North California drought threatens farmers, ag workers, cities – and you

Driest conditions in 100 years could hit the nation’s food basket hard, affecting half of US fruits and vegetables

Children explore remnants of an old gold-rush town that was flooded in 1955 by California’s Folsom Lake but reappeared as the water level fell. Jose Luis Villegas/Sacramento Bee/MCT/Landov

Water shortages are affecting urban areas too. Voluntary and mandatory water restrictions are in effect in Northern California cities and counties. Mendocino declared a state of emergency. The city of Folsom’s 72,000 residents are under mandatory water restrictions: Limit lawn watering to twice a week, use a shutoff valve on hoses when washing cars.

Meanwhile, in Santa Cruz, residents can’t wash paved surfaces and may be cited if they water their yards between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Local restaurants may serve water only on request, and swimming pools may not be drained and refilled. If the drought continues, restrictions will get tighter, said Eileen Cross, the city’s community-relations manager.

“We are asking for a 20 percent cutback in water use,” said Sue Ryan, public information officer for Santa Cruz. Folsom Lake, the city’s primary water source, is at a near-record low. The water level is so low that it uncovered the ruins of a 19th century gold-rush community inundated in 1955, spurring souvenir hunters to flock to the site.

State officials are concerned these conditions are likely to spread as the drought goes on. “If it stays dry, certainly more water districts and cities will have to impose conservation measures,” Vogel said.

“We’re in the middle of what potentially is looking like a huge catastrophe,” said Ryan Jacobsen, chief executive of the Fresno County Farm Bureau. “We’re looking at some very harsh realities, as far as water allocations.”

The San Joaquin Valley is at great risk, especially on the west side, which relies largely on the runoff from the mountains. On top of that, some farmers are feeling the squeeze from federal pumping restrictions in place to protect endangered species like the delta smelt. A salmon restoration project in the San Joaquin River has also curtailed water supplies.

“Possibly hundreds of thousands of acres of land will go fallow,” Jacobsen said.

Fall planting of lettuce in Fresno County, which provides 95 percent of the nation’s head lettuce, was half what it was the previous year, he said.

Montana Farmers Report Record Hail Damage in 2013, No Coverage in 2014 (Feb 9)
Crop damage due to hail in Montana exceeded $14 million in 2013, the most expensive year in the 98-year-history of the state's crop-hail insurance program.

As a result, the Montana Department of Agriculture announced that the state's hail insurance program will not offer refunds in 2014.

The Montana state hail insurance program was created to provide basic hail insurance coverage on any crop grown in the state.

"The department was able to cover 186% of premiums in 2013. After reviewing the actuarial report at our annual meeting, the hail board voted to not offer refunds to farmers this year to keep the program whole for next year," said Montana Department of Agriculture Director Ron de Yong.

The program, with existing reserves, can cover 122% of claims next year (2015).

Sources

http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/montana-farmers-repor...

http://www.kxlh.com/news/montana-board-of-hail-insurance-paid-out-r...

California almond farmers face tough choices

Some California almond farmers decide to rip out high-value trees in face of record dry year

FIREBAUGH, Calif. (AP) -- With California's agricultural heartland entrenched in drought, almond farmers are letting orchards dry up and in some cases making the tough call to have their trees torn out of the ground, leaving behind empty fields.

In California's Central Valley, Barry Baker is one of many who hired a crew that brought in large rumbling equipment to perform the grim task in a cloud of dust.

A tractor operator drove heavy steel shanks into the ground to loosen the roots and knock the trees over. Another operator, driving a brush loader equipped with a fork-like implement on the front, scooped up the trees and root balls and pushed them into a pile, where an excavator driver grabbed them up in clusters with a clawing grapple. The trees were fed into a grinder that spit wood chips into piles to be hauled away by the truckload and burned as fuel in a power plant.

Baker, 54, of Baker Farming Company, has decided to remove 20 percent of his trees before they have passed their prime. There's simply not enough water to satisfy all 5,000 acres of almonds, he said. "Hopefully, I don't have to pull out another 20 percent," Baker said, adding that sooner or later neighboring farmers will come to the same conclusion. "They're hoping for the best. I don't think it's going to come."

There are no figures yet available to show an exact number of orchards being removed, but the economic stakes and risks facing growers are clear. Almonds and other nuts are among the most high-value crops in the Central Valley — the biggest producer of such crops in the country. In 2012, California's almond crop had an annual value of $5 billion. This year farmers say the dry conditions are forcing them to make difficult decisions.

Gov. Jerry Brown last month declared a drought emergency after the state's driest year in recorded history.

The thirst for water has sparked political battles in Washington, D.C., over use of the state's rivers and reservoirs. This month President Barack Obama visited the Central Valley, announcing millions of dollars in relief aid that in part will help the state's ranchers and farmers better conserve and manage water.

Baker, who favors farming over politics, explained the math leading to his decision. Between now and the summer almond harvest, he would need to irrigate his orchards with scarce, expensive water and pay to have the trees pruned and sprayed. Bringing in bee hives to pollinate the blossoms costs nearly $500 an acre.

That all would amount to a $2.5 million gamble, without knowing if the next couple of months will bring significant rain to the valley floor and snow to the mountains. "You'd have wrapped a lot of money up in those trees to see what happens," he said.

Removing old trees is common practice. Almond trees remain productive for about 25 years, growers said. The state's almond farmers removed over 10,000 acres of trees in 2012, according to a report by the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Most were past their prime. No figures are available on how many orchards farmers are removing today, said department spokesman Steve Lyle.

But Alan Thompson of G&F Agri Service LLC, who leads the crew ripping out Baker's orchards, said the drought spiked his business by 75 percent. This time of year is typically slow, but Thompson, 31, said his heavy equipment operators start at dawn each day and works until sundown, removing orchards in short order.

"We don't even mess around with cutting them up with chain saws," he said. "That grinder is the way to do it right there."

Ryan Jacobsen, executive director of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, said he expects that almond growers will be removing trees through the spring and summer because of the drought. "I have no doubt permanent crops will be taken out because of this," he added.

Tim Lynch of Agra Marketing Group said power plants in the state nearly have more wood chips from almond trees than they can handle. Lynch's firm acts as the middle man between growers getting rid of their trees and the power plants that need bio fuel to burn. The dry weather this winter has allowed growers to work in their orchards that are typically soggy, and the drought pushed them to take out trees earlier than normal, he said.

The high value of almonds has caught the eye of investors in recent years, who paid top-dollar for land to plant almond orchards and cash in on the bonanza. Their value remains strong, making the decision for farmers to remove orchards difficult.

William Bourdeau, executive vice president of Harris Farms in Coalinga, said he and his colleagues within the next 30 days will have to confront the hard decision about scaling back their almond orchards. They've already decided not to plant 9,000 acres of vegetables — including 3,000 acres of lettuce that would have produced 72 million heads and generated 700,000 hours of work.

Next, they may rip out 1,000 acres of almonds, a permanent crop, Bourdeau said.

"I hesitate to use a number that big. Unfortunately, it's going to that big or bigger," he said, still holding out hope the season will turn wet. "We're trying to limp along as long as we can."

Leaving the orchards un-watered and expecting they'll somehow survive the drought is no option, Bourdeau said, because insects infest the dying trees and multiply, spreading to other orchards.

Drawing well water is a bad option, he said. Their wells sink 2,400 feet below ground in his region of the Central Valley, providing water that's unhealthy and compromises the crops for years, if the trees survive at all, he said.

They have considered blending well and surface water to minimize the harm. Or they can remove some almonds to direct their limited water to fewer orchards.

"There's a lot of what-ifs," Bourdeau said. "There's no good decision. It's what's the least worse option."

http://news.yahoo.com/california-almond-farmers-face-tough-15473485...

Indian Farmers Driven to Suicide as Hail Ruins Crops (Mar 23)

Nearly five dozen farmers in Maharashtra and the central state of Madhya Pradesh have committed suicide this month over debt worries, farmers' advocacy groups say.

Unseasonal rains and hailstorms this month have damaged the winter-sown crops of millions of Indian farmers, but Rekha Garole lost more than others.

Her 42-year-old husband Santuka killed himself this month after hail devastated the wheat and chickpea crops that they had been counting on to repay a bank loan of 90,000 rupees ($1,500).

"He committed suicide to escape his debt burden," says Rekha, who met nearly a dozen political leaders in a week at her mud house in the Nanded district of western Maharashtra state but has yet to receive any financial aid.

Santuka, like other farmers in his village of Golegaon, prayed last year for bountiful rains to end two years of drought in the region.

Ample rainfall did come, but at the wrong time. In September, cloudbursts damaged soybean and sorghum crops that were ready to be harvested, forcing farmers like Santuka into debts that they could not pay due to the latest crop damage.

Millions of small Indian farmers are struggling to survive as erratic weather hits their only source of income. They are seeking government help to stay afloat until the next harvest, but bureaucrats are moving slowly to record crop losses.

Anger is mounting among affected farmers tired of hearing empty promises. Many have given up hope.

Source

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/23/us-india-crops-damage-idU...

See also: Maharashtra records 3,146 suicides by farmers in 2013

@Howard,

Apart from the obvious hail and extreme weather damage on the crops, I noticed that Reuters left out one of the most important points to this suicide and the debt accumulated by the farmer. Monsanto and GMO crops which have permeated through India have put pressure on farmers regardless of the weather changes. In fact there are many documentaries and studies (just type Monsanto and Indian farmers in youtube) that show the suicide rate in the Indian farming community since Monsanto and GMO crops were introduced has increased exponentially. The debt and burden of providing for ones family when crops fail is too much. Since the farmers have signed a deal with the 'devil' essentially...they feel there is no way out.

So you can also add that along wth the Extreme Weather Changes this is definitely a Sociological change as well!

Northeast Nebraska Farmers Devastated by Hail Damage (Jun 3)

video 

Tornadoes, high winds, heavy rain and baseball-sized hail completely wiped out crops, particularly in the northeast corner of Nebraska on June 3.

As Joel Weber looks upon what was once a massive field of corn, not a single stock stands.

His field is leveled and muddy, and there's little to no hope his crop will be saved.

"Last night I looked out here and it was a complete canopy corn and with all the potential in the world," said Weber. "And now it's completely gone and I just have to move on to make smart decisions to get me through the next 15 months to make up for this."

It's a familiar scene with many farmers and ranchers throughout Nebraska who were victims of Tuesday's severe weather.

If damage is bad enough many ranchers will have the option to re-plant, but crop specialists say most crops would only yield around 50 to 55 percent of its potential during harvest.

"If those plants were severed below the growing points those plants are dead," said University of Nebraska Extension Educator Randy Pryor.

Tom Schellpeper has been farming in the Stanton area since the early 1980's.

He says the damage caused by last week's hail storm was something he had never experienced before.

"Its the worst that I have ever seen. Some of the older gentleman in the neighborhood have said this one tops the 1964 hail storm," said Schellpeper.

Ping-pong size hail storms showered overtop Schellpeper's 500 acre farm, damaging nearly 60% of his corn and soybean crop.

Coupled with drought conditions the last two summers, he says he has gotten to know his crop insurance agent really well.

See also: Over 4,000 cars destroyed by hail storm in Nebraska

Sources

http://www.1011now.com/home/headlines/Significant-Crop-Damage-Devas...

http://nebraskaradionetwork.com/2014/06/10/corn-crops-in-ne-nebrask...

http://www.ktiv.com/story/25766277/2014/06/12/hail-storm-causes-dam...

Record Rainfall, Overland Flooding in Manitoba and Saskatchewan Spell Disaster for Fall Harvest (Jul 3)

Farmers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan fear harvests may be lost this year now that overland flooding has made some fields look more like lakes.

Doug Chorney of Manitoba-based Keystone Agricultural Producers estimates at least 800,000 hectares of farmland will likely go unseeded across both provinces this year.

Crops that have already been planted are drowning at this point, he said, adding that anything that survives likely won't yield its full potential.

"It's heartbreaking when you put so much work into growing a crop, you grow the best seed you can buy, and you fertilize it properly, and then you have weather like this," Chorney said from his flooded wheat field near Selkirk, Man., on Wednesday.

"It's just terrible."

A colder than usual winter across the Prairies resulted in a late spring planting season, and many farmers had to deal with record high rainfall in June.

This past weekend, an intense storm system dumped between 100 and 200 millimetres of rain on southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba, causing overland flooding in some places.

"Because it was so wet, and now I'm told there's white caps on windy days on their fields, so it looks like a lake," Chorney said.

Numerous roads remain closed, with some open to local traffic only, in the western Manitoba town of Virden on July 1, 2014, due to overland flooding caused by heavy rainfall over the weekend.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall estimates the flooding could cost in excess of $360 million, similar to what it cost in the 2011 flood. However, that figure does not include farm losses, which are certain to be significant and widespread.

"Pretty tough to grow a crop or harvest a crop if it's under water. That will be a challenge," Wall said.

Sources

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-saskatchewan-floodi...

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/ten-photos-flooding-...

Hail, Rain Pummels Crops in Southwest Minnesota (Jun 16)

Like many farmers with crops under water or obliterated by hail, Harley Buys of rural Edgerton, Minn., is in limbo.

“Everything we farm is gone,” he said Tuesday afternoon, 24 hours after a 6-inch rain and a 45-minute hail storm pummeled his fields between Edgerton and Leota. “We’ve still got banks of corn stalks and hail three feet deep. Hail’s still laying in the ditches, too.”

Buys farms 1,100 acres — 600 planted to corn earlier this spring and 500 in soybeans — and he anticipates all of it is lost.

“We’re waiting for the crop adjuster,” he said. “They want to wait two or three days, when it warms up, to see whether it’s going to come back or not.”

Rock Rapids, Iowa, was also hit heavily by Monday evening’s storm and the situation remained “desperate” Tuesday afternoon, according to a dispatcher at the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.

Monday’s storm added insult to injury for an area of southwest Minnesota already suffering. Between Monday’s deluge and last weekend’s storms, Buys said there was 12 inches of rain in all.

Tuesday afternoon, with cattle still out of their pastures because of flood waters and downed fences, he and his wife were working on a higher priority — putting Shop Vacs to work in the basement of their home where the sewer had backed up. They also have broken windows in their home and down at their family’s milking parlor from the hail.

“At our place, it wasn’t real huge — it was just so terrible fast,” Buys said. “East of Leota it was, for sure, golf-ball-sized hail.”

Buys has already learned that he could collect $34 per acre from crop insurance if he wants to replant his beans, and the same if he plans to replant corn.

“We need a lot of corn for silage,” he said, adding that he’s already been on the phone with seed dealers to get 75- or 80-day corn.

“They will be able to get seed, but there’s not a lot,” he added. “The early corn, that will work for silage, as long as we don’t get any more rain and can get it planted.”

Despite the damage to his corn and soybean fields, Buys said his pastures took the greatest hit. Several areas are still under water.

“We spent Sunday rounding up cattle,” said Buys, adding that it’s now necessary to do that again.

Gene Stoel, a farmer from rural Lake Wilson, Minn., and a crop insurance agent, said Tuesday he’s been on the phone more than he’s been off it as farmers call in with questions and concerns about their 2014 crops.

“The stuff that’s not under water doesn’t look too bad, but there’s a lot of water around,” he said of farm fields in the Lake Wilson area. “South of Chandler, it looks really tough.

“The water is receding where it can get away, but the tile lines just aren’t big enough to handle all this water,” he added.

Stoel reported more than 9 inches of rainfall at his place between Saturday and Monday.

“A lot of township roads have been affected pretty severely,” he said. “There’s gullies through the fields.”

Like much of southwest Minnesota, Stoel said it was dry up until a couple of weeks ago.

“I think the drought is over,” he surmised. “It would have been nice to spread it out through the summer, but sometimes this is what you get.”

Source

http://www.agweek.com/event/article/id/23536/

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/prairie-farmers-frustrated-as-flooding...

Prairie farmers frustrated as flooding drowns crops

Midway through the growing season and summer floods have drowned out millions of acres of crops across the Canadian prairies, robbing farmers of their livelihoods.

In Saskatchewan, it’s estimated that a total of up to 3 million acres, including some farmland, have already flooded. Officials in Manitoba also estimate that millions of acres overall have been ravaged by flooding there.

Beyond the damage to bridges and other infrastructure, farmers’ fields have been hit particularly hard, washing away a season’s worth of crops.

The swollen Assiniboine River spills over its banks covering farm land in Brandon, Man. on Sunday, July 6, 2014. (Tim Smith / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

“That’s your income. So if your income drops by at least 20 per cent, that’s going to hurt,” farmer Kevin Elmy told CTV News.

In Manitoba, the government has set up a help line for rural residents struggling with flooding. And they’ve begun estimating how much money it will take to rebuild what’s been washed away.

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger said Friday, that the cost of repairing flood damage is expected to be at least $200 million.

Farmers say it’s uncertain how much of that money will go towards compensation for their loss of income. They’ve been told that the government will lend assistance, but the logistics are unclear.

“There’s really nothing we can do about it. Mother Nature has her plans and you just go with it,” farmer Bill Prybylski said. “It’s really frustrating.”

In the areas surrounding Portage La Prairie, Man., farmers are also expressing frustration. It’s only been three years since the last time they faced flooding, but a nearby channel makes them especially prone to overflowing. The channel is designed to divert water away from the cities and towards a lake, but their crops are hit when it overflows.

“From past experience, we knew that water wouldn’t go to Winnipeg, (the channel) would dump it on us,” Kevin Yuill said. “If they’re going to use the diversion, fix it properly so we don’t get hammered every time.”

The timing of this year’s floods make them particularly devastating. In 2011, the last time Yuill faced flooding, he said that he had only planted a fraction of his seeds. This year, Yuill had already planted most of his seeds, meaning the damage will be even more extensive than last time.

“It’s a pretty nice looking corn crop,” he said. “But in a week’s time, it will all be dead.”

http://www.kearneyhub.com/news/local/neb-grape-growers-lose-most-of...

Neb. grape growers lose most of crop to weather

Jessica Kokesh, Kearney Hub

Posted: Saturday, August 23, 2014 2:20 am

By JESSICA KOKESH Hub Regional Editor

GIBBON — This won’t be remembered as a good year for Nebraska’s grape industry.

The last few weeks of August are usually harvest season for Nebraska grape growers, but vineyards across the state have been affected by severe weather in the last fews months, losing crops to everything from late freezes in May to high winds and hailstorms in June and July.

Typically, grape growers have at least one severe weather event to contend with during the growing season, said Jennifer Montgomery, executive director of the Nebraska Winery & Grape Growers Association. But this year, there were at least four distinct weather events that damaged crops throughout the state.

“It’s been a very interesting year,” Montgomery said. “It depends on where you were. Maybe you were OK after winter, but then the wind damage did you in. (The damage) is pretty widespread. It’s pretty much all over the board.”

Stefan Kegley, owner of George Spencer Tasting Room in Gibbon and president of NWGGA, said only 10 percent of his grape crop will be harvested this year. Kegley owns 16 acres of grapes around Gibbon and Kearney. He usually sells grapes to Miletta Vista Winery in St. Paul.

A vineyard he owns north of Kearney was ruined by the late frost and a good portion of the rest was wiped out by the July 9 storm that rolled through the Gibbon and pelted the area with large hail.

“The vines were completely stripped off,” Kegley said. “It looked like winter the next morning.”

Most of Kegley’s plants have started to regrow, and he doesn’t think he’ll have to replant any if the winter goes well. Kegley has been growing grapes for 10 years, and said few spots in the state escaped some damage.

“It’s all over the place. There’s some out there that haven’t been hit, but this is the most widespread year for damage I’ve seen,” he said.

NWGGA sent out a survey to each of its 28 member wineries to determine what sort of damage they had seen and whether they would have to seek fruit from outside the state to make up for crop losses. At least 75 percent of the product used at state wineries must be sourced from within the state, otherwise wineries have to seek waivers from the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission.

“The wineries that responded to survey said they’re going to have to seek fruit and juice outside the state this year,” Montgomery said. “There’s definitely a fair amount of damage to the crop in state. There’s going to be a shortage.”

Late Rains Cause Record Damage to Montana Grain Crops (Sept 12)

One month ago, barley and spring wheat producers from Valier to Sidney were looking forward to near record crops.

Then the rains came in late August.

Not the gentle, life-sustaining rains that farmers pray for each spring, but a deluge that dropped 3, 7 and even 10 inches over a single weekend. The rains were timed to do the maximum damage, falling right in the midst of harvest and prompting the mature stands of wheat and barley to sprout from the head, destroying their value.

Now, three weeks later, many Montana farmers are wondering if they'll be able to salvage anything at all.

"It changed in a matter of three days," said Mitch Konan, a barley farmer on the Fairfield Bench. He estimates that as much as 70 percent of the barley crop around Fairfield stood unharvested when the rains set in Aug. 21.

"It's probably going to be marginal at best," Konan said of his rain-damaged barley. "Otherwise it's pretty much lost. It's gone — unless the maltsters or the industry help us find a way out of this. Those of us that still had crops standing in the field were sitting back wondering what we're going to do with it all."

Further east, things aren't any better. In Judith Basin County, Greg Matthews watched helplessly as standing water began to collect in his winter wheat, spring wheat and barley fields.

It is not unusual for dispersed geographic regions to experience losses because of poorly timed rains. What sets the current situation apart is that the damage is so widespread, extending beyond Montana to encompass large sections of Idaho, North Dakota and southern Canada.

"That's one of the unusual things about this," said Jeff Rumney, bureau chief of the Montana State Grain Lab in Great Falls. "This is very widespread — all the way from Idaho to North Dakota. Before the rain, everything's beautiful. After the rain, everything's a mess. The level of damages that we're seeing, and the extent of the damage, right now is at record levels."

The lab that Rumney oversees is the only federally licensed grain quality testing facility in Montana. For the past two weeks, Rumney has had the unenviable task of delivering bad news to hundreds of Montana grain producers from all across the state.

"We had people that drove halfway across Montana with a Ziploc bag of wheat on their passenger seat," Rumney said. "He might have 30,000 bushels in the bin of this grain, and basically I'm telling him that based on these results, it's unmarketable. I'm telling him he just lost $60,000 — that's what it's been like.

"I had a farmer call me that Friday (Aug. 22) from Saco. He had in excess of 20 fields that he needed to harvest. He had 7 inches of rain, and another couple of inches was due in a couple of days. I was on the phone with this guy for 20 minutes, and he was just struggling as to what to do. This is a farmer that's been doing this for 25 years."

Source

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/local/2014/09/12/late-r...

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=84845&eocn=ho...

In late November 2014, cold and dry conditions brought the end of fall harvest activities in Nebraska. More than 45 million acres of farms across the state produce corn, soybeans, hay, wheat, beans, potatoes, sorghum, and small grains.

In the south-central part of the state, the Platte River forms an important agricultural corridor, as shown here in images acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8. Turn on the image comparison tool to see how the fields changed during the fall harvest.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-26/south-africa-s-20...

South Africa’s 2015 Corn Crop to Shrink 32% Due to Heat Wave

(Bloomberg) -- The 2015 corn crop in South Africa, the continent’s largest producer of the grain, may shrink 32 percent after hot, dry weather in the two biggest growing provinces damaged the harvest, the Crop Estimates Committee said.

Farmers may reap 9.67 million metric tons of corn this season, said Rona Beukes, a spokeswoman for the committee. That compares with a 10.5 million-ton median of five estimates in a Bloomberg News survey and with 2014’s crop of 14.3 million tons, the biggest in 33 years. The harvest would be the smallest since 2007, when the nation produced 7.13 million tons.

The Free State and North West provinces, which produced 64 percent of 2014’s harvest, haven’t had sufficient rains, causing “irreversible” damage, said Grain SA, which represents farmers¼. The local price of white corn, used to make a staple food known as pap, has climbed 21 percent this year while the yellow type, mainly fed to animals, is up 9.9 percent.

“The extreme heat and dry conditions being experienced in the northwest Free State and the North West provinces for most of February had caused the crop to deteriorate much faster than had been expected,” Beukes said by phone on Thursday. Some rains fell in white-corn producing areas on Feb. 24, but they “might not bring much benefit to the current crop as damage has already occurred.”

Output of white corn will plunge 39 percent to 4.7 million tons, while production of the yellow variety will decline 24 percent to 4.97 million tons, she said.

Other Grains

While the consumer inflation rate fell to the lowest since March 2011 in January, investors are fretting that the deceleration may be ambushed by higher food and fuel prices.

The reduced crop will probably have a minimal effect on the overall economy, although prices could rise on staples such as corn meal, Isaac Matshego, an economist at Nedbank Group Ltd. in Johannesburg, said by phone.

“We could see inflation for the low-income earners maybe coming under a bit of pressure,” he said.

Yellow corn for delivery in July gained 3.1 percent to 2,380 rand ($208) a ton by midday on the South African Futures Exchange in Johannesburg. White corn for delivery the same month climbed 3.4 percent to 2,565 rand a ton, rising for the first time in seven days.

Sunflower output may drop 31 percent to 574,300 tons, while soybean production may decline 1 percent to 938,350 tons, she said. Groundnut output may decrease 8.9 percent to 67,845 tons, sorghum may retreat 33 percent to 178,700 tons, and drybeans may slip 2.7 percent to 79,940 tons.

Rain, hail and cold weather pose problems for fruit growers in parts of Utah

http://fox13now.com/2015/05/21/rain-hail-and-cold-weather-pose-prob...

WILLARD, Utah – The heavy precipitation we’ve experienced recently would seem to be good news for agriculture in Utah, but some farmers in Weber and Box Elder counties are saying they could use a chance to dry out.

FOX 13 News’ Todd Tanner was in Willard Thursday, where some fruit growers said this is a very challenging year for fruit so far.

“As you can see, there’s not even, there’s no fruit at all,” he said

“We haven’t been able to plant because of all the rain water we’ve had,” Pettingill said. “…We can’t get tractors in here, can’t work the ground.”

A mile or so away, Randy Matthews’ peaches have problems.

A hail storm last weekend took its toll, shredding leaves and leaving marks on most of the fruit

Southern Ontario Vineyards Damaged By Brutal Cold Snap

http://www.am980.ca/2015/05/26/southern-ontario-vineyards-damaged-b...

Vineyard owners in Prince Edward County and the Niagara region are assessing the damage from a record-breaking plunge into cold weather late Friday night and into Saturday morning.

Farmers were sent scrambling to prevent frost from killing their fruit. They rented helicopters, turned on wind machines and set bales of hay on fire in an attempt to save what they could.

Some smaller wineries say their crop was practically gutted in the deep-freeze.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/texas-farmers-facing-total-loss-18463...

Texas farmers facing 'total loss for this year'

 

Farms across Texas and surrounding states are flooded and waterlogged, leaving farmers who had been looking at bumper crops now worried.

Frost forces farmers to reseed canola

http://www.brandonsun.com/local/frost-forces-farmers-to-reseed-cano...

Last weekend’s cold weather has caused significant damage to canola fields across southern Manitoba, leaving many area farmers filing insurance claims and reseeding.

Alberta Declares Province-Wide Agricultural Disaster (Aug 21)

Canada's Alberta government on Friday declared a province-wide agricultural disaster as a result of extreme weather conditions.

The main culprits affecting Alberta crops are drought in the spring and hail this summer.

About 80 per cent of Alberta's farmers have been impacted by the drought. The AFSC anticipates paying out $700 million to $900 million in claims this year. About $70 million has been paid so far.

It's not hard to see why. The above map, from Alberta's agriculture department, shows some parts of the province have experienced 1-in-50 and 1-in-100 year drought conditions so far this summer.

"The issue is we didn’t get the rain when we needed it. Right now, it’s too lit­tle, too late. The dam­age to the crops has al­read­y occurred," Agriculture Minister Oniel Carlier told the Edmonton Journal.

Carlier also said the Alberta government may seek additional support from Ottawa, noting Saskatchewan has suffered as well.

Several Alberta municipalities have unilaterally declared agricultural disasters over the past few weeks, hoping to push the provincial government in Edmonton to follow suit with a general declaration.

As it is, the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation has already paid out more than $1 billion to 80 per cent of drought-stricken farmers, according to the Journal, while CBC reports crop yields are expected to be about a quarter of the five-year-average.

Sources

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Alberta+clares+province+wide+agri/11...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/agriculture-disaster-declared...

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/disaster-declared-as...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-27/three-hail-storms-hit-wa-east...

Three hails storms hit WA's eastern Wheat belt, wreak havoc, destroy crops

Crops have been destroyed in Western Australia's eastern Wheatbelt this weekend with a night of successive hail storms.

Three separate bouts of hail hit the town of Southern Cross and the surrounding farming district on Sunday night, wreaking havoc on crops ripe for harvest.

It was the second hail storm in as many weeks to dash the hopes of farmers at the end of what had been a relatively good season.

Agronomist Gary Kenwood of Southern Cross owns the only farm supply store in town.

He said it was yet another disappointing finish to the season for grain growers who have been battling dry seasons for a decade.

"It's been a very, very hard ten years," he said.

"The last six have been definite droughts, the two beforehand were certainly less than average seasons.

"It looked liked the planets had lined up and we would eventually get to put headers into a crop and now it's all turned pear-shaped again."

https://www.inverse.com/article/8805-an-unstoppable-fungus-disease-...

An Unstoppable Fungus Disease Is Wiping Out the World's Banana Plants

A fungus plague destroyed the fruit's Gros Michel strain. Now another is destroying the Cavendish strain.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/april-cold-threatens-sig...

Continuing waves of cold in northeast US damaging fruit trees with ...

Wed, 06 Apr 2016 08:30 UTC

Ongoing waves of cold during early April are taking a toll on fruit tree blossoms in parts of the northeastern United States.
Farmers are holding their breath as they wait out the cold to inspect the impact on trees and vines.
The combination of a very mild winter, above-average temperatures during March and the most recent bout of below-freezing temperatures have caused damage to some fruit crops.
"The amount of damage varies from orchard to orchard and from tree to tree," according to Jason Coopey, co-owner of Way Fruit Farm in Stormstown, Pennsylvania.
Coopey stated that thus far apricots and plums have sustained the most damage, but overall his orchards, which are on the tops of hills have fared better than some locations farther south and east and those located in valleys, where the cold air tends to settle.
"We expect significant losses, 90-100 percent of peaches and plums, now at full bloom," according to Chris Harner, of Harner Farms in State College, Pennsylvania.
"Apples are farther behind [in central Pennsylvania] but are entering sensitive stages where we can have damage or loss," Harner said.
Fruit trees in the blossoming stage, as opposed to budding, are very susceptible to damage with temperatures in the middle to upper 20s.

According to the Fruit Tree Production Guide, compiled by the Pennsylvania State University, a 90 percent kill of apples, cherries and peaches can occur with temperatures of about 25 F for 30 minutes. However, the damage at specific temperatures varies from variety to variety.
Additional waves of cold air will follow through the second weekend of April.
A warmup prior to the end of the week could do more harm than good. The brief warmup could push some trees on the verge to blossom and vines to bud break before cold returns.
"The prior warmth is what contributed to blossoming of some trees three to four weeks ahead of average," Coopey said.
There were some days in southern and eastern Pennsylvania, Virginia and New Jersey, where temperatures jumped into the 70s to near 80.

As of late March, the weather has remained chilly enough in much of the New York state Finger Lakes region to prevent or limit bud break of most varieties of grapes, according to Cornell University.

However, the cold blast in mid-February, which was surrounded by mild conditions much of the winter, caused significant damage to some non-native varieties of grapes in the Finger Lakes region. Low temperatures during the outbreak dipped to between minus 18 to minus 8 degrees Fahrenheit.
"As long as temperatures stay where they are projected, we should be okay," according to Timothy Merwarth, of Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard located in Dundee, New York.
Grape growers will utilize wind machines and bonfires where practical, as needed, during cold waves.
There is concern for damage from the cold to vineyards, similar to fruit trees, farther south in the mid-Atlantic region since bud break was further along farther south.
Another cold wave will invade the Midwest and Eastern states this weekend.
"Moderate cold with a little wind is okay and better than a heavy frost with very low temperatures," Coopey said.
The full scope of the damage may not be realized until the trees and vines are setting fruit later this spring.

http://kplu.org/post/northwest-scientists-hope-save-citrus-industry

Northwest Scientists Hope To Save The Citrus Industry

April 11, 2016

Orange, grapefruit, lemon and lime orchards are being wiped out across Florida from a plague called citrus greening disease. A team of scientists from Washington State University in Pullman is studying the bacterium that causes the condition. They hope to find a cure.

David Gang, a biological chemist at Washington State University, said the bacterium that causes greening disease is transmitted by a psyllid, a winged insect about half the size of a fruit fly, which spreads it from tree to tree.

When the bacteria get into a tree’s vascular system, it clogs it up, preventing the flow of nutrients.

“It eventually causes the roots to start to die. And then eventually the tree just dies,” said Gang.

According to Gang, Florida is in danger of losing its citrus industry.

“Yes, seriously. It’s very possible that in five years it will mostly be gone, if something isn’t done to fight it,” said Gang.

When a citrus tree is infected, the fruit on the branches stays green and never ripens, which is how the disease got its name. To figure out a cure, scientists need to be able to culture the bacterium.

This requires growing it in a petri dish and making it regenerate. This would allow scientists to study it and figure out what could make the bacterium die without killing a tree. So far, no one has been able to grow the bacterium in a lab. Gang and his team of researchers hopes to be the first.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is giving the Washington State University researchers more than $2 million to try and solve this puzzle.

In Florida, citrus greening disease has caused a 75 percent drop in citrus production since 2001.  

The disease has spread to Texas and California.

Many Austrian Fruit Farmers Face Total Crop Failure (May 4)

The cold snap of last week has led to massive damage in large parts of Styria. According to a preliminary estimation 80% of the fruit harvest has been destroyed and the damage is estimated at about 100 million Euro.

After the difficult weather conditions in 2014 and 2015 Agricultural Chamber president Franz Titschenbacher now fears another disappointing harvest this year. “It would be very sad if the fruit growers have to cope again with huge losses.”

Particularly the 2,000 apple farmers in Styria are affected, many have to deal with the expectation of a total crop failure. The first calculations show damage of the fruit crops (wine and pumpkins excluded) of about 100 million Euro.

The politician Johann Seitinger wants to check how much of the damage can be covered by the insurance. “It is really a gigantic disaster. You should imagine that more than 2,000 farmers and their families have lost their yearly income in one night. And you have to consider the economics behind it, on the one hand we have to convince the farmers to hang in there, and help and hope that the natural disasters will decrease. On the other hand we have to expand the insurance possibilities.”

Source

http://www.freshplaza.com/article/157439/Many-Austrian-fruit-farmer...

Hungary: Considerable hail damage to cucumbers and other crops

http://www.freshplaza.com/article/160018/Hungary-Considerable-hail-...

Hail has caused significant damage east of the Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the districts of Csenger and Fehérgyarmat, reported the president of the Hungarian Fruit and Vegetable Interprofessional Organisation and Product Board (FruitVeB), Ledó Ferenc, last Friday.

Mr Ferenc stated that around 280-300 hectares of cucumbers were almost completely destroyed. According to experts, 75 percent of the plantations may recover from the ravages of the ice, but a significant yield loss is expected.

The president of FruitVeB reminded 95 percent of the cucumbers intended for canning are supplied by small farms and family gardens and run by local authorities within the framework of the public works programs. Because of this, the hail damage could result in major social problems, given the expected loss of income.

The two districts have a total of about 4,000 hectares of orchards, of which about 2,800 hectares are devoted to apples, 500 to cherries and 300 to plums, among other crops. About 70 percent of the plantations have been affected by the hail. The extent of damage oscillates between 30 and 100 percent. In cases where the shoots and buds have been hit by the ice (about 20 percent of the plantations), next year's crop may have also been affected, stated Mr Ferenc.

http://www.nu.nl/ondernemen/4289992/conserventekort-verwacht-hagels...

(from Google Translate)

Interbranch FNLI therefore joins the previous call of farmers and local governments to the weather havoc to disaster proclaim.

Because of all the water on the fields in North Brabant and Limburg harvesting peas, green beans, carrots and other summer vegetables largely lost. Which actually had to be processed into long-life products in jar, canned and frozen.

Supermarket

'' This can not be compensated by supplies from abroad, because there is talk of significant water damage, quite apart from the fact that these vegetables abroad but are very limited, '' said FNLI director Philip den Ouden. '' It is very likely that there is a shortage on the supermarket shelves will result in typical Dutch vegetables and frozen vegetables. ''

Also, new crops of vegetables, such as green beans, can result in problems, because it is by the wet soil is now not possible to sow. It is not still see the industry as to what extent the cultivation of autumn crops such as cabbage, red cabbage and beetroot, has been damaged.

FNLI mentions the impact of severe weather such an exceptional and large that active government is necessary. The organization regrets therefore very pleased that Secretary Martijn van Dam of Economic Affairs sees no opportunities to provide structural support to the sector.

See also: Farmers in Brabant suffer 100 million damage by hail

 

http://spanishnewstoday.com/devastating-storms-hit-extremadura_7721...

Much of Spain was affected by a string of thunderstorms on Wednesday and Thursday, with thunder and lightning accompanied by sometimes heavy rain and hailstorms on an axis running from the south-west of the country through to central northern areas. 

Some of the worst of the weather was suffered in the region of Extremadura, where rain, hailstorms and hurricane-force winds destroyed crops over an area of 10,000 hectares in the Vegas Altas and La Serena areas. At the same time streets were flooded in the province of Badajoz (see image taken in the municipality of Villanueva de la Serena) in what the Mayor of Villanueva, Miguel Ángel Gallardo, described as "the perfect storm". 

Further north, meanwhile, in the province of Soria (Castilla y León), a freak "dry storm" resulted in 80% of the crops in Torlengua, in the Las Vicarías area, being destroyed. According to Mayor Matías Ágreda, the wind suddenly changed direction at approximately 20.20 on Wednesday and strengthened, bringing hailstones with it, and within five minutes thousands of kilos of wheat and barley had been flattened. This effectively ruins what had promised to be an exceptionally good harvest, and at the same time vegetable fields were also devastated. 

The stormy weather also made its presence felt in the small Ávila town of Narrillos del Álamo, where a bolt of lightning caused extensive damage to the belltower and the roof of the church of San Miguel in the village of Mercadillo. The Mayor and the parish priest are now assessing the damage prior to seeking aid in order to repair the damage.

Hail and wild weather leave damaged crops in both Spain and Argentina, last week.
Spain: Over 1,050 hectares of fruit crops damaged by hail in Lleida
Growers in Lleida were surprised last Tuesday night by a hailstorm that has affected more than 9,300 hectares of crops in Pla d'Urgell and La Noguera, according to data from the Council of Agriculture of Catalonia.

A Decade of Crop Loss from Hurricane Matthew in Haiti (Oct 14)

As Hurricane Matthew roared across southwestern Haiti, Joselien Jean-Baptiste huddled with his family while the wind whipped at his little house. When it was finally safe to venture outside at dawn the 60-year-old farmer realized his troubles had only just begun.

The storm knocked down part the house where he lives with his wife and six children outside of Les Cayes, leaving only a small section of corrugated metal still intact. But that was the least of his problems. The field he had worked for 25 years was a scene of violent upheaval. His rice was swamped with river water; the mango and breadfruit trees were split like matchsticks; his corn flattened or torn from the ground by fierce winds.

"It is going to take us a long, long time to get back on our feet," Jean-Baptiste said.

Haitian and international agricultural officials say it could be a decade or more before the southwestern peninsula recovers economically from Hurricane Matthew, which struck hard at the rugged region of more than 1 million people that is almost completely dependent on farming and fishing.

The Civil Protection agency said Friday that the death toll from Hurricane Matthew, which made landfall here on Oct. 4, had risen to 546, though it was likely to climb higher as reports continued to trickle in from remote areas. Likewise, the statistics about economic losses are still approximate, but appear to be catastrophic.

In the Grand-Anse region, nearly 100 percent of crops and 50 percent of livestock were destroyed, according to the World Food Program. On the outskirts of Les Cayes, where Jean-Baptiste lives, more than 90 percent of crops were lost and the fishing industry was "paralyzed" as material and equipment washed away, the organization said.

Re-planting vegetable crops can be done relatively quickly and rice fields begin to recover as floodwaters recede, but the loss of mature fruit trees that families nurtured for a generation is a staggering blow. "It will take at least 10 years for nature to do what it needs to do to grow the trees back," said Elancie Moise, an agronomist and senior agriculture ministry official in the south.

Grapefruit, fig and avocado trees were wiped out along with important root crops such as yams, which were inundated with water or damaged by the whipping wind, Moise said. Vetiver, a grass that is used to produce fragrances and is an important export for Haiti, appears to have sustained some root damage but may be one of the few crops to make it, he added.

There are widespread reports of rising prices in the outdoor markets that line the region's rural roads and of people struggling to find food. "Already there are some people, if you ask them what they ate for dinner last night, they won't be able to answer you," Moise said.

This is a region that only recently began recovering from a drought that had decreased crop production by half. Now, farmers like Jean-Baptiste are wading through the ankle-deep water in their rice fields desperately searching for stalks that may have survived and can still be sold. Many have nothing to salvage. Trees such as bread fruit and coconut palms can't even be sold for charcoal because the wood isn't suitable. People are also trying to save what fruit they can, but most wasn't yet ripe.

"It took a long time for these trees to get strong and now all my coffee has been lost. Our plantains and vegetables, everything is gone," said Rico Lifete, who works a small plot in the craggy mountains outside the coastal city of Jeremie and managed to save his dozen chickens by keeping them inside his stone-and-stucco shack with his family.

Haiti as a whole is largely deforested, with an estimated 2 percent of its original forest cover left because of decades of misuse of the land and the cutting of trees to make charcoal for cooking. But this western peninsula that juts out along the Caribbean Sea had been comparatively lush. It includes the cloud-shrouded mountains of Pic Macaya National Park, which was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 2016. Until Hurricane Matthew, the narrow roads along the coast were shaded by soaring rows of palms.

Now, it looks like the whole place has been put through a blender. The palms, those that haven't crashed through the roofs of houses and churches, look like they were given a bad haircut, crudely hacked away at the top. The breadfruit and mango trees behind the home of Oscar Corentin, in a village west of Les Cayes, were a tangle of fallen limbs and bare branches.

Corentin and his extended family inherited this piece of land from his mother, and the trees were there when he was born. Asked how old he is, the wiry, bare-chested farmer, who looks to be in his 60s, dismissively waves a machete, saying "I've lost count." His younger cousin says she is 64. The fruit sustained dozens of people, including his seven grandchildren and her 12. "I lost everything," he said. "Please show the world what is going on."

The effects are being felt not only by the farmers who rely on their marginal farmland to eke out a living, but also in the street markets far from the worst-hit districts. Farmers such as Celeo Marcelin have been combing through their remaining crops trying to find anything to salvage for sale, and not finding much. "There's nothing left," he said.

International aid groups say the widespread crop damage will require an influx of seed packs for replanting once the immediate needs of emergency water, food and medicine are met.

"We are aware that it will be more effective to distribute seeds to farmers timed with their next planting season, in early 2017, ideally with fertilizer or compost to help replenish the soil which has been flooded in saltwater," said Jean-Claude Fignole, a senior Oxfam official in Haiti.

A "flash appeal" for Haiti issued by the U.N. humanitarian agency in Geneva was not getting anywhere near the level of support officials are seeking, with only about 5 percent pledged so far of the $120 million requested. The lack of immediate help has caused frustration, with some people in the village where Jean-Baptiste lives just east of Les Cayes trying to force an aid truck to stop and clashing with peacekeepers on a recent afternoon.

"Everything is gone here," he said, "people are going to just leave."

Source

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/10/14/decade-crop-loss-from-hurri...

http://globalnews.ca/news/3006516/its-disheartening-quantity-qualit...

‘It’s disheartening’: Quantity, quality of crops in question as early snowfall blankets Alta. farms

Farmers who had been hoping for warmer weather got a huge disappointment last Friday as 10 cm of snow covered the area in and around the Capital Region.

Deryk Sanford is a third-generation farmer in Lavoy, Alta. who calls the snow “a significant blow.”

“When the snow hits and you take it down [to the ground] like this, you can imagine how much melting you have to do in order to get rid of that type of snow,” he said.

“If we were to get a good week of no precipitation, sunshine, warm weather, we have the opportunity to get out there and take the rest of the harvest. But it’s not looking good right now. We’re going to need to have at least two, maybe three weeks of dry weather.”

Sanford said the snow is making an already difficult year – due to rain and hail – even more difficult.

“It’s disheartening.”

“We really had our hopes up,” he said. “Now we have to be realistic with what’s been dealt to us.”

Deryk Sanford said his family farm has, historically, never left a single field out for the winter.

Sanford said he still has approximately one-third of his crops in the field and a delay in this year’s harvest will have ripple effects on next year and the years to come.

“The quantity we’re going to produce is still up in the air. If we were to not be able to harvest this year’s crop, it impacts our 2017 production right at the beginning of the season,” he said.

“We still have to deal with the crop that’s left out there. Even if the yield, the quantity and the quality is reduced, we still have to deal with all the straw.

“If we start up in May and we have to combine for the first couple of weeks, that’s going to push back our seeding, which could affect our next year’s crop quality. There’s only so much window to plant, to grow and to harvest your crop. There’s only so many changes we can make to deal with the ramifications of what we can’t do this year.”

Vegreville farmer Jacqueline Laniuk is also hurting from the snow. She still has 50 per cent of her crops to harvest.

Canola crops at Jacqueline Laniuk’s farm in Vegreville have been flattened by the snow.

“The density is what is so damaging to all of the crops,” she said.

“Would we still want to and be able to salvage what we can off of this? Absolutely. Will we be able to achieve the yields that we would have three, four days ago? No and very questionable to the quality as well.”

Laniuk said the ripple effect of the early snowfall should be concerning to all Albertans and is reaching out to all levels of government.

“We all need food to exist. It’s part of our food industry. It’s part of a supply and need that goes on. This will affect every part of the industry.”

http://globalnews.ca/news/2993108/bad-harvest-conditions-hurting-we...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/cold-weather-frozen-...

Rick Kantz of the B.C. Grain Producers Association says snow has forced farmers across the Peace region in northeastern B.C to leave anywhere between 10 to 20 per cent of their crop in the fields.

A record snowfall is forcing grain farmers in northeastern B.C. to halt their harvest.

On Oct. 1, Fort St. John received 23 centimetres of snow,  The old record for the day was six centimetres set in 1954.

"This is probably the most severe one-off weather condition that I can remember in the last 40 years," said Rick Kantz, president of the B.C. Grain Producers Association.

Kantz said harvest had already been difficult this year.

"[The fields] were extremely wet before the snows came … so instead of travelling across the surface, you're sinking in."

He said it's been raining and snowing since then, and the weather has forced grain farmers to leave anywhere between 10 to 20 per cent of their crops in the field.

"You're down 20 per cent of your income … you might have enough to cover expenses but it doesn't leave much for wages to carry on," he explained.

Potential price hike for consumers

Similar weather conditions have frustrated grain farmers across the prairies.

In Saskatchewan, the harvest is well behind schedule with much of the grain-belt pelted with double the rain it usually receives.

In southern Alberta, farmers are waiting for warmer Chinook winds to dry their crops so they can harvest, with one expert saying nearly a third of the province's crops need to be harvested.

Kantz said the low harvest this year could mean prices on goods from cereal to livestock feed could rise.

"There are some small increases happening already because this is happening already, right across Canada," he said.

B.C.'s Peace Region accounts for about 80 per cent of the province's field crop production, and its main crops are wheat, barley and canola.

Freezing Temperatures in Southern US Devastate Fruit Crops (Mar 23)

Last week's deep freeze in the Southeast appears to have nearly wiped out Georgia's blueberries and South Carolina's peaches. In South Carolina, 85 percent of the state's peach crop is gone while the small pink blooms remain on the trees, according to the South Carolina Department of Agriculture.

About 85 percent of the Edgefield County peach crop was wiped out by three straight nights of below-freezing temperatures last week, according to Sonny Yonce of Big Smile Peaches in Johnston.

Blueberries grown in the Midland and Upstate area of South Carolina also were hit hard, with losses expected to be about the same as peaches.

“It’s not looking good right now,” said Bob Hall of Bush N Vine Farm in York. There may be later-season varieties available in August, but he expects they’ll lose about 90 percent of their crop.

The first day of Spring is nothing to smile about at one Gaston County farm near Charlotte North Carolina. Ethan Lineberger and his workers surveyed the damage after last week’s freeze.

“It’s hard to get yourself in a good mental frame of mind when you take a loss this big this early in the season,” Lineberger said.

Lineberger said he lost half of his strawberries and his entire peach crop.

“We took a loss that’s bigger than the total amount I get paid in a year,” he said.

It’s pretty much the same story in Fort Mill. Springs Farm lost 80 percent of its peach crop.

“There’s a lot of work that goes into all this. To get it all take away in three nights is kind of depressing, but on the other hand you got to figure out what are we going to do to make up for this loss? What’s another crop we can raise,” they explained.

The destruction occurred Thursday night, when temperatures bottomed out in the 20s, breaking records:

• Savannah, Ga., tied its record low of 26 degrees
• Jacksonville FL set a record low, plunging to 28
• Florence, S.C., dropped to 20 degrees, shattering its previous record of 25
• Charleston dipped to a record low 24 degrees, four degrees below its previous record
• Gainesville, Fla. fell to 25, obliterating the previous record of 32

Sources

http://www.freshplaza.com/article/172657/Over-80-procent-loss-in-bl...

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/food-drink/article139682158...

http://www.fox46charlotte.com/news/local-news/242769914-story

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/03...

Record Crop Damage from Hail Continues to Escalate in Canada (Mar 28)

The Canadian Prairies suffered a record number of hail events in 2016, which means hail insurance claims are also at record levels, with more than $528.6 million paid out to western Canadian farmers.

Manitoba has set records for hail insurance claims two years running. The Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) received 3,747 payable hail claims in 2016 and has paid out $43.6 million. That topped the record 2,783 claims in 2015 that cost $31.1 million in payouts.

Alberta Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) paid out a total of just over $361 million for 6,022 claims for hail damage in 2016 under its straight hail and hail endorsement programs.

Meanwhile, Saskatchewan insurers had paid out in excess of $124 million for over 11,001 claims by October 2016, which is also up significantly from 2015.

Sources

https://www.grainews.ca/2017/03/28/managing-your-hail-damage/

https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/crops/record-hail-claims-payouts-...

http://www.freshplaza.com/article/174614/Italy-Bad-weather-causes-d...

Italy: Bad weather causes damage to crops in the south

"The consequences are not immediately recognisable, as a few days must pass. The growth of grafted peach trees has stopped due to the low temperatures and vines show signs of burning."

Stone fruit production has halved all over Italy and the producer reports good market price prospects. "We need to be careful, though, as it all depends on how things will evolve over the next few days. There is a lot of damage and, if the weather goes as forecast, we only have to hope that there will be no hailstorms."

The new peach orchards are all equipped with anti-hail nets. "Hailstorms are becoming more and more frequent and we cannot afford to lose quantity nor quality."


Bigarreau cherries.

The situation in Bari is instead ideal. "Luckily, the cold front did not affect us and cherry orchards were not compromised. Ripening is only slightly delayed due to the colder temperatures."

In Campania, orchards have been heavily damaged (Annurca apples and stone fruit) but it's still to early to make an estimate. "The situation is serious and must be monitored, but we will only know for sure in a few days' time."

The cold front caused a lot of damage in Caserta and Naples as well, where vegetable, potato and tomato crops have been compromised. 



Additional rain, storms and even snow are expected all over Italy starting from April 26th, brought around by an arctic front from central-western Europe. 

https://www.agweb.com/article/canada-snow-leaves-2-million-crop-acr...

Canada Snow Leaves 2 Million Crop Acres Stuck on Prairie Fields

We Lost the Western Kansas Wheat Crop This Weekend

http://www.agriculture.com/news/crops/we-lost-the-western-kansas-wh...

Blizzard conditions and heavy snow swept western Kansas, including 14 to 20 inches in Colby in the northwestern quadrant of the No. 1 winter wheat state in the nation

The snow and freezing weather struck a winter wheat crop that was developing faster than usual, thanks to a mild winter.

Spring blizzard buries hopes of many western Kansas wheat farmers

http://www.kansas.com/news/business/agriculture/article147969339.html

The freak late-spring blizzard over the weekend could prove disastrous for farmers in far western Kansas.

Gary Millershaski, who farms in Kearny County west of Garden City said his cattle were blasted by the wind and snow. He had about 40 calves and has lost at least 10, he said.

http://www.deltafarmpress.com/rice/2017-mid-south-rice-floods-sink-...

2017 Mid-South Rice: Floods sink crop

Approximately 100,000 planted acres of Arkansas rice have been lost to flooding, says Dr. Jarrod Hardke, the state's rice Extension agronomist. Powerful storms moved through Arkansas last weekend. The high winds and heavy rain were blamed for seven deaths and Gov. Asa Hutchinson declared a state of emergency. 

Some of the higher 24-hour rainfall totals reported by the National Weather Service included 10.59 inches at Rogers, 10.12 at Elm Springs, 9.1 inches at Farmington, and 8.5 inches at Savoy, 7.85 inches at Guy and 7.82 inches at Georgetown. 

"There is major flooding along Current and Little Black rivers in western Clay County and thousands of acres of rice and corn will be impacted," said Stewart Runsick, Extension staff chair for Clay County at Corning, Ark. "I am sure replanting will be necessary in many fields. We had the best stand of corn that I had seen in many years." 

In several counties, the rain and flooding eroded or destroyed levees, washing out rice fields. 

100,000 acres lost 

Approximately 100,000 planted acres of Arkansas rice have been lost to flooding, says Dr. Jarrod Hardke, the state's rice Extension agronomist. 

In his May 2 Arkansas Rice Update he says "the damage and losses will only increase beyond my estimate, not get lower." 

Arkansas farmers were off to an early, good start before the flooding, with nearly 90 percent of the crop planted.How long will submerged rice live? Hardke writes the answer is difficult because many factors are involved, including growth state, air and water temperatures, water depth and clarity. 

"As a general rule, the breaking point for young, submerged rice is about 10 days... If the water is not off in seven days, you need to start actively working to get water off someway, somehow if possible," he writes. 

Mother Nature had other plans 

Jeff Rutledge's Jackson County, Ark., rice farm is located where the surging Black and White rivers merge. In the May 2 USA Rice Daily he says, "As of now, the only way we can get to our farm shop is by boat. We are headed up in a plane later today to determine the scope of damage." 

"The excessive rainfall hit us hard and then the lack of drainage due to flooding rivers only compounds the problem," said Jennifer James, another rice farmer in Jackson County, Ark. 

"We were off to a really good start on this crop year and Mother Nature had other plans. In the end, it will likely be weeks before the extent of the damage and losses can accurately be determined." 

"At the moment, the best the rice industry can hope for is quickly receding waters, but the rain hasn't even stopped yet," said Ben Mosely, USA Rice vice president of government affairs. "Private crop insurance assistance, in the form of replanting or preventative planting coverage can't begin to be calculated until June 10 — the last day of potential planting." . 

County updates 

From the May 1 USDA Arkansas Crop Progress and Condition Report: 

"There was a small window that allowed for corn and rice planting to near completion this week. The early planted corn received sidedress nitrogen and sulfur. Producers are watching the Arkansas and Fourche rivers as they near flood stage, and more rain is forecasted. Livestock and farm machinery have been moved out of bottoms to higher ground." — Kevin Lawson, Perry County, Ark. 

"Hail damaged corn and soybeans earlier in the week. Now we are dealing with countywide flooding." - Branon Thiesse, Craighead County, Ark. 

"Fieldwork was limited to three days this week due to heavy rainfall. Corn and rice received herbicide applications for weed control. Some corn layby nitrogen was applied. Crops are beginning to show water stress in low areas." - Brent Griffin, Prairie County, Ark. 

"Greene County received 6 to 10 inches of rain in the last week. This halted planting and slowed emergence. Some fields will need spot planting or replanting. Cache and St. Francis rivers are rising and covering adjacent fields. We need a few days without rain, but more is forecasted." - Dave Freeze, Greene County, Ark. 

"Rain from 3 to 8 inches resulted in significant flooding of low lying areas, with many planted fields under several inches of standing water." - Richard Klerk, Woodruff County, Ark. 

http://www.thebigwobble.org/2017/06/natural-disaster-declared-in-pa...

Tuesday, 20 June 2017

Natural-disaster declared in parts of South Dakota as severe drought and late frost destroy nearly $ 20 million in crops and counting

The Hughes County Commission declared a natural-disaster drought emergency on Monday at their regular meeting, hoping it will unleash some federal and state funds to help farmers who have already lost wheat, hay and pasture-grass crops.
The county's farmers have reported $16.85 million worth of crop losses, with 90.7 percent of those losses coming from the winter-wheat crop alone, which was planted last fall, according to assessments given to the five-man commission by Brian Stewart.
Stewart is the director of the Farm Service Agency - the federal office that runs the farm program - in Hughes and Stanley Counties.
The remaining 9.32 percent of the estimated losses come from spring wheat, alfalfa and pasture-grass crops, according to figures Stewart gave the commission on Monday.
In his "loss assessment reports," which he will turn in with the commission's emergency declaration, Stewart said that 300 farmers in the county were hit hard by the hot, dry conditions, including receiving only 61 percent of normal precipitation from Jan. 1 to June 1.
"We know there are a lot of losses to winter wheat," Stewart told the commission. "Alfalfa got hurt bad and it's not all because of drought.
We also had frost in the last week of May.
That hurt, too. But the drought has really . . . exacerbated it out there."
Even with the good that last week's rains can do, "A lot of the crops were hurt bad enough where there won't be any helping them," Stewart said.
"And we don't have all the acreage reports in yet."
Stewart was preaching to the choir.
"From what I have seen out in the county, . . in areas down by "the pocket," (in the southeast corner of the county) . . . you can count every rock out in the pasture," said Commission Chairman Norm Weaver.
"That's the eastern side of Hughes County.
Then you go north there, and I don't remember seeing winter wheat where you were able to row it, almost at the Fourth of July," he said, referring to the sickly growth of the wheat not filling in even its narrow rows.
"It's tough out there," Weaver said.
The drought disaster declaration cites "inadequate winter snowfall, inadequate spring rainfall, desolating winds and late frost conditions," which led the commissioners to unanimously declare "that said drought conditions constitute a natural disaster of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of this county, and even the state of South Dakota, and that federal assistance is necessary. . .
" That's what the commission is hoping to do with their "whereases" and resolutions.
Their declaration can help "open up emergency loans," through U.S. Department of Agriculture's programs, especially ones aimed at helping ranchers who are short of grass and hay, Stewart said. "And in the bigger picture, once you (pass this resolution), I will forward it on to the Secretary (of Agriculture Sonny Perdue).
" That could lead to a disaster declaration for the state, Stewart said.
"What that can bring, I can't tell you for sure, because Congress with a stroke of the pen can change things . . . (but) there may be some disaster money out there," Stewart's assessment reports said that county farmers lost 3.32 million bushels of winter-wheat yield on 56,311 acres in the county, caused by the hot, dry conditions since March 1 and lasting season-long, as well as a late frost at the end of May.
The lost winter-wheat bushels were valued by Stewart at $4.60 per bushel, which means a $15.28 million loss in winter-wheat income to farmers in the county.
The spring-wheat crop hasn't done too well, either, Stewart said.
He got information from farmers on 4,642 acres that showed a projected loss of 176,396 bushels valued at $5 per bushel, for a total financial loss of $881,980.
The alfalfa on 3,712 acres in the county was hit first by a late, damaging frost from May 20-22, that did an estimated $211,584 of hurt - knocking off 2,227 tons of hay valued at $95 a ton, according to Stewart.
The same acres then were hit by drought starting March 1 that will have effects all season, knocking out another 4,083 tons of alfalfa hay, for a projected financial hit of $387,904.
Alfalfa producers typically cut two to four crops of hay per season.
Ranchers in the county also reported losses in value of $89,318 on 105,500 acres of pasture, according to Stewart.

http://www.news-sentinel.com/news/us-and-world/extreme-heat-decimat...

Extreme heat decimating crops in parts of Europe

Pavel Tordaj, 42, a farmer, shows corn damaged by drought as he stands inside his field of corn in Padina, Serbia, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017. Authorities and experts are warning that extremely hot and dry summer this year in the Balkans has decimated crops, dried rivers and hurt the animal world. 

 

80% of Hawaiian papaya farms gone

http://bigislandnow.com/2018/07/02/fissure-8-flow-affects-puna-papa...

Fissure 8 Flow Affects Puna Papaya Farms

July 2, 2018, 1:11 PM HST

VIDEO: The small plume from Fissure 22 is seen just to the left of Fissure 8’s large plume. Panning to the left, the ocean entry plume of laze and the flat area of Kapoho can be seen. June 30, 2018 at 6:21p.m. VC: Crystal Richard

After the “Future of Pāhoa” town hall meeting on June 30, 2018, Big Island Now was given the opportunity to travel to lower Puna with a state legislator and a papaya farmer to view fields and the impacts on the farm.

The hour-long ride to the farmer’s land traveled through one checkpoint and several gates on multiple properties to get. The roads have been cut off and this—the long way—was the only way in.

This video was taken from what used to be papaya fields, until lava flows came through about three weeks ago.

The farm was previously also growing banana, soursop, oranges, macnuts and more.

The papaya fields are now covered by lava and directly adjacent to a river of lava.

The owners of this property are still harvesting fruit but no longer live on the property.

Hawai‘i Island has so far lost 80% of its papaya farms.

Fissure 8 is erupting 26,000 gallons of lava per second. USGS said the channelized flow was moving at an average of 17 mph.

The eruption in the Lower East Rift Zone, now in week eight, and has been producing around 25,000 tons of sulfur dioxide per day

Trade-winds are blowing the emissions to the south.

In the last few days, six homes have been taken by the lava, in addition to last week’s official count of 657.

Lava covers 6,164 acres.

The Fissure 8 flow has stabilized but shows no indication of stopping anytime soon.

http://www.freshplaza.com/article/197769/Northern-Europe-dry2C-Sout...

Northern Europe dry, Southern Europe hit by hail

Temperatures well above 20 degrees Celsius are being recorded far into the topmost northern regions of Europe. These sunny days are, however, accompanied by a lack of rain and low humidity. There are concerns about drought in several countries in north-west Europe. Further to the south, farmers have no issues with this. In some cases, it is just the opposite. Severe hailstorms have damaged crops in various countries.

The European Union is worried about this year's harvests. This is according to June's JRC MARS Bulletin. This document contains the harvest forecasts for the season. In general, estimates have been adjusted downward. The map below shows the areas of concern. From these, the division in Europe immediately becomes obvious. The north is dealing with a drought while further to the south there has been too much precipitation.

Source: EC - JRC MARS Bulletin

UK: Warmth hastens soft fruit season
In Kent, UK, a cold spring was quickly followed by a hot summer. This has resulted in an erratic season. Raspberries are doing well at the moment. There are, however, fewer strawberries available. Traditionally, the demand for strawberries increases around the time Wimbledon is being played. Two weeks ago, this sector was struggling with an oversupply. This just goes to show how erratic the season is.

Crop failure increasingly evident around the globe this year. 

Price of potatoes to soar 900% in Belgium as drought and high temps... (Aug 10) 

EU worst fruit and veg crisis for 40 years due to erratic seasons a... (Aug 8)

Unprecedented drought in the Korea's kills 29 people, millions of l... (Aug 3)

"World weather issues" see rise in grain prices with lowest global ... (Aug 3)

"A threat to our livelihood": Record drought grips Germany's breadb...  (July 29)

"Perfect storm": UK farming crisis as areas suffer worst drought fo... (July 23)

Hail damage to croplands in South Dakota so immense it can be image... (Jun 27)

North Korea says it is suffering the worst drought in 100 years (Jun 26)

Erratic seasons and extreme weather devastating crops around the world (May 21)

70% crop losses due to extreme weather in Australia (Feb 5)

https://agfax.com/2018/09/18/north-carolina-crops-florence-hit-at-w...

North Carolina Crops: Florence Hit at Worst Possible Time, Pre-Harvest – DTN

Cotton damaged by Hurricane Harvey, 2017. Photo: Josh McGinty, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension

With rainfall totals in parts of North Carolina reaching as much as 36 inches since Thursday due to Hurricane Florence, a big chunk of rural North Carolina was largely marooned Monday with more than 1,000 roads closed in the state.  

Still, North Carolina Farm Bureau President Larry Wooten noted the sun was shining in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Monday afternoon and he expected recovery would begin soon.

“We’re seeing some blue skies, and that makes everybody’s spirits a little better and that old Flo (Florence) has gone on north somewhere,” Wooten said. “We don’t wish it on anybody, but we’re just glad it’s off the coast of North Carolina.”

The North Carolina Farm Bureau is also a major insurer in the state, and people with personal property and business damages were trying to call offices to file claims. But phone lines were down and travel remains nearly impossible in parts of the state because of flooded roads and bridges.

“We got over 1,000 roads closed in this state,” Wooten said. “We can’t even get out with our insurance company and adjust claims in those hardest-hit areas because offices are marooned.”

Reuters reported Monday there were more than 462,000 homes and businesses without power in North Carolina and South Carolina. Some cities, such as Wilmington, North Carolina, also were basically surrounded by rising flood waters, requiring authorities to look at providing aid supplies by air.

While it’s too early to make specific damage calculations, the storm hit North Carolina with nearly all of the state’s 420,000 acres of cottonand 100,000 acres of peanuts still in the field. The cotton damage is unknown, but peanuts may manage while still in the ground.

North Carolina also is the largest sweet potato-producing state, and at least half the crop is still in the ground. Whether the crop suffers major damage depends on how long those sweet potatoes remain under standing water.  

“If the water stands on them very long, they will probably sour and be no good,” Wooten said.

Corn farmers worked pretty feverishly to get as much of the crop out as they could before the storm hit, Wooten said. But about half of the state’s 163,000 acres of flue-cured tobacco was still in the fields, as well, he said.

“It’s suffice to say the storm could not have hit North Carolina agriculture at a worse time, and North Carolina agriculture will take the brunt of the hit in terms of losses and expenses from this storm,” Wooten said, adding that the best tobacco, for instance, was still in the fields. “It’s undetermined as of yet what in the field will be salvageable, and we grow 50% of all of the tobacco in the United States.”

Tobacco in the bulk-curing barns also likely suffered damages, especially for farmers who lost power and could not keep heated air moving through the flue boxes.

While the crops will take a hit, Wooten credited North Carolina poultry and livestock producers for preparing ahead of time for the hurricane. “I would say almost all of our hog and poultry operations have auxiliary generators to make sure they can keep feed going into those houses, water going in there, as well as keep air on those animals,” Wooten said.

Wooten advised farmers to document their losses for crop insurance agents and the local Farm Service Agency when offices reopen. President Donald Trump had issued disaster declarations for both North and South Carolina that will open up some federal USDA programs for farmers and livestock producers.

One concern Wooten said is how farmers will now apply for trade aid assistance under the USDA Market Facilitation Program created last month. Under the program, farmers have to report their actual production from the 2018 crop to receive aid. But that will not help farmers who may have been weeks away from harvest who now have suffered significant yield losses because of the storms.

“So there’s a question when you go into the FSA office whether the loss is from the tariff or from the hurricane, so for us, it’s going to be a little different,” Wooten said.

In addition, hog producers pumped down lagoons in anticipation of high volumes of rain. The North Carolina Pork Council reported Monday that there had been at least one hog-lagoon breach on a small operation, but an inspection showed the solids remained in the lagoon. At least four other lagoons were overtaken by flood waters. With more than 3,000 active lagoons, the pork council was concerned about the impact of flooding.

Wooten said he had not heard of any hog producers’ lagoons breaking, but there were also problems with city waste-water treatment facilities.

“But we have got municipal sewage that dumped millions of gallons of untreated sewage and nobody seems to say anything about that, but they want to jump on the hog industry in North Carolina,” he said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-12/gas-deliveries-r...

Mike Ammeter barely received a drop of rain on his Alberta farm all summer. Now, wet and snowy weather has kept him from harvesting his crops for five weeks.

“There’s a lot left to be done,” said Ammeter, 58, who hasn’t been able to harvest any of the 1,300 remaining acres of canola, wheat and barley that’s sitting under 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) of snow on his farm west of Red Deer, Alberta. “The wheat is going to be downgraded for quality. Those losses are already done.”

It’s unfortunate timing for Canada, one of the world’s top wheat suppliers and the biggest canola exporter. The U.S.-China trade war and production problems for Russia and Australia are creating an opening for Canada to grab more market share in the global crop trade. While the nation’s wheat exports are running ahead of last year so far, further harvest delays could impede some of those sales.

The global wheat issues drove December futures in Chicago up 7.3 percent this year to close at $5.1725 a bushel on Friday.

Still, investors are wary the gains may not last as Russia hasn’t curbed exports and Canada’s shipments have yet to significantly slow. Speculators held a net-short position, or the difference between bets on a price increase and wagers on a decline, of 16,885 futures and options in the week ended Oct. 9, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data published Friday.

Those bearish bets could end up squeezing hedge funds if weather problems continue. Canada’s harvest delays are now causing a backlog in exports as ships are sitting idle in Vancouver waiting for grain.

“Vessels arriving now were booked back in early August when no one would have guessed we’d be getting this kind of weather,” said Mark Hemmes, president of Edmonton, Alberta-based Quorum Corp., a company hired by the federal government to monitor Canada’s grain transportation system. “Not a good start to the shipping season.”

Rains May Force Some Replanting for U.S. Winter Wheat: FCStone

In Saskatchewan, the weather has slowed harvest across much of the region and stopped it altogether in northern areas, the province’s agriculture ministry said in an Oct. 10 report. Many crops are coming out of fields too damp and need to be placed in dryers, exacerbating delays.

It’s a similar situation in neighboring Alberta, where 47 percent of major crops have been harvested, trailing the five-year average of 82 percent, the province’s agriculture ministry said Friday in a report.

“It’s not unusual to have this kind of weather, but it is for it to last this long,” said Norm Hall, a farmer and vice president for the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.

Any wheat that’s left out in farmer Ammeter’s field will probably end up declining to a lower grade or be sold as feed after some plants were flattened by snow. Declines for crop quality could lower his revenue by thousands of dollars, while his costs could go up as he’ll have to spend more on fuel to dry the grain once it comes off the field, Ammeter said.

“It’s definitely a stressful time for farmers,” said Daryl Fransoo, who has yet to harvest 4,400 acres of canola on his farm 50 miles north of North Battleford, Saskatchewan. “There’s a lot of guys that are down in the dumps right now.”

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/potato-shortage-looms-due-to-harves...

Farmers across Canada left thousands of acres of potato crops unharvested after a slew of bad weather created challenging conditions, setting the stage for a possible shortage of the starchy dinner table staple.

"It's unprecedented. Never, never before have I seen this in my time," said Kevin MacIsaac, general manager of the United Potato Growers of Canada (UPGC), an organization that provides industry information to help farmers make production and marketing decisions. He's been with the organization for seven years and, before that, grew potatoes in Prince Edward Island, where he still lives.

In typical years, one area of the country may suffer from a bad harvest, while others do OK, he said, but this year, the problems span almost all the way across the country.

Potatoes are seen in Halifax on Monday, Nov. 28, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Farmers abandoned about 16,000 acres of potato crop, according to the group's most recent estimate, which did not include figures for Saskatchewan, Ontario or Nova Scotia, but indicated they also suffered some losses. B.C. is the only province that did not mention abandoned crops in UPGC's report.

The group expects to have more precise figures soon, MacIsaac said, but is working with the best information it has now.

P.E.I., the country's largest potato producer, suffered the most.

Farmers left about 6,800 acres unharvested. In a typical year, some 500 to 1,000 acres may be abandoned, said Greg Donald, general manager of the Prince Edward Island Potato Board, which represents the province's nearly 170 growers.

The weather this year in the province was relentless.

First came a lacklustre growing season, with a late spring and hot, dry summer, said Donald, which was followed by an early frost in September that killed any future growth potential.

Then came copious amounts of rain, which delayed the end of harvest beyond the usual Halloween target date, and farmers pushed into November.

In early November, it rained one day and the ground froze solid the next, he said, meaning farmers could no longer dig for potatoes.

"Many have described it as the harvest from hell," he said.

Unusual weather caused other provinces to suffer similar setbacks.

In Manitoba, some 5,200 acres remain unharvested, according to UPGC. While the province's prospects for a good yield were strong going into harvest, rainfall followed by a cold spell resulted in thousands of abandoned acres, said MacIsaac.

Most farmers will have some type of insurance to cover a portion of their costs associated with the lost income, but it won't cover the profit they would have made, he said.

The thousands of unharvested acres could mean a shortage of processing potatoes (those used to make products like french fries and hash browns) and table potatoes (those sold whole in grocery stores), both men said.

"It's going to be a real, you know, challenge," said Donald, adding there's not going to be enough local supply for the markets the province typically serves.

Compounding the problem is a similar situation in parts of the U.S., as well as parts of Europe where a dry season hurt yields, making for a more global shortfall.

While some growing areas in North America may have a shortage, others will have a surplus that can balance that out, said Terence Hochstein, executive director of the Potato Growers of Alberta.

His province abandoned about 1,000 acres, he said, which is more than he'd like, but pretty typical. It was able to send some potatoes to P.E.I. and Alberta to help, he said.

"Overall, I think the crop is going to be tight, but I think the industry will be alright."

Still, consumers could ultimately see price hikes on potato products due to basic supply and demand principles.

When there's less of a product, it's going to be reflected in the price, Donald said, adding even the potatoes that have been harvested are not quite safe yet.

Potatoes are mostly water and harvesting them in wet conditions adds the risk of bringing extra moisture into storage, making them more difficult to dry and keep, he said.

"So that's still a big concern as well."

At Least 1 Million Acres Of US Farmland Devastated By Floods (Mar 30) 

We have never seen anything like this before.

According to satellite data that was just released by Reuters, “at least 1 million acres of U.S. farmland” were covered by water for at least seven days this month. That is an agricultural disaster without equal in modern American history.

Farming communities all over the central part of the nation now look like war zones as a result of all this flooding. And with more flooding on the way for the next two months, this crisis is only going to get worse.

This is the time of year when farmers are gearing up to plant wheat, corn and soybeans, and now a substantial portion of our farmland will not be able to be used at all this year. According to Reuters, at least a million acres of farmland were covered by floodwaters for at least seven days this month, and that “will likely reduce corn, wheat and soy production this year”…

At least 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) of U.S. farmland were flooded after the “bomb cyclone” storm left wide swaths of nine major grain producing states under water this month, satellite data analyzed by Gro Intelligence for Reuters showed.

Farms from the Dakotas to Missouri and beyond have been under water for a week or more, possibly impeding planting and damaging soil. The floods, which came just weeks before planting season starts in the Midwest, will likely reduce corn, wheat and soy production this year.

And with “as many as a million calves” lost to the flooding, a lot less food than anticipated is going to be produced in the United States for the foreseeable future.

Between March 8th and March 21st, almost 1.1 million acres of cropland and over 84,000 acres of pastureland were covered by water for at least a week. With more rain on the way, it is essentially going to be impossible for most of those acres to be usable this year.

In Iowa, 474,271 acres were covered by floodwaters for at least seven days in March, and Iowa farmers are facing some very tough deadlines. Corn must be planted by May 31st and soybeans must be planted by June 15th in order to qualify for flood insurance. For most Iowa farms that were covered by floodwaters, that is going to be impossible.

Overall, the recent flooding caused “at least $3 billion” in economic damage according to authorities, but many believe that the final number will be far higher.

Thousands upon thousands of farms have been completely destroyed, and thousands upon thousands of farmers will not plant any crops at all this year.

In addition to the vast agricultural devastation that we have witnessed, thousands upon thousands of homes have been destroyed as well, and now the National Ground Water Association is warning that “the safety of more than a million private water wells” could be compromised…

Record flooding in the Midwest is now threatening the safety of more than a million private water wells. The National Ground Water Association estimates that people living in more than 300 counties across 10 states have their groundwater threatened from bacterial and industrial contamination carried by flood waters.

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning. According to the NOAA, we are entering an “unprecedented flood season” that could potentially “impact an even bigger area of cropland”…

Spring floods could yet impact an even bigger area of cropland. The U.S. government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has warned of what could be an “unprecedented flood season” as it forecasts heavy spring rains. Rivers may swell further as a deep snow pack in northern growing areas melts.

From the Central Plains to the Midwest, it has been a disastrous spring for river flooding. A weather system slated to bring more heavy rains Friday into Saturday could aggravate the situation along and near the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

It’s a one-two punch that combines additional rainwater with fresh runoff from snowmelt. Perhaps worst off is Nebraska, in the direct path of Friday’s quick burst of moisture. Barely a week has passed since Gov. Pete Ricketts estimated the cost of ongoing flooding in that state at more than $1 billion.

This is already the worst agricultural disaster in modern American history, and federal authorities are telling us that we should expect things to continue to get worse for at least two more months.

Source

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/midwest-apocalypse-acco...

Source

2019 is the year when the farming industry began to unravel as extreme weather and disease is hitting already stressed farmers around the world

Photo Wikipedia showing the Mozambique flooding 2019

2019, will be the year when the farming industry began to unravel as China, who produce half of the world's pork is set to drop by almost one-third because 200 million pigs are to be culled or die from being infected as African swine fever spreads through the country.
According to Rabobank, China’s pork production is seen at around 38 million tonnes in 2019 versus 54 million tonnes last year, Sherrard told Reuters, citing the company’s latest forecast.
That would be the lowest level in at least 20 years, according to the National Bureau of Statistics data, with repercussions across the global market for all animal proteins.
The decline would be nearly 30 per cent larger than annual output in the United States and equivalent to Europe’s yearly pork supply, Rabobank said.
The United States Department of Agriculture has forecast a smaller decline in China’s pork output this year, of around 10 per cent.

Credit myrichmblog.wordpress.com 2019 is now officially the worst agricultural disaster in modern American history with catastrophic flooding.
The US is experiencing unprecedented and catastrophic flooding with NOAA issuing a warning the flooding will continue through to the end of June.
With more than 90% of the upper midwest and great planes still covered by nearly 11 inches of snow and all that snow is beginning to melt.
That means the US will transform from one of the worst winters in modern history into a flood season that has already taken an apocalyptic turn for farmers across the US.
Millions of acres of farmland are already under water meaning thousands of farmers will not be able to plant crops this summer, with thousands of more farmers who have been financially ruined by the floods and will never return to farming again.

I Australia, after years of drought, 2019, has delivered the hottest January ever, the wettest February ever, the hottest start to Autumn in 30 years and the hottest March heatwave in 52 years hitting already struggling Aussie farmers hard.
Thousands of cattle were lost in the first three months of this year.

In the first 4 months of 2019, heatwaves in the southern hemisphere are killing wildlife ‘on a biblical scale’ from record-breaking heat.
Record heat in Australia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil with NASA and NOAA claiming the last 5 years have been the warmest since modern records began.
The intense heat in Uruguay that affected the country in 2019 did not affect only human beings, who persistently complained about the thermal sensations through social networks, chicken farmers, in particular, suffered the heat stroke in its economy when more than 100,000 chickens died by high temperatures in Montevideo,
Thousands of cattle died as temperatures hit 45 deg C, (110 deg F) early in 2019 in Argentina.
High temperatures, humidity and the suspicion of toxins in the food as a predisposing factor caused the death of thousands of cattle in at least four Santa Fe feedlots, Argentina at the beginning of  2019.

Iran's farmers have had farms destroyed by unprecedented floods which have killed more than 70 people, destroyed or damaged 100,000 homes and damaged one-third of the country's roads. thousands of cattle are thought to have been killed in the floods.

2019, South-East Africa.
It has been described as a 'disaster on a scale we have ever experienced'
The full scope of devastation across three African nations may not be known for months to come after the Cyclone Idai death toll approaches 1,000.
As well as the immediate threat caused by flooding, hunger and illness are growing concerns, with crops and wildlife destroyed and waterborne diseases likely to spread.

Copied from Sociological Changes blog

Comment by Juan F Martinez 9 hours ago

Food Crisis 2019: It’s Looking Bad, Bad, Bad at a Global Level

Oct 3, 2019  As shown in an article by CNBC, China’s hog herd may drop by 55% from fatal swine fever. Knowing that China is the #1 pork producer. That’s a pretty devastating news. To add fuel to the fire, the deadly African Swine Fever has currently been testified in 36 countries around the world, spreading all over Southeast Asia, through parts of Europe, and has been found in Africa too.

Unusually long-lasting and deadly monsoons in India are leading to widespread crop failures in the nation. India is one of the top exporters of onions globally, selling 2.2 billion kilograms overseas. After the prolonged monsoon rains, India has decided to ban its onion export. The extended monsoon has also damaged key kharif crops, including pulses, oilseeds and cotton, as well as soy beans in India. Since September 2019, food prices have soared by more than 200% in the country.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/officials-are-using-the-w...

Officials Are Using The Word “Disaster” To Describe The Widespread Crop Failures Happening All Over America

Intense Derecho Flattens 10 Million Acres of Iowa Farmland, 43% of Corn and Soybean Crop (Aug 11) 

A rare powerful storm system roared across the Midwest this week, killing at least two people and also causing widespread damage to millions of acres of crops in Iowa.

The "intense derecho" traveled from southeast South Dakota all the way to Ohio, a path of 770 miles in 14 hours. Winds of 112 miles per hour were recorded in Midway, near Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

When the system reached Des Moines, Iowa, wind gusts were clocked at more than 100 mph, flattening millions of acres of crops and destroying grain silos.

“This morning I had a farmer reach out to me to say this was the worst wind damage to crops and farm buildings that he has ever seen across the state in such a wide area,” Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds told reporters on Tuesday.

Reynolds said early estimates indicate 10 million acres (4 million hectares) have been damaged in the nation’s top corn-producing state and many grain bins were destroyed. That's nearly a third of the roughly 31 million acres (12.5 million hectares) of land farmed in the state sustained damage from the derecho.

According to data from the USDA, 23.4 million acres were seeded with corn and soybeans this spring.

By early estimates that would mean some 43 percent of Iowa’s 2020 corn and soybean crop has been damaged or destroyed by the violent storm system.

The most significant damage is to the corn crop, which is in the advanced stages of development, nearly a month away from the beginning of harvest.

In Jasper County, farmer Brian Rumbaugh said the storm flattened most of his 450 acres of corn, something he's never seen in his 50 years of farming.

“This is the worst one I've ever had,” he said. “We had tornadoes go through a while back, tornadoes 300-400 feet wide, (but) this was everything.”

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig said tens of millions of bushels worth of commercial grain storage and millions of bushels of on-farm grain storage has been damaged or destroyed.

Iowa officials reported roofs torn off homes and buildings, vehicles were blown off roads and hit by trees, and people hurt by flying debris. One death and dozens of injuries were reported in the state.

Hundreds of thousands of residents in Iowa's three largest cities remained without electricity on Wednesday, two days after the rare wind storm.

Sources

https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/derecho-iowa-crop-land-farmland-m...

https://www.thehour.com/news/article/Hundreds-of-thousands-without-...