Drought!

[BenBurch]

Seeing on the news that a lot of cattle are being sold-off early. From the consumer end, it might be worth investing in decent chest freezer to take advantage of (presumably) this year's cheap beef-to-come

Fitz

Yes, in fact going to the Sears Outlet tomorrow to look at what they have in the way of chest freezers. Then looking for a side of beef.

 

[BenBurch]

But that is pretty normal summer weather, isn't it?

The problem is not that you are only having occasional ten minute showers now. The problem was the 8 week stretch where we didn't even have that.

If we had been having occasional ten minute showers throughout the months of May and June, things we would be just fine. The problem is we weren't even getting that.

We're a lot warmer than average here near Chicago. Not normal summer weather. Today is nice, though.

Planning to go to the county fair tonight, I'll visit some of the agriculture displays and see if I can get some information first hand.

 

[BenBurch]

Widespread Drought Is Likely to Worsen

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/s...en-across-the-nation.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

<SNIP>

The latest outlook released by the National Weather Service on Thursday forecasts increasingly dry conditions over much of the nation’s breadbasket, a development that could lead to higher food prices and shipping costs as well as reduced revenues in areas that count on summer tourism. About the only relief in sight was tropical activity in the Gulf of Mexico and the Southeast that could bring rain to parts of the South.

<SNIP>

Already some farmers are watching their cash crops burn to the point of no return. Others have been cutting their corn early to use for feed, a much less profitable venture.

“It really is a crisis. I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this in my lifetime,” Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois said after touring ravaged farms in the southern part of the state.

<SNIP>

 

[Halfcentaur]

It seemed more mild than usual here in Oklahoma until this week. We are about 70 at night and in the low to mid 90s, rarely at 100. But this week Hell has broken loose and we're hitting 106 in the daytime. Still dips to 70 though at night. My window AC unit is barely working at this time of day in the height of the heat from the stress.

 

[BenBurch]

Drought puts more than half of U.S. counties in disaster zones, USDA says

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/01/us/us-usda-disaster-zones/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

(CNN) -- More than half of all U.S. counties have been designated disaster zones, the Department of Agriculture reported, blaming excessive heat and a devastating drought that's spread across the Corn Belt and contributed to rising food prices.

<SNIP>

This is BAD, folks. Very, very bad.

 

[Silly Green Monkey]

When is the cheap meat supposed to hit? I want to sock some away for when ranchers start rebuilding their herds and there is none to sell, but prices haven't come down yet.

 

[GeneMachine]

To add an anecdote from a different corner of the world - I've seen them irrigate meadows on steep slopes in the alps this year. No serious drought conditions, but rainfall is down and runoff from snow melt is down, too.

The farmer told me he needed it for the hay and he couldn't let the grass die, anyway, because once it was dried out and dead, erosion would start with a vengeance.

Interesting times in the sense of the (apocryphal) Chinese curse everywhere, by the looks of it.

 

[WildCat]

When is the cheap meat supposed to hit? I want to sock some away for when ranchers start rebuilding their herds and there is none to sell, but prices haven't come down yet.

It's come down a little here, but still too damn expensive.

 

[BenBurch]

It's come down a little here, but still too damn expensive.

Yeah, the wholesale butcher we used to deal with when we had a tavern says he is expecting prices to come down briefly, too, but hasn't seen it.

 

[bit_pattern]

Apparently chicken prices are set to double in Australia:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-27/chicken-prices-may-double-from-next-week/4160324

Australian consumers are about to pay a lot more for chicken, with at least one retailer saying prices will double from next week.

Chicken meat producers are bumping up their prices as the cost of feed grain soars because of drought in the United States

 

[BenBurch]

And eggs too, I'd imagine.

 

[quadraginta]

Australia can't grow their own chicken feed? They have to buy it from us?

I don't get it. They've got plenty of land (even allowing for most of it being stinking desert.)

 

[DrDave]

And eggs too, I'd imagine.

But in which order?

 

[BenBurch]

But in which order?

 

[Corsair 115]

For what it's worth quite a bit of Ontario farmland is experiencing drought-like conditions as well. Not sure how things are looking out on the Prairies.

 

[WildCat]

Yeah, the wholesale butcher we used to deal with when we had a tavern says he is expecting prices to come down briefly, too, but hasn't seen it.

I did score big today, the g/f works at a studio that produces catalogs and today the photo shoot was for a mail-order beef store. And it just so happens that there were 2 filets, 2 strip steaks, and 1 porterhouse left over from the shoot and my g/f scored them. Picked them up on my way home from work and I'm eating a grilled filet as I write this.

 

[bit_pattern]

Australia can't grow their own chicken feed? They have to buy it from us?

I don't get it. They've got plenty of land (even allowing for most of it being stinking desert.)

Food markets are global beasts, a ripple in America can cause tidal waves in unexpected places. Such is the interconnectedness of global food markets and why they are so susceptible to shock from even minor price fluctuations.

 

[a_unique_person]

Australia can't grow their own chicken feed? They have to buy it from us?

I don't get it. They've got plenty of land (even allowing for most of it being stinking desert.)

Stock feed is a global market, prices go up there, they go up here. Because they can.

 

[BenBurch]

For what it's worth quite a bit of Ontario farmland is experiencing drought-like conditions as well. Not sure how things are looking out on the Prairies.

I just saw this is a month out of date. Sorry. It was all that was on the site.

 

[quadraginta]

Food markets are global beasts, a ripple in America can cause tidal waves in unexpected places. Such is the interconnectedness of global food markets and why they are so susceptible to shock from even minor price fluctuations.

Stock feed is a global market, prices go up there, they go up here. Because they can.

I need to try and remember to include a smilie in my posts when necessary.