in many areas of the planet. When people fear that they are not going to be able to feed their families they tend to get very desperate. That is why a recent CNN article declared that “2013 will be a year of serious global crisis”. “
Via Activist Post
Supermarkets Being Looted In Spain
“
Just a few years ago many Spaniards would joke saying that thanks to the new immigration wave everyone in Spain could afford to have a “Sudaca” as a maid. Sudaca is a derogatory term similar to “wetbacks”, commonly used in Spain referring to South Americans. This is pretty sad given that these “sudacas” are children and grandchildren of those same Spaniards that left to SA because of the Spanish Civil war. Now, its obvious that they are suffering many of the miseries their “Sudaca“ brothers went through in the past. Spaniards eating out of garbage bins, many of them senior citizens, has become a common sight in Spain and in other European countries where they have emigrated to looking for work themselves.
The lesson for today my friends is, never to rejoice in the misery of others. You never know if one day you may suffer that same fate. Many of these images are carbon copies of what many Argentines had gone through and still suffer today.”
Via Alt Market
Drought may force some farmers out of business
“Blistered by the drought, Wisconsin farmers face critical decisions this fall, including whether to remain in business or quit and do something else for a living.
For some, the damage to their crops is not recoverable. Without adequate crop insurance, they face steep financial losses that could force them out of farming.
Livestock and dairy farmers also could be forced to quit if the price of animal feed – because of the drought – becomes more than they can afford.
It would not be surprising if some people have to sit at the kitchen table this fall, after the harvest, and make hard decisions about their livelihood, said Kevin Jarek, a University of Wisconsin-Extension agent in Outagamie County.
Wisconsin has far fewer farms now than in the past, partly because many small, less-profitable operations have faded from the landscape.
Just 20 years ago, for example, there were 30,156 dairy farms in the state, compared with about 12,000 today.”
