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At this point, only God can prevent massive food shortages from hitting the United States in the near future. We knew things were bad when even Joe Biden’s handlers instructed him to warn the world last month that we would all be experiencing food shortages soon. Now, it seems to be a foregone conclusion. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we’re in the middle of a perfect storm of events that will lead to even higher prices and extreme food scarcity. The stage was set by Pandemic Panic Theater. The Ukraine-Russia war made things much worse...

A combination of factors has sent corn futures in Chicago to the highest level in a decade as investors fret over dwindling supplies. Corn futures haven’t exceeded $8 a bushel since September 2012, following a devastating drought that damaged crops across the U.S. Midwest. Now supply risks return but for different reasons. The global outlook for corn supplies has plunged since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in late February. The war-torn country supplies a fifth of the world’s corn and could experience a 50% decline in output this year.Soaring fertilizer costs have forced some farmers in the U.S. to increase...

... Though biofuels have been touted for their ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, assessing the environmental impact of bioethanol requires including greenhouse gas emissions related to the crops needed for its production. And "the carbon balance of ethanol relative to gasoline isn't as good as it was originally anticipated," Tyler Lark, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison told AFP. In 2005, Congress passed a "Renewable Fuel Standard," which required transportation fuel to include a volume of biofuel that increased over time. The law was further expanded in 2007. As a result, 2.8 million additional hectares of corn were...

President Biden on Tuesday is set to announce that the Environmental Protection Agency will allow E15 gasoline—gasoline that uses a 15% ethanol blend—to be sold in the United States this summer in an effort to expand Americans’ access to affordable fuel supply amid the surge in gas prices across the nation. The EPA is set to issue a national, emergency waiver. Without the action, the White House said E15 cannot be used in most of the country from June 1 to September 15. The EPA is expected to take final action to issue the emergency waiver closer to June 1.

Washington CNN — President Joe Biden on Tuesday will announce new steps his administration is taking to address rising gasoline prices across the country, including emergency measures to expand biofuel sales... [Snip] The President is slated to announce that the Environmental Protection Agency will issue an emergency waiver permitting year-round sales of E15 gasoline, which contains a 15% ethanol blend, on a trip to Menlo, Iowa, where he’ll visit POET Bioprocessing, a biofuels plant that specializes in the creation of bioethanol. [Snip] The sale of E15 gasoline is usually prohibited from June to mid-September because of air quality concerns. Under...

The rising cost of natural gas, the primary input for most nitrogen fertilizer, has been one reason for rising fertilizer prices. Also, global supplies are expected to tighten as Russia will limit fertilizer exports to ‘unfriendly‘ countries. Russia is one of the biggest exporters globally — the US just so happens to be a large importer of nitrogen and potash from Russia. Gregerson said due to global disruptions, “getting fertilizer is going to be more and more of a problem for the world in general.” In return, farmers will transition to crops that use less fertilizer — and it will...

Black Sea research firm SovEcon reports that Ukraine, one of the world’s top grains exporters, will experience dramatic output declines in the 2022 harvest year due to the Russian invasion. Ukraine’s main agricultural export products are corn and wheat. Before the invasion, Ukraine was the second-largest supplier of grains for the European Union and one of the largest suppliers for emerging markets in Asia and Africa. Breaking down the numbers, Ukraine produced 49.6% of global sunflower oil, 10% of global wheat, 12.6% of global barley, and 15.3% of global maize. SovEcon expects Ukraine’s 2022 corn harvest to plunge 35% from...

Just in case the coming global famine, which One River CIO Eric Peters likened to the original Holodomor (which incidentally took place in Ukraine under Stalin and killed 3-5 million), isn’t bad enough, moments ago Russia warned that it could be even worse. According to Interfax, Russia’s Agriculture Ministry said that the country could ban wheat, rye, barley and corn exports from March 15 to June 30. “The Agriculture Ministry, together with the Industry and Trade Ministry, has drafted a government resolution that provides for a temporary ban on the export of basic grain crops from Russia from March 15...

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has laid bare the world’s dependence on Russian President Vladimir Putin and its neighbor now under siege, including the fact that the two countries supply much of the grain needs around the globe and prices for grain are now the highest they have been in six decades. Russia and Ukraine provide 29 percent of global wheat exports, 19 percent of global corn supplies, and 80 percent of the global sunflower oil exports

As Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, western governments scrambled to develop responses.That might be hard to believe since the military buildup had been underway for months. But European governments and the U.S. seemed unprepared to assist Ukraine when the war started.On the other hand, it seems like China has been preparing for this action for years.But it’s more likely that China has strategic plans for any contingency.Earlier this week, I wrote about how China was better prepared than Russia to withstand economic sanctions. The chart below shows that preparation extends to foodstuffs as well.China Is Well-StockedIn the first half of...

Ukraine, known as the “breadbasket of Europe” given it’s long been among the world’s top ten wheat exporters and supplied over $6 billion in agricultural products to the European Union in 2020, has issued an emergency order Wednesday banning the export of grains and other products.The ban includes the export of wheat, oats, millet, buckwheat, sugar, live cattle, meat, and other products considered vital to the global economy. But amid wartime, and with Ukraine’s government saying many of its citizens are now starving under Russian siege, Ukraine’s minister of agrarian and food policy Roman Leshchenko said the drastic action was...

Corn-based ethanol may be more emission-intensive than previously thought and is likely contributing to more emissions than gasoline, a new study finds. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that the environmental benefits of the U.S. renewable fuel standard (RFS) remain unclear. Under the Renewable Fuel Standard, oil refiners are required to blend growing amounts of renewable fuels into gasoline and diesel. The RFS raised corn prices, which in turn expanded the land used for corn crops. This increases emissions from the conversion of land to corn crops, and raises fertilizer and water usage, says...

Corn imports into Western Canada from the U.S. have risen dramatically following the 2021 drought, but cattle feeders in Alberta say unpredictable shipments are not keeping up with demand. In some cases, feedlots say they are scraping together the last of their feed supplies, and are banking on delayed trains still arriving in time to maintain rations. According to the latest numbers from the USDA, Canadian corn imports in October and November were more than four times higher than the previous year, while there were more than 2.2 million tons in U.S. sales into Canada on the books that were...

Consider U.S. farmers happy. They are exporting record volumes of products to China. Shipments of soybeans, corn and pork are bringing smiles back to the American heartland. Or, to put this another way, Beijing is effectively acknowledging it cannot feed the Chinese people. China's leader, Xi Jinping, recently made such an admission. Last August, he announced what became known as the "clean your plate" campaign to end what he called a "shocking and distressing" waste of food. Just about everyone saw this effort, to get the Chinese people to eat less, as a warning of food shortages to come. Chinese...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Trump administration overpaid corn farmers by about $3 billion in federal aid in 2019 and farmers in the South were paid more for the same crops than those elsewhere in the country, a federal watchdog agency has found. The Government Accountability Office said in a report released Monday that international disputes resulting from tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump hurt farmers but that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s county-by-county methodology for computing the extent of damage was flawed, leading to overpayment....

Huitlacoche is a fungus that consumes its host — corn — and transforms it into another food altogether. If you’ve never seen it before, it might be a startling sight. But look beyond the unfamiliar, and you’ll find a treat. In fact, for the past couple of weeks, a scrum of excited chefs has surrounded the McGrath Family Farms table at the Santa Monica farmers market due to the unexpected appearance of fresh huitlacoche (pronounced whee-tla-KOH-cheh), a fungus caused by ustilago maydis, which feeds on ears of corn. Called corn smut or Mexican truffle, the fungus is considered a delicacy...

A commonly available pesticide has been associated with an increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in a University of Queensland study. Researchers analyzed links between pesticide exposure and the risk of kidney dysfunction in 41,847 people, using data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). School of Public Health Associate Professor Nicholas Osborne said the study found people exposed to higher amounts of the insecticide Malathion, known as Maldison in Australia, had 25 percent higher risk of kidney dysfunction. "Nearly one in 10 people in high income countries show signs of CKD, which is permanent kidney...

A review of the data pertaining to the accusations in the phony Steele dossier about a Trump-Russia Bank connection discovered the sources used is most likely the same source the FBI used to obtain a FISA warrant to investigate the Trump-Alfa Bank connection. This person also just happens to be a radical Hillary Clinton supporter! It’s been more than two years since the 2016 election and Americans still don’t really know the sources for the phony Steele dossier used by the FBI and DOJ to obtain FISA warrants to spy on candidate and then President Trump. This nightmare for President...

Scientists have created the ultimate GM crop: contraceptive corn. Waiving fields of maize may one day save the world from overpopulation. The pregnancy prevention plants are the handiwork of the San Diego biotechnology company Epicyte, where researchers have discovered a rare class of human antibodies that attack sperm. By isolating the genes that regulate the manufacture of these antibodies, and by putting them in corn plants, the company has created tiny horticultural factories that make contraceptives. 'We have a hothouse filled with corn plants that make anti-sperm antibodies,' said Epicyte president Mitch Hein.

An agriculture nightmare plays out in Brazil as drought and frost cause second corn yields in the country’s center-south to hit their lowest level in 10 years. Crop losses due to unfavorable weather may result in shortages and persistent food inflation due to Brazil is a top player in global corn production. Reuters, citing a new report via agribusiness consultancy AgRural, said drought then frosts destroyed much of the crop this year. Brazilian farmers expect to harvest around 51.6 million tons of corn, down 19 million from last season’s 70.5 million. Brazil’s heavily exported second corn crop, planted after soybeans...