The danger of Monsanto and Syngenta is a monopoly by law. They have bought enough lawmakers and universities to be almost there.
The western part of the Midwest US is in a severe drought. The grain harvest for the 2nd year running is horrible. Now, wheat is a global commodity, but the Midwest is the largest part of the grain production in the nation.
The weather patterns we are witnessing is not man made, it is largely a consequence of the activity on the Sun. The last time we had a similar condition to this was in 1895. No one living has seen this pattern before.
But as the western part of the Midwest is experiencing a drought, other parts of the US are having flooding and terrible storm activity. All taken together is is very disruptive of agriculture production.
Locally less than 10% of the wheat planted will be harvested. Drought and 2 very late freezes have caused it locally. There will be no stone fruit production because of the late freezes. One came after May 1st, my father is 87 and has never seen that happen here.
That coupled with high cost of production, fuel, chemical, seed (due to monopoly driven) and equipment cost have devistated growers. And the lack of winter forage have caused the ranchers to sell off herd stock in order to survive. Texas is the largest cattle producing state in the US and our herd levels are at record lows. It will be years before that recovers.
We realigned seed sources 2 years ago because of the minefield related to seed licensing. Fortunately we found a university that has a great breeding program and is fully aware of the monopolists who plot to control all seed production. We could not be happier with them. Same seed law, yes we pay royalties, but they are honest and not predatory.
I pray for rain and a big wind to blow the smoke and lights out of DC.
My wife and I will be in Wilmington (have family there) and at Myrtle Beach with our grandson (from N. VA) in less than 3 weeks. It is all my wife talks about now.
Must go to work and get the old Gleaner in the field to harvest our seed. Have a good morning.
Good luck to you Texas Fossil. Thank you for the comments.