USDA figures

[Dace]

I know a farmer who had to cut down 1/3 of his producing trees to avoid first being fined by the water dept and second being CUT OFF. Yes, permanently cut off of water if he went over his allotment.


Hey Wifey....what do you do for a living? Research of some sort? you are the go to girl when someone needs info!!

 

[Wifezilla]

Actually I am a graphic designer! LOL Must be all those years of working with newspapers and being married to a writer. I have a bit of an investigative reporter streak in me.

As for these stories vs reports....you have to remember I have spent the last 2-3 researching diet and nutrition. There is so much wrong in that field it will make your head "asplode" and most of that comes from the government. I just can't trust ANY gvmnt information anymore*. I am naturally a skeptical person but after my research on diet recommendations I am FAR BEYOND skeptical now. I would not doubt one bit that crop data could be skewed, manipulated or outright falsified.

I was stocking up anyway due to my economic concerns, but this just reinforces my plans.

*This statement should not be construed as a political attack. No parties have been singled out and I hold both equally responsible for bad information. No animals were harmed in the creation of this post though I did have to kick one of the cats out of my chair to type this.

 

[me&thegals]

Oh, brother. It's hard to post about life without it at some point including politics or the gov't. Can we copy and paste your disclaimer for our own use?

 

[Wifezilla]

Yes please do! :lol

 

[On Our own]

Hey WZ! Thank you for doing all that research! It is pretty much what I was finding too, and I am still confused.

Anecdotal evidence, farmers saying that the crops are awful.

Then stories that the tonnages are too high to be profitable?

Huh?


What part am I missing? Were the new areas they talked about able to produce so much more tonnage that they made up completely for all of those states with weather disasters???

I try to keep stocked, but with DH losing his job I am facing already tapping into my reserves sooner than I wanted to. We will get a lump sum pay out in February or March and I want to use it to stock up! DH wants to buy stocks....

If I can get good numbers on this I could make a better argument.

 

[Wifezilla]

DH wants to buy stocks

That should be sufficient grounds to have him declared mentally incompetent. Then you can take control of the accounts and stock up

 

[Ldychef2k]

With regard to the water crisis in the San Joaquin Valley of California: The water stopped flowing to 500,000 acres of prime farmland a couple of years ago for a couple of reasons.

First, a local water district, in association with the Central Valley Water Project, which together control nearly all of the water distribution and transfer in the region, chose to sell 98% of their water to Los Angeles for $22 million dollars. This was made possible beginning in 1992 by a federal law which allowed the water to be transferred. The west side of the valley began an economic spiral which today puts them at greater than 40% unemployment, and leaves the above half million acres of land fallow.

Second, what little water that was allowed into the west side was completely shut off when environmentalists sued the state of California because a three inch endangered minnow was being put in danger by the gates that released the water to the farmers.

A temporary arrangement has been made at this point, allowing a minimal percentage of water to be released, for humanitarian reasons, not for crops. Our farmers are still suffering from a man made drought.

Our local representative, Devin Nunes, has repeatedly presented legislation to the House in an attempt to turn the water pumps back on, only to be opposed by representatives from Los Angeles, and unfortunately one or two local representatives as well...who are receiving BIG MONEY for their votes...and who are retiring.

See documentation here: http://nunes.house.gov/index.cfm?Fu...Issue_id=350eb49e-b0d0-fc95-f8bb-37ee86400e38

The bottom line is, farmers are out of business, farm workers are starving, and the richest agricultural region in the WORLD has been basically shut down.

 

[On Our own]

So then it still doesn't explain the USDA numbers!!!!

 

[k0xxx]

It doesn't explain the USDA numbers, but it is something to think about, at least as far as rising prices.

as much as 100 million bushels of the 2009 corn crop to be lost

 

[Wifezilla]

There is so much that doesn't make sense now.

"USDAs barrage of reports on January 12 contained many surprises, particularly with increased yield and acreage, with higher total production numbers for both corn and soybeans. But USDA says it is not satisfied with its estimates of states with crops still in the field, and it may use the March 10 crop report to issue revisions of the 2009 Final Report. Another surprise was the low number of acres planted to wheat, which was the least in 97 years. Grain stocks were all at healthy levels, but corn stocks could disappear at a rapid pace because of the lower starch values in many of the Cornbelt states."
http://www.agnetwork.com/USDA-s-Fin...le.aspx?oid=974951&fid=AN-LATEST_NEWS&aid=760
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9543190

So March 2010 is when we are supposed to REALLY know what we got from 2009??