Prepare For Food Shortages--Worse Drought Since 1956: Get Ready For Massive US Food Disaster And Skyrocketing Meat, Grain And Bread Prices

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 5:21
by Monica Davis

Drought Will Increase Meat, Grain And Bread Prices

It’s official. We’re in the worse drought in 3 generations. Experts say the nation hasn’t experienced a drought this bad since 1956.

Corn is burning up. Fields have become vast acres of parched soil. Wildfires are out of control.

And food prices are about to hit the ceiling.

Weeks of 100 plus degree heat have parched Midwest fields, and continue to make fire conditions high risk in the naton’s forests. Urban areas nn the line of fire include:

Cattle and hog producers face a double whammy: dangerously hot weather, near record future feed prices that will go through the roof. This, in turn, will generate a massive increase in pork and beef prices down the road, because producers will pay massive price increases for feed, and weather conditions will generate short trm sell offs which will fuel long term been and pork shortages.

In a recent meeting in Iowa, pork producers say that while media attention is focused on crop producers, the situation is even more dire for pork and beef producers.

They predicted a ripple effect throughout the state as smaller-than-expected harvests cause prices to spike and create a shortage of grain products that feed livestock. Pork and beef producers will be hit particularly hard because they lack an equivalent to the crop insurance that helps protect most corn and soybean farmers, they said.

READMORE HERE www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-07-17/iowa-corn-pork-producers-warn-of-droughts-impact

Corn and soybean futures are trading at record highs. “The worsening drought caused Chicago Board of Trade spot corn futures prices to soar nearly 45 percent in only six weeks with the price on Friday coming within a few cents of the record high of $7.99-3/4 per bushel hit 13 months ago.” READMORE HERE

Farmers are in dire straits from Nova Scotia to the Texas Panhandle. One Nova Schotian farmer put it this way.

"Farmers up here in Nova Scotia are having a very hard time with the lack of rain as well. It's so dry here. No rain and the rivers are but a trickle. There are bans on fishing in some areas because there isn't enough water for the fish to get up river, so they are all in pools and will be fished out. Rain all winter, summer-like March and April. Dry, above average temperatures all around."

Farmers and crop scientists say the heat and lack of rain have already done massive damage to corn crops. Many farmers are already plowing corn under. Get ready for massive food and grain price increases.

Shoppers across the country should stand up and take notice of the Midwestern drought that has already hurt supplies of corn and soybeans.

The drought will lead to higher supermarket prices for everything from milk to meat. How high will depend on what happens with rain and high temperatures in the Corn Belt in the next few weeks.

“We’re at the cusp of seeing how severely this is going to impact consumer prices,” said Darrel Good, professor emeritus of agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

READ MORE HERE

The situation is a double-edged sword. As feed prices increase with the drought-generated feed crop shortage, consumers will see massive drops in meat prices as farmers and ranchers sell off their beef and pork herds to avoid losing their shirts. But after the sell off, there will be a meat shortage—which will increase meat prices in the long term.

Smart shoppers will be buying freezers to hoard meat, while those who do not prepare will be at the mercy of a supply driven marketplace.

…you may want to make room in your freezer for meat because prices for beef and pork are expected to drop in the next few months as farmers slaughter herds to deal with the high cost of grains that are used as livestock feed, said Shawn Hackett of the agricultural commodities firm Hackett Financial Advisors in Boynton Beach, Fla. But, he added, everything from milk to salad dressing is going to cost more in the near term, and eventually the meat deals will evaporate as demand outstrips supply. READMORE HERE

Meanwhile, back at the ranch or pig farm, many producers will lose their shirts and be driven out of business. Ultimately, this will create fewer producers, more shortages, and higher prices.

Read more about food sustainability and farm hardships.

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