Drought And Wheat Crisis - Agflation Returns

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

'...Seventeen Russian regions from the Urals to Siberia have declared a state of emergency because of the unusually high temperatures, which have soared to 40 degrees celsius in some areas. Eleven of the drought-affected regions have seen more than half their sown land destroyed.'

'...problems in other wheat-growing areas – such as drought in western Europe and heavy rains in Canada and parts of the Black Sea region – that has pushed wheat prices up more than 30 per cent in just over two weeks.'

Meanwhile, I see ethanol production from corn is rising strongly.

The perfect storm...

http://www.theage.com.au/world/emergency-as-drought-ravages-russias-crops-20100717-10f4e.html

Edited July 21, 2010 by gruffydd

[The Masked Tulip]

Human beings only began eating wheat 12,000 years ago.

There are many docs who now believe that the human gut simply cannot tolerate gluten. This results in allergies, asthma, hayfever, IBS, coeliacs disease, inflamed colon, etc, etc.

Giving up wheat for 60 days can dramatically improve the above conditions but it is hard as so many foodstuffs contain wheat/gluten.

As for corn, the texture is nice but for most people it simply goes straight through the body and often comes out the other end looking no different than it did on the plate. The human body simply cannot digest corn.

[RufflesTheGuineaPig]

As for corn, the texture is nice but for most people it simply goes straight through the body and often comes out the other end looking no different than it did on the plate. The human body simply cannot digest corn.

A - Different sort of corn

B - Chew your food properly

[Ruffneck]

Human beings only began eating wheat 12,000 years ago.

There are many docs who now believe that the human gut simply cannot tolerate gluten. This results in allergies, asthma, hayfever, IBS, coeliacs disease, inflamed colon, etc, etc.

Giving up wheat for 60 days can dramatically improve the above conditions but it is hard as so many foodstuffs contain wheat/gluten.

As for corn, the texture is nice but for most people it simply goes straight through the body and often comes out the other end looking no different than it did on the plate. The human body simply cannot digest corn.

lol

there are plenty of ways to eat corn other than on a cob

cornflakes , popped corn , polenta , cornbread , cornflour

not all of these produce a noticeable corn husk in the feces

corn is one of the few foods you can survive on soley for a long period of time due to it's essential fat content , highly nutritious food

[MarkG]

'...problems in other wheat-growing areas – such as drought in western Europe and heavy rains in Canada and parts of the Black Sea region – that has pushed wheat prices up more than 30 per cent in just over two weeks.'

Yeah, the floods have trashed crops here and the cold weather probably hasn't helped.

[Meat Puppet]

Not good for the billion or so that will be on the edge of starvation, but ag prices are about the only asset that didn't bounce last year due to QE1.

And I see there are "weather" related issues with crop production. Hope it isn't a trend.

[Guest Noodle]

Had rain yesterday. Whoopee!

Rice harvest failure is coming here and this is the biggest rice exporter in the world.

[Peter Hun]

Human beings only began eating wheat 12,000 years ago.

There are many docs who now believe that the human gut simply cannot tolerate gluten. This results in allergies, asthma, hayfever, IBS, coeliacs disease, inflamed colon, etc, etc.

Giving up wheat for 60 days can dramatically improve the above conditions but it is hard as so many foodstuffs contain wheat/gluten.

As for corn, the texture is nice but for most people it simply goes straight through the body and often comes out the other end looking no different than it did on the plate. The human body simply cannot digest corn.

I'm intolerant to wheat. not eating it is difficult but not impossible. I really miss bread thought.

Good news on the drought in Russia, my wheat field is looking healthy, we are getting enough rain here in Poland so more profit for me..

[Guest Noodle]

I'm intolerant to wheat. not eating it is difficult but not impossible. I really miss bread thought.

Good news on the drought in Russia, my wheat field is looking healthy, we are getting enough rain here in Poland so more profit for me..

I'm intolerant of sugar and had a sugar cane plantation.

It's a funny old world.

[DisQ]

looks like Jim Rogers right again,

Farmers would be kings & bankers will be their drivers.

[lowrentyieldmakessense(honest!)]

Human beings only began eating wheat 12,000 years ago.

There are many docs who now believe that the human gut simply cannot tolerate gluten. This results in allergies, asthma, hayfever, IBS, coeliacs disease, inflamed colon, etc, etc.

Giving up wheat for 60 days can dramatically improve the above conditions but it is hard as so many foodstuffs contain wheat/gluten.

As for corn, the texture is nice but for most people it simply goes straight through the body and often comes out the other end looking no different than it did on the plate. The human body simply cannot digest corn.

youre not wrong

big business do well out of wheat though

[fluffy666]

Human beings only began eating wheat 12,000 years ago.

There are many docs who now believe that the human gut simply cannot tolerate gluten. This results in allergies, asthma, hayfever, IBS, coeliacs disease, inflamed colon, etc, etc.

Giving up wheat for 60 days can dramatically improve the above conditions but it is hard as so many foodstuffs contain wheat/gluten.

As for corn, the texture is nice but for most people it simply goes straight through the body and often comes out the other end looking no different than it did on the plate. The human body simply cannot digest corn.

Well, we can digest corn, otherwise it's a bit hard to explain how many North American societies survived..

But yes, we are not well adapted biologically to live on wheat (there is a fair bit of genetic variation on this). That would be fine if there were on a billion or so people for the planet to support.

[The Masked Tulip]

Well, we can digest corn, otherwise it's a bit hard to explain how many North American societies survived..

But yes, we are not well adapted biologically to live on wheat (there is a fair bit of genetic variation on this). That would be fine if there were on a billion or so people for the planet to support.

Yes, this is the issue... if we all went back to hunter-gatherer diets, stopped eating wheat and corn, then there would not be enough food. Wheat is a great food for a huge population but it does not negate the fact for a sizeable percentage of the species it is just one massive inflammatory.

Corn is even newer in the diet than wheat - only about 7,000 years did humans begin eating it.

[Sour Mash]

'...Seventeen Russian regions from the Urals to Siberia have declared a state of emergency because of the unusually high temperatures, which have soared to 40 degrees celsius in some areas. Eleven of the drought-affected regions have seen more than half their sown land destroyed.'

'...problems in other wheat-growing areas – such as drought in western Europe and heavy rains in Canada and parts of the Black Sea region – that has pushed wheat prices up more than 30 per cent in just over two weeks.'

Meanwhile, I see ethanol production from corn is rising strongly.

The perfect storm...

http://www.theage.com.au/world/emergency-as-drought-ravages-russias-crops-20100717-10f4e.html

No problem, we'll just print up however much currency we need to buy whatever we want since foreigners will be more than happy to hand over their food to us in return for our ever diluting promises to pay. What could possibly go wrong?

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

Yes, this is the issue... if we all went back to hunter-gatherer diets, stopped eating wheat and corn, then there would not be enough food. Wheat is a great food for a huge population but it does not negate the fact for a sizeable percentage of the species it is just one massive inflammatory.

Corn is even newer in the diet than wheat - only about 7,000 years did humans begin eating it.

I remember an old uni lecturer telling me planting corn was the worst thing we ever did - it enslaved us.

Edited July 22, 2010 by gruffydd

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

Talking of farming, beef prices have fallen steeply here in the UK because people are eating cheap Argentinian Beef which is flooding the market. Remember a hotel caterer telling me 70-80% of all chicken used by caterers in this country comes from Thailand. Strange old world.

Edited July 22, 2010 by gruffydd

[Sour Mash]

Talking of farming, beef prices have fallen steeply here in the UK because people are eating cheap Argentinian Beef which is flooding the market. Remember a hotel caterer telling me 70-80% of all chicken used by caterers in this country comes from Thailand. Strange old world.

Yes, as long as there's a cheap source of energy available that lets us ship our everyday food halfway around the world to us at economic prices we can't go wrong.

[The Masked Tulip]

Yes, as long as there's a cheap source of energy available that lets us ship our everyday food halfway around the world to us at economic prices we can't go wrong.

Whatever happened to those cargo ships that were going to be built with big sails made from some wondrous material?

[corevalue]

Whatever happened to those cargo ships that were going to be built with big sails made from some wondrous material?

Have a look at tow kites.

Tow kites for shipping

[Sour Mash]

Whatever happened to those cargo ships that were going to be built with big sails made from some wondrous material?

What's the cost per unit of shipping something by sail vs a huge container ship powered by oil or even a regular bulk freighter?

Maybe some kind of massive sailing vessels with equivalent cargo capacity can be constructed using modern technology. I wouldn't hold my breath though.

[MarkG]

Yes, as long as there's a cheap source of energy available that lets us ship our everyday food halfway around the world to us at economic prices we can't go wrong.

Again, carrying things thousands of miles on a boat is usually going to be cheaper than carrying them hundreds of miles over land regardless of fuel price. As far as I remember the Romans got much of their food from Egypt because bringing it across the Med by boat was much cheaper than bringing it from neighbouring countries by cart.

[JOliver]

Yes, this is the issue... if we all went back to hunter-gatherer diets, stopped eating wheat and corn, then there would not be enough food. Wheat is a great food for a huge population but it does not negate the fact for a sizeable percentage of the species it is just one massive inflammatory.

Corn is even newer in the diet than wheat - only about 7,000 years did humans begin eating it.

Totally agree with your wheat ideas (same goes for most other grains). After meat, alcohol and sugar it's the most toxic "food", as you rightly said it just does not digest by humans so starts to rot and feed "bad" bacteria and produce toxins that very often can't be neutralized by over-loaded liver and get stored in produced fatty deposits, so come our weight problems.

Re hunter-gather, imo there's a better option, just grow vegetables and fruits in place of pastures and wheat fields. Don't have time to look for the source now, but roughly you need 2 acres of land to feed 1 man on meat diet, same land would feed 10 on grain diet, and 100 on veg&fruits. Problem solved.

[The Masked Tulip]

Totally agree with your wheat ideas (same goes for most other grains). After meat, alcohol and sugar it's the most toxic "food", as you rightly said it just does not digest by humans so starts to rot and feed "bad" bacteria and produce toxins that very often can't be neutralized by over-loaded liver and get stored in produced fatty deposits, so come our weight problems.

Re hunter-gather, imo there's a better option, just grow vegetables and fruits in place of pastures and wheat fields. Don't have time to look for the source now, but roughly you need 2 acres of land to feed 1 man on meat diet, same land would feed 10 on grain diet, and 100 on veg&fruits. Problem solved.

I like standing outside pizza restaurants watching people eat garlic wheat with their pizza wheat.

[skomer]

Again, carrying things thousands of miles on a boat is usually going to be cheaper than carrying them hundreds of miles over land regardless of fuel price. As far as I remember the Romans got much of their food from Egypt because bringing it across the Med by boat was much cheaper than bringing it from neighbouring countries by cart.

Yes, North Africa (Carthage), primarily Tunisia and Algeria, was the bread-basket of the Roman Empire. Hard to believe that today - i guess the climate must have changed over the past 2000 years

[The Masked Tulip]

Yes, North Africa (Carthage), primarily Tunisia and Algeria, was the bread-basket of the Roman Empire. Hard to believe that today - i guess the climate must have changed over the past 2000 years

That and the Romans seeding Carthaginian land with salt making growing of anything still impossible nowadays.

I think in technical terms Egypt & Carthaginian were the most advanced wheat agricultural areas within access to Rome. The other proficient area - Babylon - was well beyond any Roman influence. Much of the wheat agriculture that we now take for granted in places like France simply did not exist in Roman times. In fact, it was the Romans who brought wheat, vine and other agricultural with them to Western and Northern Europe.

It is a little known fact that most of the olives consumed by the Roman Empire came from Spain.

But the Romans and Carthaginians waged war as to who would dominate the Med, the Romans won and the only way to could destroy them was by seeding the land in salt. This left Rome as basically the biggest source of wheat production in the West and hence why it became a focus of, and eventually a subject of, Rome.