Posted on 01/30/2022 5:24:54 PM PST by RomanSoldier19
From South America’s avocado, corn and coffee farms to Southeast Asia’s plantations of coconuts and oil palms, high fertilizer prices are weighing on farmers across the developing world, making it much costlier to cultivate and forcing many to cut back on production.
That means grocery bills could go up even more in 2022, following a year in which global food prices rose to decade highs. An uptick would exacerbate hunger—already acute in some parts of the world because of pandemic-linked job losses—and thwart efforts by politicians and central bankers to subdue inflation.
“Farms are failing and many people are not growing,” said 61-year-old Rodrigo Fierro, who produces avocados, tangerines and oranges on his 10-acre farm in central Colombia. He has seen fertilizer prices double in recent months, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Buckwheat is a good cover crop but not a legume so some kind of pea cut before it produces is a good choice. We have problems with common vetch and I don’t like it because it just goes nuts.
Rye is good in cool weather and I should have planted it last fall. It truly is green manure and smells like it when you turn it under as well.
Sometimes I think we’d be better off with raised beds but I like stuff in the ground just because. I have gotten over my shock of concrete blocks and may try that. So many projects and so little time and I am running short of it like we all will.
My neighbor has cattle in the field next to me. I see cow patties all over the place doing nothing but rotting. They should be liberated to rot in my compost pile.
2019. California limiting irrigation due to drought(without pursuing alternative methods of irrigation for arid Land restoration) could fallow 535,000 acres by 2040.
https://thecounter.org/california-san-joaquin-valley-farmland-groundwater-aquifer-drought/
SMH. This isn’t a bug. It a feature. .
Trust me; with $6 a bushel corn, farmers will, somehow, manage to squeak through.
Not if they have three more years.
The American public has allowed things to go too far.
Reading the comments so far, I think many miss the point of the article :
If farmers are having to stop farming in OTHER countries, then that is a direct impact on the US food supply, because the US is a net importer of food ; it does not matter what US agricultural policies are for farms in the US.
The Haber Process breaking N2 bonds and then recombining into NH4 takes lots of energy.
You can’t do it with solar, wind or good intentions power.
I’ve found peas and tillage radishes to be a good combination in the summer. The radishes grow to the size of my arm, which really loosens up my heavy clay soil. The peas love to climb thistles and smother them. And if things suddenly go south, both can be used as a food crop instead.
I’ve started planting winter rye in the fall. Hoping eventually I’ll get the weeds under control.
Other than endless weeding I think weeds are just a part of gardening.
Our soil is loamy with a little clay. Unfortunately my new garden spot is on top of the hill where the topsoil is thin.
The US is a net exporter of food. Last year, the US imported $163 Billion in agricultural commodities while it exported $172 Billion.
Food the stuff in the grocery store, not agricultural commodities which is a host of things, including animal food
Dollar amounts are not the correct measure to judge the supply of human edible foods available in grocery stores.
““Farms are failing and many people are not growing,” said 61-year-old Rodrigo Fierro, who produces avocados, tangerines and oranges on his 10-acre farm in central Colombia. He has seen fertilizer prices double in recent months, he said.”
Farming is a business. Like any business, there are unforeseen circumstances - some you may be able to overcome, some may seal your demise.
High Debt limits options and flexibility of many a business.
Debt, I suspect, is what will cause most farms to fail in the final analysis.
What would the correct measure be?
What would the correct measure be?
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I don’t know off hand and I’m not going to spend time looking - so feel free
“Farms are failing and many people are not growing,” said 61-year-old Rodrigo Fierro, who produces avocados, tangerines and oranges on his 10-acre farm......
10 acre farm. Who knew?
What better way to get rid of those “evil Kulaks” who don’t submit to the State!
I have to pay for inputs with Dollars and receive payment for produce in Dollars.
I have to pay for inputs with Dollars and receive payment for produce in Dollars.
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You can’t eat a dollar.
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