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The current headline news is focusing on Southern Missouri, Northern Arkansas, and the confluence of the Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Nasty flooding, nasty storms, death and destruction.
But that isn't presenting the long term picture of what is going on here in the Midwest/Great Plains, which is namely water, lots and lots of water.
For much of the region, the breadbasket of the country, the ground has been saturated for months, since this past winter. Saturated ground means that farmers can't get out into the fields in order to do spring tilling or planting.
I live in rural Missouri, and so far, I've seen only about ten percent of the fields tilled, and none of them planted. Standing water has been common, both on high ground and in the fertile bottom lands.
While this could change, if the rain turns off, it seems that we're in a very rainy cycle. This could result in late crop planting, no planting, and most importantly, low harvest yields. Speaking of harvest yields, those thousands of acres of winter wheat that are ripening to maturity right now, it's going to be damn hard to get them out of the field in this weather.
All of this adds up to higher food prices later on this year.
Just thought I'd let you know. Meanwhile, the sky is starting to darken, and more rain and severe storms are on tap for tonight.
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