Journal zogger's Journal: Seeking anecdotal ag production input 9
I'm trying to get a handle on the happy face production numbers from the government while we have a plethora of officially declared agricultural disaster areas all across the nation. I have a wide geographical range of friends and readers here, so I would appreciate just a general ball park over view of what you might know about this year's crop from your local area, just in general terms. I realize most of you aren't farmers, but might be aware of what the local scene is from local news reports and hearing either brags or complaints about local production, no matter the predominant type of local production. Trying to get a really broad over view on this.
I was thinking a little about this before, and here is an article where the writer addresses it and thinks it is a looming food supply disaster and there are "tricks" being used to make it seem better than what it really is.
Now all I really know about is what I see in my area, which has been lack of haying in the fall and a lot of flooded destroyed corn fields, etc. My personal production as it is is down 50% this year, and what is saving us is we had stockpiled additional hay previously. But I can see my supply going fast, too, back to back drought years followed by floods has really cut into my surplus stored hay. I have enough for this year, but another year of reduced yields and rank pastures will involve making some serious decisions on what we can support or not, etc. I am also concerned over the next several years output because of the obvious soil surface stripping of tilth due to excessive rains and runoff. I can *see* it got damaged. I am seeing a lot of naked clay soil that used to have at least a modicum of nice organic matter/tilth cover, and I can see the now lower grass production because of it. Much worse than last winter. Now we can compensate,(as soon as it gets dry enough to actually work the fields and not get stuck) because we have massive truck loads of chicken litter available plus a spiffy new spreader truck, but this isn't the case with a lot of farmers, even if they could afford to buy it.
There is a limited x-supply nationally, and if you haven't been following it, the chicken industry as a whole has dropped a lot of production and closed a lot of plants and farms, or dropped fast flock turn-arounds for a bigger no production time interval to keep the farms open, which reduces supply to get prices back up into the "make some pitiful profit" range.
This shortage of additional fertilizer, which is commonly used on both pastures and row crops all around the nation (not as much as chemical fertilizers but still a huge amount), will mean most likely, even if the rains get more back to normal, there will be a huge increase in the need for supplementary artificial fertilizer next year to get yields back up.
Thanks for any local input in advance.
apples (Score:1)
Thanks for the input, prices or not, always good to have a full crop.
Seems an enterprising lad could be putting out some mass quantities of apple jack..err.. I mean, "alternative ethanol fuel following all relevant legal regulations"
When I worked apple orchards before, all the surplus/scabbed and out of spec (too large or too small), etc apples got sold by the dumptruck full to the applesauce company. And we never left any on the trees, always scrupulous with removing them, plus burning all the pruning trim
Rice (Score:1)
Interesting and good to hear they will get a good crop.
Off the wall, but do your local rice guys also do the prawns in the flooded fields crop like the Asian farmers do?
shrimp (Score:1)
Prawns are shrimp. The Asian guys typically grow tiger prawns in their rice paddies, or just switch entirely to prawns, in the immediate coastal areas anyway. I believe you already have such farms in Texas.
Not much use ... (Score:1)
but the drought in Eastern Australia finally seems to have broken - thanks to ex-cyclone Laurence.
Farmers are smiling big time even as there properties are fairly well underwater. And they want a follow up total drenching.
Should be plenty of food out of Australia come harvest time. Not going to help you much - except to drive global prices down for wheat and rice.
well good (Score:1)
Really happy your drought has broken. Floods are bad, but you know eventually it will drain off. Droughts on the other hand....
And ain't that something about food, but it is true, I have noticed it myself. Work hard, work smart, the weather cooperates so you produce well..you get rewarded with prices so low that you can go bankrupt. Seems bass ackward to me.
And it isn't like it hasn't been noted all over the planet before and governments have tried to fix the situation, because "food" falls i
Re: (Score:1)
"Oh well, that's why I maintain my own "food bank", and recommend to anyone within shouting distance that they do, too. Does Australia maintain a national food bank reserve?"
Not that I know of.
But we export so much it isn't funny. Much more than we could eat.
They tried price stability here with wool - ongoing disaster - took a decade or more to work the problem through.
Other than drought assistance, farmers don't get much of a hand here like they used to. Weaned them of it. Much better all round.