U.S. Corn Crop Shrinking By The Hour

[Purveyor]

Source: Reuters AlertNet

By Sam Nelson

CHICAGO, July 17 (Reuters) - U.S. corn production has shrunk 7 percent versus the government's downgraded estimate a week ago, a Reuters poll found on Tuesday, with a worsening drought likely to cause more damage before the month is out.

As the worst drought since 1956 begins to expand to the northern and western Midwest, areas that had previously been spared, analysts are slashing corn yield estimates by the hour. Some analysts are also starting to cut their forecasts on the number of acres that will be harvested as farmers opt to plough under their fields to claim insurance.

What began the season as a potentially record corn crop as farmers planted the biggest area since 1937, may now be the smallest in at least five years. Soybeans, which enter their key pod-setting phase later then corn, are increasingly at risk. The poll of 13 analysts pegged the average estimated corn yield at 137.2 bushels per acre, down 6 percent from USDA's current forecast of 146 bushels.

The USDA dropped its yield estimate by an unprecedented 20 bushels per acre in its report on July 11. Corn production was pegged at 12.077 billion bushels, the smallest in 5 years, down 6.9 percent from USDA's outlook. "We're losing more yield with the additional stress now in the northern areas which up until now had been pretty good," said Shawn McCambridge, analyst for Jefferies Bache.


Read more: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/us-corn-crop-shrinking-by-the-hour

[GreenMask]

1. Is it bad?

It wouldn't be that bad if the stuff wasn't subsidized, expensive to transport, and didn't foul up engines or food.

[NickB79]

10. It has a knock-on effect on every food item we eat.

Even if you're a vegetarian who eats beans and rice instead of corn and beef, your grocery bills will still shoot up. As anything grown with, fed on, or made from corn goes up in cost, consumers will buy alternatives like the beans and rice example I gave. Then, that drives the cost of those foods up as well.

So yes, this is very, very bad.

[aquart]

19. Yes. It's bad. Think famine.

Not this year. Not next year. But stop worrying about overpopulation. It's going to be taken care of.

[LiberalEsto]

2. Ah yes, our Monsanto GMO corn crop

I wonder how that's going.
I recently read that the corn rootworms that were supposed to be killed by eating the GMO corn have now evolved resistance to it, and are merrily munching away.

[4th law of robotics]

8. It's a drought. That harms all crops

GM or otherwise.

And those rootworms were happily munching away on non-GM corn for decades. So it's not a particular problem unique to GM.

[NickB79]

11. Rootworms eating corn specifically engineered to kill them

But not dying. I'd say that does qualify as a particular problem unique to GM.

[4th law of robotics]

16. Only if those same rootworms didn't also eat non-GMO

and it should be noted that those crops worked for a long time. The worms just gradually developed resistance as they would to any pesticide.

So if you planted the GM crop you'd have 10+ years of resistance followed by susceptibility.

If you planted non-GM crops you'd have 10+ years of susceptibility.

Notice the GM crops are not any more susceptible to these worms than non-GM. They just lost their advantage and now are both in the same boat.

How does this make GM crops uniquely worse with regards to these worms?

[FirstLight]

3. this winter could be pretty scary

food shortages, anyone?....or maybe even food shortages, created by wall st hedging bets against mother nature...?

[xchrom]

4. Du rec. Nt

[Ikonoklast]

5. Buy corn and soybean futures.

[NickB79]

13. Screw that. Buy actual beans and rice to stock the pantry

This is ugly stuff, people. This is how countries are predicted to collapse as global warming advances, with climate change wiping out crops and causing revolts over food shortages. Do I think that will happen here in the US? Probably not in this decade, but possibly in the next one or two.

A few extra boxes of ammo might not be a bad investment either.

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Purveyor.

[harun]

7. A few degrees make a big difference. No water, no life.

[glinda]

9. Yeah and there has been a run by wealthier buying up farm land.

[harun]

14. Believe it or not Denny Hastert (Former House Speaker) actually bought my uncles farm.

Well a good chunk of it anyway.

[NickB79]

15. A lot of them are going to lose their shirts in this

You can't make a profit on land if you can't grow anything on it. I'm old enough to remember the last time this happened back in the late 80's, when farmers went nuts buying up cropland only to see it all lost in the horrible drought of '88. My dad almost lost the farm that year. I was only 10, but I can still remember the trucks hauling away all the dairy cows because we had no crops in the field to feed them with.

Anyone else remember FarmAid?

[magic59]

17. Farmers are covered

Farmers are covered by insurance plus the feds will bail them out like the banks. Businesses have safety nets few people have.

[Bluzmann57]

20. Better tgo bail out farmers than bankers

Can't eat money.

[NeoConsSuck]

18. Just imagine

how bad it would be if climate change wasn't a hoax...

I don't think I need the sarcasm tag.

[benld74]

12. And corn futures rising by the day!

[amandabeech]

21. My Mom inherited 60 acres that can be used for corn, hay and perhaps wheat.

Another 30 or so is part wetland, part hayfield or perhaps pasture (would take some arranging). The piece also includes a considerable woodlot.



She wants to sell in two years when the current lessor's lease comes up, but maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to hand on to it for another few years and see what happens.

[dinger130]

22. My summer garden looks like crap

because of the excessive heat.

For those who have a little extra land in their backyard, it might be a good idea to put in a fall garden. That's what I'm doing. No land? Use large containers and put in cool weather crops next month. If you want warm weather crops, do it now....time's wasting! You will be surprised at what you can grow.

[NickB79]

23. Same here. I took the mower to the sweet corn, now time for tilling

The beans, peppers and tomatoes look pretty good though. I'm going to plant more beans here shortly. The butternut squash are being eaten alive by aphids The zucchinis are so-so; it's the first year I haven't been overrun by the damn things. I'm going to replant more of those and summer squash for a fall crop. The spring broccoli and cabbage look so-so, but I have flats of new seedlings ready to plant in a few weeks for a fall crop instead.

[azurnoir]

24. saw this first hand a couple of weeks ago

traveling from the Twin Cities to North Dakota the corn fields looked miserable and stunted for the most part, I fell lucky and bad at the same time my small garden patch of sweet corn is doing very well already producing ears but for farmers dependent on crops things are not going so well

map showing drought areas of the US