Drought – Page 6 – Infinite Unknown

Drought Threatens U.S. Food Prices

July 1, 2012 by Infinite

– Drought threatens U.S. food prices (Washington Post, June 27, 2012):

A drought in the Corn Belt and elsewhere in the Midwest has pushed the bushel price of corn up about 27 percent in the past month alone, and there is little sign of rain in the near future, a forecast that could soon push up food costs across the country, meteorologists say.

Last week, 63 percent of the corn crop was rated in good or better condition, according to the Agriculture Department. This week, that figure had fallen to 56 percent.

Concerns arise as the crop approaches pollination, a particularly sensitive two-week period when bad weather can inflict significant damage.

Read moreDrought Threatens U.S. Food Prices

US Hit With Worst Drought In Years

April 14, 2012 by Infinite

– US hit with worst drought in years (RT, April 14, 2012):

Climatologists say a dry spell devastating almost all of America is starting to worry the weather community during what is one of the worst droughts in recent years.

The federal agency that investigates dry weather, the US Drought Monitor, says that more than half of the continental United States are experiencing “abnormally dry” conditions, which have so far proven to be the worst the country has experienced since 2007.

“Conditions are starting to worry us now,” Keith Eggleston, a climatologist with the Northeast Regional Climate Center in Ithaca, N.Y., tells USA Today. The paper reports Eggleston as adding that a continuation of the current dry spell in the Northeast US could pose a major risk to the region’s agriculture, and unfortunately the kind of weather isn’t isolated.

Read moreUS Hit With Worst Drought In Years

USDA Green-Lights Field Trials Of Monsanto Drought-Resistant Corn After Admitting It Offers Absolutely No Improvement In Crop Yields

March 21, 2012 by Infinite

– USDA green-lights field trials of Monsanto drought-resistant corn after admitting it performs no better than natural corn (Natural News, March 20, 2012):

The U.S. Department of Agriculture‘s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) does not even pretend to legitimately evaluate genetically-modified organisms (GMO) before approving them anymore, having recently green-lighted approval for a new variety of “drought-resistant” GM corn produced by Monsanto that admittedly grows no better under drought conditions than natural varieties do.

According to the Washington Post, APHIS fast-tracked the corn, known as MON87460, without ever conducting an appropriate environmental risk analysis on the crop’s efficacy, which includes determining whether or not the crop is even safe for humans or the environment. In fact, in accordance with the Obama Administration’s new hands-off approach to regulating GMOs, APHIS decided to actually approve MON87460 even after a cursory evaluation of the data exposed it as a complete failure.

Read moreUSDA Green-Lights Field Trials Of Monsanto Drought-Resistant Corn After Admitting It Offers Absolutely No Improvement In Crop Yields

Texas: Horses Left To Die In Worst Ever Drought (Video)

December 6, 2011 by Infinite

– Abandoned and starving to death: Hundreds of skeletal horses left to die after worst ever drought ravages crops in Texas (Daily Mail, Dec. 5, 2011):

* Horses being sold for as little as $50 at auction

These are the distressing images of horses left by the side of the road after a year-long drought meant their owners could no longer afford to feed them.

After a year without rain in Texas, coupled with rocketing temperatures, crops have been sparse and the price of a bale of hay has doubled.

The effect on the horse population has been devastating. The number of animals being abandoned is ten times greater than in previous years, according to Richard Fincher of Safe Haven Equine Rescue in Gilmer, in east Texas.

Mr Fincher said: ‘We get 20 to 40 calls a week that horses are alongside the road and left; nobody’s claimed them. Sheriffs are calling us all the time.’

Read moreTexas: Horses Left To Die In Worst Ever Drought (Video)

The Latest Target For Thieves As Prices Skyrocket: HAY! – Round Bales That Used To Sell For $20 Are Now Topping $175! (Video)

September 24, 2011 by Infinite

– Hay The Latest Target For Thieves As Prices Skyrocket (CBS Dallas/Fort Worth):

If the drought wasn’t enough for farmers and ranchers to struggle with, now they are facing a growing threat. Thieves are targeting pastures and barns for suddenly valuable hay bales.

It’s the nature of ranchers like James Lockridge to give you something if you need it badly enough. “Come up and ask us. Surely we can work something out.”

Mitch Waters runs a feed store that’s such a fixture, people drive 50 miles to shop there. “Got out of school in 77 and been here ever since.”

But now both men, are putting their livelihoods behind locks. Signs are posted, keep out. They know where all the area security cameras are, and are intent on protecting something that’s never been worth as much as it is right now. “Our convenient hay barn here, for just the drive up customers.”

Yes, hay, is the new target for thieves. Round bales that used to sell for $20 are now topping $175.

Read moreThe Latest Target For Thieves As Prices Skyrocket: HAY! – Round Bales That Used To Sell For $20 Are Now Topping $175! (Video)

This Has Been The Worst Year For Natural Disasters In US History

September 13, 2011September 13, 2011 by Infinite

– This Has Been The Worst Year For Natural Disasters In U.S. History (Economic Collapse, Sep. 9, 2011):

There has been a natural disaster that has caused at least a billion dollars of damage inside the United States every single month so far this year. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there have been 10 major disasters in the United States this year. On average, usually there are only about 3 major disasters a year. At this point, disasters are happening inside the United States so frequently that there seems to be no gap between them. We just seem to go from one major disaster to the next. Last year, FEMA declared an all-time record of 81 disasters inside the United States. This year, we are on pace for well over 100. We just got done dealing with Hurricane Irene, and now we are dealing with historic wildfires in Texas and unprecedented flooding up in the northeast part of the country. This has been the worst year for natural disasters in U.S. history, and we still have nearly four months left to go. Hopefully after everything that has happened this year it has become abundantly clear to all of us why we need to prepare for emergencies. The world is becoming an increasingly unstable place, and you never know what is going to happen next.

Read moreThis Has Been The Worst Year For Natural Disasters In US History

24 More Wildfires Erupt In Texas As It Faces Worst Dry Spell Since 1895

September 11, 2011 by Infinite

– More wildfires erupt in Texas as it faces worst dry spell since 1895 (CNN, September 11, 2011):

In a dry spell unseen since 1895, Texas added 24 new wildfires burning 1,154 acres to a disaster that has so far torched more than 1,000 homes, the state’s Forest Service said Saturday.

In all, Texas has experienced 179 fires over 170,686 acres the past week, the service said. The past 10 months have been the driest in Texas since 1895, Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said.

Read more24 More Wildfires Erupt In Texas As It Faces Worst Dry Spell Since 1895

Texas Drought Loss Estimated At $5.2 Billion

August 17, 2011 by Infinite

– Texas Drought Loss Estimated at $5.2 Billion (Bloomberg, Aug 17, 2011):

Agricultural losses from a drought in Texas have reached a record $5.2 billion and may worsen without more rain, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, a unit of Texas A&M University, said today in a report on its website.

The losses, which represent about 28 percent of the state’s average annual agricultural output in the past four years, exceed the previous record of $4.1 billion set during a drought in 2006, AgriLife said. October to July was the driest 10-month period on record. The estimated cost of the drought does not include the impact on vegetable production and nursery crops.

“This drought is ongoing,” David Anderson, an AgriLife livestock economist, said in the report. “Further losses will continue if rainfall does not come soon to establish this year’s winter-wheat crop and wheat grazing.”

Read moreTexas Drought Loss Estimated At $5.2 Billion

UN: Worst Drought In 60 Years Hits Horn Of Africa

June 29, 2011 by Infinite

– Worst drought in 60 years hitting Horn of Africa: U.N. (Reuters, June 28, 2011)

GENEVA (Reuters) – The worst drought in 60 years in the Horn of Africa has sparked a severe food crisis and high malnutrition rates, with parts of Kenya and Somalia experiencing pre-famine conditions, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

More than 10 million people are now affected in drought-stricken areas of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda and the situation is deteriorating, it said.

“Two consecutive poor rainy seasons have resulted in one of the driest years since 1950/51 in many pastoral zones,” Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told a media briefing.

“There is no likelihood of improvement (in the situation)until 2012,” she said.

Food prices have risen substantially in the region, pushing many moderately poor households over the edge, she said.

Read moreUN: Worst Drought In 60 Years Hits Horn Of Africa

UN Warns Of Food Riots In Developing World As Food Inflation Continuous To Skyrocket

May 29, 2011 by Infinite

European dry spell and commodities speculation combine to push up average cereal costs by 71% to record levels

The dry riverbed of the Loire near the Anjou-Bretagne bridge in Ancenis, western France. Photograph: Stephane Mahe/REUTERS

Food prices are expected to hit new highs in the coming weeks, tightening the squeeze on UK households and potentially triggering further unrest in developing countries unless there is heavy rainfall across drought-affected Europe, the United Nations has warned.

The average global price of cereals jumped by 71% to a new record in the year to April, more than three times higher than a decade ago, according to latest UN figures, prompting its Food and Agriculture Organisation to warn that Europe faces a pivotal few weeks.

With the dry spell forecast to continue for several weeks across Europe, Abdolreza Abbassian, senior grains economist at the FAO, said: “Europe is entering a very critical month. We can’t do without rain any more. If the current situation continues prices will respond very aggressively.”

“Our fear is that we still haven’t seen the worst of food inflation in vulnerable countries and that could be coming. One way or another, rising food prices bring hardship on their people and you can’t rule out the possibility of further food riots. A lot depends on the next few weeks and it’s impossible to predict how Mother Nature will behave,” Abbassian added.

China, Yangtze River: Worst Drought In 50 Years Forces Unprecedented 5 Billion Cubic Metres Of Water Release From Three Gorges Dam

May 26, 2011 by Infinite

Severe drought has forced China to release 5bn cubic metres from Three Gorges reservoir for irrigation and drinking water

The dried up Yangtze river in southwest China’s Chongqing municipality. The severe drought has forced a massive release of water from China’s Three Gorges reservoir for irrigation and drinking water. Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty

The Yangtze – Asia’s biggest river – is experiencing its worst drought in 50 years, forcing an unprecedented release of water from the Three Gorges reservoir. The drought is damaging crops, threatening wildlife and raising doubts about the viability of China’s massive water diversion ambitions.

Between now and 10 June the dam will release 5bn cubic metres of water – equivalent to the volume of Lake Windermere in Britain every day – as engineers sacrifice hydroelectric generation for irrigation, drinking supplies and ecosystem support.

The drastic measure comes amid warnings of power shortages and highlights the severity of the dry spell in the Yangtze delta, which supports 400 million people and 40% of China’s economic activity.

From January to April, the worst hit province of Hubei has had 40% less rainfall than the average over the same period since 1961. Shanghai, Jiangsu and Hunan are also severely affected.

Regional authorities have declared more than 1,300 lakes “dead”, which means they are out of use for irrigation and drinking supply. Shortages affect 4.4 million people and 3.2 million farm animals, according to the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

Texas: Worst Drought in 44 Years Damaging Wheat Crop, Reducing Cattle Herds

March 26, 2011 by Infinite

Wheat futures in Chicago are up 50 percent in the past year, after drought in Russia and floods in Australia hurt output and sent global food prices surging. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

Mar. 24 (Bloomberg) — The worst Texas drought in 44 years is damaging the state’s wheat crop and forcing ranchers to reduce cattle herds, as rising demand for U.S. food sends grain and meat prices higher.

Texas, the biggest U.S. cattle producer and second-largest winter-wheat grower, got just 4.7 inches (12 centimeters) of rain on average in the five months through February, the least for the period since 1967, State Climatologist John Nielsen- Gammon said. More than half the wheat fields and pastures were rated in poor or very poor condition on March 20.

Dry conditions extending to Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado may cut crop yields in the U.S., the world’s largest exporter, as too much moisture threatens fields in North Dakota and in Canada. Wheat futures in Chicago are up 50 percent in the past year, after drought in Russia and floods in Australia hurt output and sent global food prices surging. Wholesale beef reached a record this week, and the U.S. cattle herd in January was the smallest since 1958.

“We’re probably already seeing some damage, but in the next couple of weeks, we’ll surely go downhill major if we don’t get some rain,” said David Cleavinger, who is irrigating 75 percent of his 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of wheat in Wildorado, Texas. “With the prices we’re seeing, we’re trying to hold on, but there’s nothing that takes the place of a rainstorm.”

Wheat Jumps to Highest Since 2008 as Chinese Crop Faces Drought

February 10, 2011 by Infinite

– China intensifies drought-fighting efforts in wheat-growing regions (Xinhua):

BEIJING, Jan.27 (Xinhua) — China’s State Council, the nation’s cabinet, pledged Thursday to step up efforts to fight the prolonged drought in the country’s northern wheat-growing regions.

North China wheat-growing regions, including Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Anhui, Shanxi and Jiangsu provinces, have received little rainfall since October last year.

– Drought affecting more than 2 mln people in China (China TEFL Network):

BEIJING – About 2.2 million people in China are short of drinking water as severe droughts continue to plague winter wheat producing areas, said the nation ‘s drought relief authorities on Monday.

Photo taken on Jan 14, 2011 shows withered wheat seedlings in Bozhou, Anhui province suffers serious drought. [Photo/Xinhua]

Rainfall in Henan, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui and Shaanxi provinces has decreased 20 to 90 percent over the last four months from the same-period average, said Chen Lei, deputy director of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

Relentless droughts that started to dry out winter wheat producing areas such as Shandong and Henan provinces in November continue, affecting some 4 million hectares of cropland, said Chen.

China, the largest wheat producer, is facing severe drought in the main, winter-wheat growing region.

(Bloomberg) — Wheat rose to the highest in more than two years in Chicago as drought threatened crops in China, the world’s biggest grower, and as governments increased purchases to contain inflation and protests.

Wheat has surged 83 percent in Chicago and doubled in Paris in the past year as drought in Russia and floods in Canada and Australia hurt crops. Countries in the Middle East and North Africa are speeding up grain purchases after rising food prices contributed to riots and protests. Now China is facing severe drought in the main winter-wheat growing region.

“Wheat is at the center of issues for the market now,” said Han Sung Min, a broker at Korea Exchange Bank Futures Co. in Seoul. “China’s poor crop weather has fueled concern over tightening supplies after some countries in North Africa and the Middle East rushed to secure food.”

Drought brings Amazon tributary to lowest level in a century

October 28, 2010October 28, 2010 by Infinite

Interesting news, but global warming is a scam, no matter how those warmists try to sell it.

Meteorologists and activists divided on causes of drought with some pointing to climate change as a factor

A child plays with a paddle on the dried bed of the Rio Negro in northern Brazil. Photograph: Euzivaldo Queiroz/AFP/Getty Images

One of the most important tributaries of the Amazon river has fallen to its lowest level in over a century, following a fierce drought that has isolated tens of thousands of rainforest inhabitants and raised concerns about the possible impact of climate change on the region.

The drought currently affecting swaths of north and west Amazonia has been described as the one of the worst in the last 40 years, with the Rio Negro or Black river, which flows into the world-famous Rio Amazonas, reportedly hitting its lowest levels since records began in 1902 on Sunday.

In 24 hours the level of the Rio Negro near Manaus in Brazil dropped 6cm to 13.63 metres, a historic low.

The Solimoes and Amazonas rivers have also seen their waters plunge since early August, stranding village dwellers who rely on the Amazon’s waterways for transport and food and marooning wooden boats on brown sand banks.

According to local authorities nearly half of Amazonas state’s 62 municipalities have declared states of emergency, among them Manaquiri, one of the worst hit areas during the last major drought in the region in 2005. That year thousands of families were forced to abandon their homes and schools closed for lack of students.

Wheat Prices Soar On Russia Export Ban, Trade Halted

August 5, 2010August 5, 2010 by Infinite

– Russia: Worst drought in a decade, high temperatures damaged 32 percent of land under cultivation, grain prices may double

WINNIPEG Manitoba (Reuters) – Chicago wheat markets jumped 8 percent to near two-year highs on Thursday, twice triggering trading curbs to restore order before easing back after Russia said it would temporarily halt grain exports.

Russia’s worst drought on record has devastated crops in parts of the country and sent international grain prices soaring as markets placed bets that without shipments from one of the world’s leading exporters, global supplies would be restricted.

Wheat has risen seven of the past eight days at the Chicago Board of Trade and buying by funds and traders spilled across the grain markets. Corn and soybeans were 2 and 0.5 percent higher, respectively.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed an order banning grain and flour exports from August 15 to December 31, with a spokesman saying this would apply to contracts that had been already signed.

Niger: People eat leaves and lizards to survive, millions of people are facing starvation

June 27, 2010June 27, 2010 by Infinite

Aid organisations are warning that millions of people are facing starvation from drought and crop failure in the West African country of Niger, and some people are turning to desperate measures to survive.

Famine hit Niger in 1984 and 2005

If you look up “bo” on the internet, nothing that makes sense comes up. But we were looking at a bo, or rather looking for it.

We were walking along the bank of the Niger river, searching for the tracks of a hippopotamus that was ravaging the corn on Karim’s farm.

All of a sudden, a lizard about the size of a small crocodile hurtled out of the undergrowth and raced up a nearby baobab tree.

“It’s a bo,” everybody cried, racing to the foot of the enormous tree.

Now I had never seen a bo before, so I was interested out of pure curiosity.

The handful of villagers with us had other ideas, though. “The bo is delicious,” explained Karim. “It has the taste and texture of fish, and the inside of it is all white.

“You don’t see them very often. There are not that many about.”

Moustafa, Karim’s head man, was talking excitedly into his mobile phone. “He’s calling the kids from the village,” explained our host.

“He wants them to climb the tree and get the poor creature down.”

It was hardly surprising, I thought, that the bo was scarce. It is rotten luck to be a delicious animal in a land where people are hungry.

China: Severe Drought; Cloud-Seeding Across 77 Counties; Emergency Supplies of Drinking Water to 18 Million People; Rice Prices Spike 10% in One Month

March 31, 2010 by Infinite

Got food & water supplies?

– The Food Crisis of 2010: USDA vs Reality

The artificial rain through cloud-seeding is like poison.

Severe drought in Southwestern China is driving up food prices and heightening concerns about the availability of drinking water.

– Price of rice rises in south China (China Daily):

Huang Weijuan, a Guangzhou housewife, said she spent 55 yuan ($8) to buy a bag of rice in Taojin agricultural bazaar in the city’s Yuexiu district over the weekend.

“But the price for the same bag of rice, which weighs 20 kg, was about 50 yuan a month ago,” Huang said.

And the price of courgette, a vegetable which mainly grows in Yunnan province, is now selling at 5 yuan per kg in the bazaar, up 0.5 yuan from last month, Huang said.

“The price of many foods and vegetables have gone up in the past month and I worry that prices will keep increasing,” she said.

The government is rushing to help in order to alleviate the potential for social tension. In some of the hardest hit provinces, the government has been forced to provide emergency supplies of drinking water to 18 million people. They’ve also resorted to creating artificial rain through cloud-seeding. Over 3,200 artillery pieces bombarded the sky with chemicals across 77 counties, forcing moderate rain to fall.

“It was the first rain I have seen since last October, but it only lasted for about three hours from 3 am to 6 am this morning,” Bu Lupiao, a farmer of Bapiao village in Jinghong county, Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture.

Since October… That’s one heck of a drought. Yet the farmer above was lucky. In Chuxiong Yi prefecture, over 100 cloud seeding guns failed to create rain. Cloud seeding isn’t a long-term solution, thus the natural rain better come soon else there could be more pressure on living standards in drought-hit regions.

The great drought in East Africa; No rainfall for three years

October 3, 2009 by Infinite

Rotting carcasses testify to the scale of the disaster looming in East Africa.

No rainfall for three years has left the Kenyan landscape strewn with animal carcasses

On the plains of Marsabit the heat is so intense the bush seems to shiver. The leafless scrub, bleached white by the sun, looks like a forest of fake Christmas trees. Carcasses of cattle and camels are strewn about the burnt red dirt in every direction. Siridwa Baseli walks out of the haze along a path of the dead and dying. He passes a skeletal cow that has given up and collapsed under a thorn tree. A nomad from the Rendille people, he is driving his herd in search of water.

He marks time in seasons but knows that it has not rained for three years: “Since it is not raining there is no pasture,” he says. Only 40 of his herd of sheep and goats that once numbered 200 have survived. Those that remain are dying at a rate of 10 every day.

Already a herder before Kenya’s independence he has never seen a drought like this.

“If I was young I would go to look for cash work. I am old. I may just die with my animals.”

Across East Africa an extraordinary drought is drying up rivers, and grasslands, scorching crops and threatening millions of people with starvation. In Kenya, the biggest and most robust economy in the region, the rivers that feed its great game reserves have run dry and since the country relies on hydropower, electricity is now rationed in the cities.

And yet, it is in the semi-desert on the southern fringe of the Sahel zone where the most dramatic changes are being felt. Droughts are nothing new here and the nomadic way of life where herders follow patchy rains across the seasons developed centuries ago as a response to precarious natural resources. The herds of cattle, sheep, goats and camels – which are venerated by the nomads – were built up in the good years to pad the margins of life when the rains failed. But this way of life is being overwhelmed, even the camels are dying of thirst.

India: Water Wars Break Out

July 13, 2009 by Infinite

The monsoon is late, the wells are running dry and in the teeming city of Bhopal, water supply is now a deadly issue.

drought-india
A young man walks across Bhopal’s Upper Lake, which has shrunk to an eighth of its original area. Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty Images

It was a little after 8pm when the water started flowing through the pipe running beneath the dirt streets of Bhopal’s Sanjay Nagar slum. After days without a drop of water, the Malviya family were the first to reach the hole they had drilled in the pipe, filling what containers they had as quickly as they could. Within minutes, three of them were dead, hacked to death by angry neighbours who accused them of stealing water.

In Bhopal, and across much of northern India, a late monsoon and the driest June for 83 years are exacerbating the effects of a widespread drought and setting neighbour against neighbour in a desperate fight for survival.

India’s vast farming economy is on the verge of crisis. The lack of rain has hit northern areas most, but even in Mumbai, which has experienced heavy rainfall and flooding, authorities were forced to cut the water supply by 30% last week as levels in the lakes serving the city ran perilously low.

Across the country, from Gujarat to Hyderabad, in Andhra Pradesh, the state that claims to be “the rice bowl of India”, special prayers have been held for more rain after cumulative monsoon season figures fell 43% below average.

On Friday, India’s agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, said the country was facing a drought-like situation that was a “matter for concern”, with serious problems developing in states such as Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

In Bhopal, which bills itself as the City of Lakes, patience is already at breaking point. The largest lake, the 1,000-year-old, man-made Upper Lake, had reduced in size from 38 sq km to 5 sq km by the start of last week.

The population of 1.8 million has been rationed to 30 minutes of water supply every other day since October. That became one day in three as the monsoon failed to materialise. In nearby Indore the ration is half an hour’s supply every seven days.

Drought So Bad in Central California Even the Haircut Business is Hurting

May 6, 2009 by Infinite

A feeder canal sits empty off the Delta Mendota Canal after the Federal Bureau of Reclamation instituted a “zero allocation” policy for irrigation water to farmers in Mendota, California, as seen on April 14, 2009. Photographer: Phil Hawkins/Bloomberg News

May 6 (Bloomberg) — The drought in California’s Central Valley is so severe that it’s drying up money for haircuts.

One customer waited six months to get a $10 haircut, then asked to have his head shaved so he could wait another six months, said Armando Ramirez, a barber in Firebaugh.

“People come in and say, ‘Hey Armando, how about I give you a dollar for a cut, it’s all I have,'” said Ramirez, 63, who has owned his shop for four decades. “Saturday is supposed to be my busiest day, but I’m lucky if I get one customer before I go to lunch.”

Businesses are casualties of the three-year drought that is forcing farmers to leave hundreds of thousands of acres fallow in the Central Valley, the semi-arid agricultural region running 400 miles (600 kilometers) down the middle of the state. The drought may cost the valley 35,000 jobs and $959 million in lost revenue this year, said Richard Howitt, chairman of agricultural and resource economics at the University of California, Davis.

“I’ve never seen a drought this bad,” said Bob Diedrich, who has been farming near Firebaugh, 140 miles southeast of San Francisco, since 1973. “It’s putting a chokehold on us.”

Schwarzenegger declares California drought state of emergency

February 28, 2009 by Infinite

Federal water managers plan to temporarily cut off water this March to thousands of California farms. The state has said it probably would deliver just 15 percent of the water contractors have requested this year.

The state delivers water to more than 25 million Californians and more than 750,000 acres of farmland.

“It’s too late,” he said. “It’s going to sound horrible coming from a farmer because you never turn down help, but come on, this thing is over with.”

Layers of sun-baked earth are exposed in an area of the San Luis Reservoir near Gustine that was previously underwater but was dried out in January because of drought conditions. (Patrick Tehan / Mercury News)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Friday because of three years of below-average rain and snowfall in California, a step that urges urban water agencies to reduce water use by 20 percent.

“This drought is having a devastating impact on our people, our communities, our economy and our environment, making today’s action absolutely necessary,” the Republican governor said in his statement.

Mandatory rationing is an option if the declaration and other measures are insufficient.

The drought has forced farmers to fallow their fields, put thousands of agricultural workers out of work and led to conservation measures in cities throughout the state, which is the nation’s top agricultural producer.

Agriculture losses could reach $2.8 billion this year and cost 95,000 jobs, said Lester Snow, the state water director.

Drought to cut off federal water to California farms

February 20, 2009 by Infinite

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Federal water managers said Friday that they plan to cut off water, at least temporarily, to thousands of California farms as a result of the deepening drought gripping the state.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials said parched reservoirs and patchy rainfall this year were forcing them to completely stop surface water deliveries for at least a three-week period beginning March 1. Authorities said they haven’t had to take such a drastic move for more than 15 years.

Catastrophic Fall in 2009 Global Food Production

February 15, 2009 by Infinite

“Global food Catastrophe”

“The world is heading for a drop in agricultural production of 20 to 40 percent, depending on the severity and length of the current global droughts. Food producing nations are imposing food export restrictions. Food prices will soar, and, in poor countries with food deficits, millions will starve.”

This article is a must-read.

After reading about the droughts in two major agricultural countries, China and Argentina, I decided to research the extent other food producing nations were also experiencing droughts. This project ended up taking a lot longer than I thought. 2009 looks to be a humanitarian disaster around much of the world

To understand the depth of the food Catastrophe that faces the world this year, consider the graphic below depicting countries by USD value of their agricultural output, as of 2006.

Now, consider the same graphic with the countries experiencing droughts highlighted.

The countries that make up two thirds of the world’s agricultural output are experiencing drought conditions. Whether you watch a video of the drought in China, Australia, Africa, South America, or the US, the scene will be the same: misery, ruined crop, and dying cattle.

China

The drought in Northern China, the worst in 50 years, is worsening, and summer harvest is now threatened. The area of affected crops has expanded to 161 million mu (was 141 million last week), and 4.37 million people and 2.1 million livestock are facing drinking water shortage. The scarcity of rain in some parts of the north and central provinces is the worst in recorded history.

California faces grimmest water situation ever

February 5, 2009 by Infinite

Drought causes the state’s agriculture industry to disappear while residents continue to consume water at high levels

Sprinklers water wheat crops in Bakersfield, California. The state is facing a severe water crisis. Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images

Bill Diedrich, a fourth-generation almond grower in California’s Central Valley, expects that many of his trees won’t make it through the year. “It’s one of the grimmest water situations we’ve ever faced,” he said. “It’s an absolute emergency and anything to get water flowing quickly is needed.”

The 400-mile Central Valley is many things: the world’s largest agricultural area; the “salad bowl”, where half of the country’s vegetables are grown. But this year, with water shortages of a severity not seen for decades, many farmers and others are echoing the recent words of energy secretary Steven Chu: if current weather patterns continue, Californian agriculture could disappear.

John “Dusty” Giacone, another fourth-generation Central Valley farmer, was forced to abandon his vegetable crop and divert his scarce water to save his 4,000 hectares of almond trees.

Related article: Obama’s energy secretary outlines dire climate change scenario (Guardian)

“Taking water from a farmer is like taking a pipe from a plumber,” Giacone told the Associated Press. “How do you conduct business?”

But many farmers are choosing the opposite course, abandoning their almond trees for a season in the hope that the good times, and a wetter than normal spring, might return. In the meantime, the trees are being left to die, or maintained just enough to survive.

The decline in the number of almond trees has led to an unintended consequence: a glut of bee colonies. Bees are used to pollinate almond trees, and beekeepers now face the prospect of an economic collapse as the almond market withers away.