USDA Says Food Shortages Are Here - Just The beginning...

Bad times are COMING NOW due to overpopulation, environmental destruction and drought from climate change!
What can you do? Stop eating MEAT - It is the most destructive product we consume (see stats at bottom).



CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scattered rain brought some relief to parts of the baking U.S. Midwest
on Wednesday, but most of the region remained in the grips of the worst
drought in half a century as the outlook for world food supplies and
prices worsened.

             The U.S. Agriculture Department forecast that food prices would now out-pace other consumer costs through 2013 as drought destroys crops and erodes supplies.

             "The drought is really going to hit food prices next year," said USDA economist Richard Volpe, adding that pressure on food prices would start building later this year.

             "It's already affecting corn and soybean prices,
but then it has to work its way all the way through the system into
feed prices and then animal prices, then wholesale prices and then
finally, retail prices," Volpe said in an interview.

             The USDA now sees food prices rising between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent in 2012 and another 3-4 percent in 2013.

             Food prices
will rise more rapidly than overall U.S. inflation, the USDA said, a
turnabout from the usual pattern. U.S. inflation is estimated at 2
percent this year and 1.9 percent in 2013. Food inflation was 3.7
percent last year but only 0.8 percent in 2010.

             On Wednesday, the USDA added another 76 counties to its
list of areas designated for disaster aid, bringing the total to 1,369
counties in 31 states across the country. Two-thirds of the United
States is now in mild or extreme drought, the agency said.

             Forecasters said
that after weeks of hot, dry weather the northern Corn Belt from eastern
Nebraska through northern Illinois was likely to see a second day of
scattered rain. But in the southern Midwest, including Missouri and most
of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, more hot, dry weather was likely.

             "Most of these areas need an excess of 10 inches of rain to break the drought," said Jim Keeney, a National Weather Service
meteorologist, referring to Kansas through Ohio. "This front is not
expected to bring much more than a 1/2 to 1 inch in any particular area.
It's not a drought buster by any means."

             The central and southern Midwest saw more temperatures
above 100 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday, with St Louis at 101 F.

             "There's no change in the drought pattern, just
thunderstorms shifting around," said Andy Karst, a meteorologist for
World Weather Inc. "There are no soaking rains seen through August 8."

             The outlook sent Chicago Board of Trade grain markets
higher after prices had come down from last week's record highs.

             Chicago Board of Trade corn for September delivery
closed 4-1/2 cents higher at $7.94-1/2 a bushel, compared to the record
high of $8.28-3/4 set last week. August soybeans ended 45 cents higher
at $16.94-1/4, compared to last week's record of $17.77-3/4. September
wheat rose 24-1/2 cents at $9.03-1/4, compared to last week's 4-year
high at $9.47-1/4.

             The prices have markets around the world concerned that
local food costs will soar because imports will be expensive, food aid
for countries from China to Egypt will not be available, and food riots
could occur as in the past.

             The United States is the world's largest exporter of corn, soybeans and wheat.

             Major losses in the massive U.S. corn crop, which is
used for dozens of products from ethanol fuels to livestock feed, have
been reported by field tours this week.

             Soybeans, planted later than corn, are struggling to
set pods, but if rain that has been forecast falls, soybeans may be
saved from the worst effects of the drought.

             A Reuters poll on
Tuesday showed that U.S. corn yields could fall to a 10-year low, and
the harvest could end up being the lowest in six years. Extensive damage
has already been reflected in declining weekly crop reports from Corn
Belt states.

             "Monday's crop
ratings showed losses on par with the damage seen during the 1988
drought if these conditions persist," said Bryce Knorr, senior editor
for Farm Futures Magazine. "Weather so far has taken almost 4 billion
bushels off the corn crop, so a lot of demand must still be rationed."

             In Putnam County, Indiana, this week, crop scouts did
not even stop to inspect corn fields since a glance convinced them that
farmers would plow crops under rather than trying to harvest anything.

             On Wednesday, scouts in central Illinois reported that
some corn fields were better than expected, having benefited from early
planting and pollination after a warm winter and spring.

             Tom Womack of the
Tennessee Department of Agriculture said some recent rains had helped
soybean prospects, but "the damage that has been done to the corn has
been done. No amount of rainfall will help us recover what we lost in
the corn crop."

             Ohio Governor John
Kasich signed an order on Wednesday that will allow farmers to cut hay
for their livestock from grass growing along highways adjacent to their
properties.

             Fire threats were
growing in portions of the Plains. On Wednesday, firefighters from three
north-central Nebraska counties and the National Guard battled
expanding wildfires that have consumed more than 60,000 acres in the
last week.

             On Wednesday,
helicopters dumped water on wildfires, ignited by lightning, that have
been burning since the weekend in the Niobrara River Valley.

             "We are making progress, but continued support is needed," Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman said.

             In Missouri, one of
the nation's driest states, the highway patrol said smoke from grass
and brush fires was creating "very dangerous driving conditions."
Discarded cigarettes were cited as a factor in those fires.

Why YOU should not eat meat:

According to a respected ecologist at Cornell University's College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences, "Each year an estimated 41 million tons
of plant protein is fed to U.S. livestock to produce an estimated 7
million tons of animal protein for human consumption. About 26 million
tons of the livestock feed comes from grains and 15 million tons from
forage crops. For every kilogram of high-quality animal protein
produced, livestock are fed nearly 6 kg of plant protein."
cornell.edu
So even considering only the grain crops, the animals were fed more than
3 times the human-edible grain than what their bodies produced in meat.

University sources generalize that chickens need to eat 2 pounds of
plant foods, to produce 1 pound of muscle (meat)..a 2:1 ratio.
Pork (pigs' muscle) has a 3:1 ratio, and beef (cattle and cows' muscle) has a 6:1 ratio