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Corn and Soybeans Hit Record High Prices As Drought Worsens

Corn prices hit an all-time high and soybean prices hit a record high as well amid hightened concern over the impact of drought in the United States.  Over 61% of the United States is in moderate to severe drought and over 70% of the corn and soybean crops are currently affected by the drought.

If you are not already prepared to deal with a food shortage, this is a good reminder of the reality that we do depend on agircultural products.  The ready availability of such products is not guaranteed.  Most of us have not experienced a severe food shortage in our lifetime.  The problem is that many of us also don't really believe in the reality of something unless we have already experienced it.  It is possible to go hungry even in America (remember Katrina).  Don't doubt that reality.  Simply be prepared for it.

Every Life Secure... Is Yours?^TM -- Over 500,000 Lives Secured and counting.

 

61% of Continental United States Now In Moderate to Severe Drought

The drought story is just getting worse and there is no significant weather relief predicted.  61% of the continental United States is now considered by the Drought Monitor to be in moderate to exceptional drought.  This is the most since 1956 when 58% of the country was hit by drought.  So in terms of the breadth of drought impact, this is the worst in 56 years.

Here are so quotes that put some detail on this developing disaster:

From the Associated Press:

Topsoil has turned dry while "crops, pastures and rangeland have deteriorated at a rate rarely seen in the last 18 years," (National Climatic Data Center)

Around a third of the nation's corn crop has been hurt, with some of it so badly damaged that farmers have already cut down their withered plants to feed to cattle. As of Sunday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, 38 percent of the corn crop was in poor or very poor condition, compared with 30 percent a week earlier.

From Reuters:

"We're moving from a crisis to a horror story," said Purdue University
agronomist Tony Vyn. "I see an increasing number of fields that will produce
zero grain."

"They're moving corn from good-and-excellent condition to poor-to-very poor
in one week, which skips fair condition. What they're saying is it's a lot worse
than they thought," said farmer Larry Winger, who farms along the
Illinois-Indiana border 30 miles south of Purdue, commenting on the USDA
report.

"Corn and soybeans in the U.S. Midwest baked in an unrelenting heat wave on
Monday with fears rising of big crop losses that will boost food and fuel prices
and cut exports and aid from the world's top shipper of the key crops."

What is the message?

The message is the same as we always share in this blog: be prepared for any emergency or disaster.  These things happen and we all need to take steps to prepare for them.  Prudent food and water storage is one of the steps that we can all take.

Every Life Secure... Is Yours?^TM -- Over 500,000 Lives Secured and counting.

Hurricanes and Other Disasters - Shop Before, Not After

If you are new to the hurricane game, here is a bit of advice from sad experience... "Shop before, not after."  People are probably a lot smarter today than my family was 40 years ago (a lot more media today), but it's worth passing along some wisdom for those who may not have experienced a hurricane (or other natural disaster) before.

While living in the Philippines in 1970, we experienced Typhoon Yoling.  A typhoon is the Asian version of a hurricane.  With winds at 130 MPH plus it was a harrowing experience.  This was our very first experience with such a storm.  We really did not know what we were doing.

We survived the storm and immediately hopped in the car to go to the grocery store.  Somehow we dodged downed trees and roof tops ripped from houses and strewn on the ground and actually arrived at the local grocery store.  The store was lit only by candles placed strategically on certain shelves and at the checkouts.  They may as well not have bothered with the candles because there was nothing left to buy.  The shelves were totally empty except for, as I remember it, a bottle of pickled pigs feet (literally).

I will never forget the site of a full size grocery store empty but for a few orphan items that no one considered particulary helpful after a monster storm. As I recall we bought nothing because there was nothing to buy - we missed the boat. We lived for the next two weeks mostly on the rice we had stored, whatever canned goods were in our pantry, and what we could rapidly eat up from our refrigerator and freezer.  This was a true survival experience.  It was around Thanksgiving time and so we cooked our turkey on a barbecue grill.  It was that or have it go bad as there was no electricity or running water for two weeks.

I'm sure that today everyone would understand that job one, well before landfall of a hurricane, is to stock up with needed groceries and supplies.  This is a lesson I will not need reinforced.  I will forever have the image of a single candle burning next to a single bottle of pickled pigs feet etched in my mind.

The time for preparation is "before the storm".  As applied to any potential disaster, shop before, not after.  Since many disasters do not give the lead-time that is often a luxury with a slowly approaching hurricane, there won't be time to get ahead of the disaster.  An earthquake, for example, will usually hit without warning.  The time to prepare and "shop" is right now perhaps days, weeks, months, or years before the need arises.  Now is the time to get your emergency kit and emergency supplies and then keep them up to date so you don't find yourself trying to shop empty shelves after he fact.

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Food and Water STORAGE or Food and Water SHORTAGE? The Choice is Yours BEFORE a Disaster, Not AFTER

With continued food and water shortages in Japan due to the earthquake, tsunami, and radiation leaks, we are reminded once again of the need for emergency food and water storage.  My first typhoon taught me that after a disaster, the store shelves will be bare.  He who waits until AFTER the disaster to stock up on food and water will compete with the whole world in a panic.

The simple reality is...If you are hit by disaster and do not have a family STORAGE of food and water, you will experience a family SHORTAGE of food and water.  No amount of money will buy you what simply is not available due to lack of supply or inability to deliver to your neighborhood.

So now is a good time to reconsider if you have an adequate supply of food and water to last you for at least 3 days and ideally for much longer.  Adjust what you store to the amount of space you have and to your budget.  Most of us can easily store at least three days of water (a gallon of water per person per day as encouraged by FEMA) and food.

It is a choice... STORAGE or SHORTAGE.  You will decide by your action or inaction BEFORE a disaster, but not AFTER.

Every Life Secure

Why Store Food and Water? Tainted Food and Water in Japan Answer This Question Once Again

Why store food and water? The easy answer is that one cannot be sure of an uninterrupted safe supply of either. Many went thirsty and hungry for the first several days after the catastrophic Japanese earthquake and tsunami. There are still lines outside of grocery stores in some areas. Now, the first signs of contaminated food and water from nuclear fallout are being detected.

I have written about how I learned first hand as a young boy that a disaster can leave you with only what you have on hand at home. It wasn't fun living for two weeks off of what we had in the house (rice and some canned goods) and water gathered in buckets from a local pump house. Most people don't naturally have on-hand more than a few days or perhaps a week's worth of food. In an emergency you might be able to stretch this to two weeks as my family did. However, you start to run short on basics pretty quickly.

It is wise to have both food and water stored in your home. While some people store enough for up to a year, even a few week's supply can make a significant difference in a disaster. With even a small food supply you may have enough to meet your own family's needs and to share with others who may not be as well prepared.

Everyone is capable of keeping some extra food and water. If you store items you naturally eat and rotate through them, you won't have to worry about anything getting old.

Like having a first aid kit, and an emergency preparedness kit, storing some extra food and water is just part of living prudently in today's unsure world.

Every Life Secure