by mcgowanjm » Thu 19 Jun 2008, 11:07:15
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Eli', 'I') got this from a thread over at the ticker forum it is an excerpt from Kiplingers Business report.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'J')une and July will be exceptionally critical for U.S. corn.
If the growing weather is poor, the U.S. will run out of corn
before the 2009 crop arrives...unfathomable for the world’s top grower
of corn. Persistent spring rain severely delayed corn planting from Mo.
and southern Ind. and Ill. through Ohio and Pa., reducing overall acreage
to around 87 million acres, or 2 million acres short of what is needed
for livestock, exports and ethanol production until fall 2009. Worse,
tardy seeding means late maturity, shaving yields. Then, the same fields
may pollinate as summer heat reaches its peak...a huge risk for the crop.
Odds of market panic are 50-50 with June 30’s corn acreage report
from USDA, though nervous traders have already run the price over $6/bu.
USDA projects that even with a normal yield...impossible this year...
stocks will fall to a 21-day supply before Sept. 2009. That’s far below
the usual 100-day supply at the marketing year’s end just before harvest.
Growers are keeping their fingers crossed for normal weather
to avert severe shortages. They can take some solace in the fact
that the Southwest and the South will receive healthy rains once more.
It's not every day you get to spectate the real-time collapse of a planetary civilization and biosphere. (Or, I suppose I should say, I remember a time when it wasn't.) But watching this unfold with fascination feels complicit and worse than if I were blithely ignorant, and analyzing it at this seeming late stage futile and ridiculous. What's important now, what's more important than ever, are the close-to-home matters: being a good father and husband, and learning how to best cushion the crash of our coddled urban lives.-Rig Int V2
"
5. Emerson Trust Depleted
by Rebecca Bratter, USW Director of Policy
After releasing 260,000 MT in April and another 400,000 MT of wheat in May 2008, the Bush administration has now depleted the entire reserve of wheat held in the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust (BEHT). The wheat was sold in the U.S. market to generate cash to make up some of the loss in U.S. food aid program purchasing power due to soaring commodity costs. The cash was used primarily to purchase corn-based food products and vegetable oil for a number of African countries and Afghanistan but the majority will go to the World Food Programme's feeding programs in North Korea. A destination for foor aid generated by selling the remaining 135,000 MT last week has not been determined.
The U.S. wheat industry has always been and will continue to be the leading source of donations to feed the neediest populations around the world. Wheat is traditionally the most monetized commodity in U.S. food aid programs, with donations totaling 961,500 MT (US$208 million) in fiscal year (FY) 2007. While U.S. wheat industry strongly supports the administration's goal of maintaining current food aid programs to prevent rampant hunger worldwide, there is concern regarding the impact of selling reserve wheat on the domestic market and over the lack of commitment from the administration to replenish the BEHT. Additionally, the release of emergency funds before funding for the proposed supplemental of $850 million for FY 2008 for Title II and $395 million for FY 2009 is approved could reduce the final supplemental amount.
USW has shared these concerns with high officials at USDA and on the President’s staff and has asked about the Administration's intent regarding replenishment.
http://www.uswheat.org/wheatLetter/doc/ ... nDocument#
Bottom line:
We have no grain stockpile.