Posted on 02/11/2011 9:02:20 PM PST by NormsRevenge
A spell of unusually cold weather in northern Mexico has severely damaged the maize crop in the state of Sinaloa.
Officials estimate the losses could amount to four million tonnes of corn - 16% of Mexico's annual harvest.
President Felipe Calderon said everything possible must be done to re-sow the fields over the next two weeks.
There are fears the losses could force up the price of the corn tortillas that most Mexicans eat with every meal.
Officials say up to 600,000 hectares (1.5m acres) of maize have been lost to frost in Sinaloa, which is home to some of Mexico's richest farmland.
At a meeting with Sinaloa farmers and state officials, President Calderon promised federal aid, credit and prompt insurance payments to help farmers get new crops in fast before it was too late in the season.
"It is not an ordinary catastrophe or the simple loss of a harvest, but an emergency situation that demands a clear and forceful response from the authorities, a response that is not lost in bureaucratic delays," he said.
"It's not just the billions of pesos that may be lost," he added. "We have to recover all we can because it is vital for feeding the country."
Tortilla prices have already been rising in line with a spike in grain prices on global markets.
In 2007 high tortilla prices provoked widespread protests in Mexico.
Maize was first domesticated in Mexico and remains the main staple crop.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
*tortilla flats bump*
The will just get food stamps, SS, SS disability, housing vouchers, welfare and ENDLESS other benefits in ObaAmerica.
Al Gore’s fault. In so many ways.
May force us to go back to feeding people with crops instead of running cars ( badly ) from them.
Geez, that’s amaizing.
Most importantly for Mexico: how is the Mary Jane coping with the cold? Problems there could have a real impact...
Didn’t know Mexico had crops other than drugs anymore.
They should do like Americans and close down vast areas of farmland.
Pray for America
Caliente Mundo.
On the cost of Meskin food, I was in my local Sam’s Club last night stocking up on Pinto Beans, and the price on a 50# bag had jumped from $17.56 last week to $21.36 last nite. The 10# bag remained at $5.57. We can forget about fresh veggies for a while as well as winter watermelon.
I forgot to mention. Gasoline prices will rise again raising the price of Algoreahol.
I know everyone thinks this is all ‘funny’, but in a month or two, they won’t be laughing.
China has had massive droughts, Australia has had massive flooding, and Mexico a freeze. Damage to crops is already high, and speculators in the stock market are already planning to make a killing (huge profit) off of the huge rise in prices as food commodities (like SUGAR) go through the roof.
Rising corn prices push up grocery costs
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2672253/posts
Only a mental midget would think that massive damage to food crops is 'funny'.
That's because we've had many decades of overproduction of corn.
Let'em starve.
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