Extreme Drought Hits Much of US; Ranchers Sell Herds as Feed Costs Skyrocket

Townhall.com ^ | July 15, 2012 | Mike Shedlock

[Kaslin]

Corn, soybean and wheat prices have soared lately due to poor crop estimates amid extreme drought conditions in 26 states.

The blistering summer and ongoing drought conditions have the prompted the U.S. Agriculture Department to declare a federal disaster area in more than 1,000 counties covering 26 states. That's almost one-third of all the counties in the United States, making it the largest distaster declaration ever made by the USDA.

[P.O.E.]

Last year’s drought saw a mass pre-emptive harvest - our local supermarket was having BOGO steaks for weeks. We stocked up some, but have pretty much used them up. I plan to go out and restock sooner rather than later - this can’t be good for prices.

[HereInTheHeartland]

It's not good. Some of the more historically stable areas are hurting bad this year. And very hot weather again this week.
Some nice rains yesterday in spots.
Some farmers have have gotten the spotty rains and will do very well.

[finnsheep]

Sec Vilsack was just on CNN saying that there would be little effect on the price of meat and poultry since only a small amount of the price of commodities actually goes to the farmer.

He is clueless. While it is true that the farmer sees little of the price of beef or pork or chicken compared to the grocery store price, if the pastures have dried up and a hefty chunk of corn is going to make ethanol, the price to the farmer of corn and other grains can go sky high. The farmer then has the choice of paying the price or selling the livestock which we will see now and in the coming months as those trying to hang on, gradually give up.

Then after so many beef cattle have been slaughtered, it will take two years - after the corn emergency is over -to get the national herd back up to what it was and the price of beef back to where it was before the drought - or it will just stay high as we get used to the new normal.

Most of the USDA budget goes to food stamps (80%), so who cares about the farmers anyway. It’s not like they are important in any way. Everybody knows food comes from the grocery store.

[cripplecreek]

I don’t think the second map is any more accurate than the first. I doubt we’ve had more than 1/16 of an inch of rain since mid May in south central Michigan. Lots of rain in some places here but just a few miles away, nuthin.

There’s plenty of water here but it needs to fall out of the sky rather than be pumped out of lakes, ponds, and streams.

[Neoliberalnot]

Farming is one of the riskiest businesses out there. You can do everything in your power to control all the variables, except for the most important one, weather. Should be interesting to hear from the anti farming posters on this one.

[dog breath]

Someone can correct me in this thought, that a problem with some modern hybrid corns is that they are not adapted for this type of thing, great disease resistance, not drought resistant? I like gardening with heirloom seeds and have a tendency to point the finger at modern corn seeds as an example of creating problems rather then the solution. The truth is that nothing is surviving it is so dry even the weeds are dying.

[cripplecreek]

I’d like to see food stamps tied directly to the farmers by way of farmer’s markets. One good idea I see locally is double deals given by the local farmer’s market.

Up to $40 food stamps buys double the fresh fruit, veggies, eggs, and meat. They say its bringing in a surprising number of people who aren’t the typical food stamp crowd.

If it were up to me I would restrict food stamps so they wouldn’t buy crap like chips, candy, cake, soda etc.

[cripplecreek]

Fruit growers in Michigan are doing little more thinking about trimming trees and hoping for a better next year.

My granny tells me that a lot of them used to grow things like asparagus between the rows of trees for an early harvest but now most asparagus comes from Mexico.

[cripplecreek]

Fruit growers in Michigan are doing little more thinking about trimming trees and hoping for a better next year.

My granny tells me that a lot of them used to grow things like asparagus between the rows of trees for an early harvest but now most asparagus comes from Mexico.

[ican'tbelieveit]

I don’t know about other states, but in CO farmers are not allowed to use aquifer/ground water, either. I live in this area, and our crawl spaces have sump pumps running, the water is just under the surface, but, illegal to access. Ridiculous.

[Carry_Okie]

Stock up on beef now.

It's going to get expensive later.

[RWB Patriot]

Hmm, I remember FDR actually pushed for destroying crops and livestock to drive up prices. Wonder if dear leader looks at this the same way.

[FreedomPoster]

I was just looking at a mini chest freezer yesterday . . .

Might be time to clear out that footprint in the basement.

[muawiyah]

We've been having drought conditions in Northern Virginia. My lawn, which is a crumpled up amalgam of every plant that blows in on the wind, is still green. My neighbors finely manicured lawns are brown ~ you can see even the rhyzomes are dying back. Their trees are dropping leaves.

The difference is: Ta-ta-taa-daaaa ~ I never use insecticides. That way the giant fungus's that live under ground and suck sugar from oak and maple trees in the area are never injured. They continue to pump sugar and water to and fro ~ I don't think they have positive control on the osmotic pressure, but that's what they do.

My trees are green. My weeds are lush. The grass is bolting in the heat.

BTW, Roundup is not the problem ~ it doesn't kill the fungi ~ just certain broadleaf plants that'd take over and leave my lawn in patches of dirt and stuff.

All scientific!

[jjotto]

Actually, corn hybrids have become very specialized, adapted to specific conditions. There are definitely drought-resistant hybrids.

Left out of these sky-is-falling stories: a) record high world grain production, and b) ample ground water in much of the Corn Belt (once the leaf canopy is up, plants are much more drought resistant).

Funny, there wasn’t near as much alarm 10-12 years ago when prices were so low farmers got out of the business.

[Aleya2Fairlie]

I don’t suppose we could ever consider curtailing ethanol production temporarily or shipping less grain to foreign dictators to sell to their people at a profit.

[xzins]

The prediction I heard is that beef will hit $5 a pound in the grocery for burger, chuck roast, etc. as the standard price. Saw an article last week about a midwest farmer who has decided to let 1/3 of his crop die because of the drought. Figures he’ll do better trying to keep less of it alive. $10 corn is realistic.

It’s not to late to get a garden going with some things, and with good watering, it will do well. Canning, freezing, drying, and it’ll take the sting off this winter.

[madison10]

Ground Chuck @ Kroger was close to $5 a pound today. ($4.69 and higher) Don’t think I’ve ever seen it that high. I am surprised that the drought is affecting meat prices already, though.

[madison10]

Went down the street to a local store and the ground beef was considerably less. Stocked up. (I was still in shock from the $5 price @ Kroger) Kroger, being a nation-wide chain and all, may be taking advantage of the situation, maybe not.