Farmers' shifting production from very heavily subsidized wheat planting to crops demanded by the marketplace should be a cause for celebration, not whining.
not whining, just sharing info.
What crops are farmers shifting to?
What crops are farmers shifting to?
That might be good except for this:
Ug99 Fungus Threatens Wheat Crop
The Ug99 fungus, called stem rust, could wipe out more than 80% of the world’s wheat as it spreads from Africa, scientists fear. The race is on to breed resistant plants before it reaches the U.S.
The spores arrived from Kenya on dried, infected leaves ensconced in layers of envelopes.
Working inside a bio-secure greenhouse outfitted with motion detectors and surveillance cameras, government scientists at the Cereal Disease Laboratory in St. Paul, Minn., suspended the fungal spores in a light mineral oil and sprayed them onto thousands of healthy wheat plants. After two weeks, the stalks were covered with deadly reddish blisters characteristic of the scourge known as Ug99.Nearly all the plants were goners.
Crop scientists fear the Ug99 fungus could wipe out more than 80% of worldwide wheat crops as it spreads from eastern Africa. It has already jumped the Red Sea and traveled as far as Iran. Experts say it is poised to enter the breadbasket of northern India and Pakistan, and the wind will inevitably carry it to Russia, China and even North America — if it doesn’t hitch a ride with people first.
“It’s a time bomb,” said Jim Peterson, a professor of wheat breeding and genetics at Oregon State University in Corvallis. “It moves in the air, it can move in clothing on an airplane. We know it’s going to be here. It’s a matter of how long it’s going to take.”
http://jutiagroup.com/2009/07/24/ug99-fungus-threatens-wheat-crop/
Google “wheat crop failure 2009” and you will see problems in Afghanistan, Argentina, Austrailia, and the list goes on and on.
2009 wheat situation may not be a pretty picture
http://southwestfarmpress.com/grains/wheat-price-0305/
It may have something to do with the mold disease that went thru the mid-atlantic crops this year that the farmers couldn’t sell. They’re sure not going to plant wheat and go thru that again