Bette Davis and the Turbulent Agriculture Industry
Did she know what was coming almost 60 years ago?
By Nancy Appelquist, Entira
In the 1950 film, All About Eve, Bette Davis uttered one of the best known — and most often misquoted — lines in all of moviedom: "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night!"
When she said those words, Davis was talking to a group at a cocktail party where all the underlying tensions were ready to boil over. But her comment rings remarkably true for today's agribusiness, as well. Only instead of a bumpy night, it's been an exceedingly bumpy year — with underlying factors bubbling up to throw the industry into a series of exuberant highs followed by resounding lows.
How bumpy a ride has it been? And how can we smooth the road ahead? Here's what some leading supply chain professionals think. [Read More...]
Why Replacing Crops with Trees May Not be the Best Way to "Go Green"
By Mike Karst, Entira
A few weeks ago, the EPA announced that 18 million acres of trees will be planted on US pasture and crop lands as part of the Waxman-Markey bill to address climate change. In an article in USA Today, the states of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida were listed as states likely targeted by the EPA for forestation as part of this program. Proponents of this plan claim that it will have little effect on food prices. But let's look at some facts.
These 13 states account for 66% of the total soybean acres, 65% of the total corn acres, 64% of the total peanut acres, 51% of the total hay acres, 26% of the total dry bean acres and 12% of the total wheat acres in the United States. Across these states 18 million acres of new forests amounts to a potential loss of 15% of the crop acres which will have dramatic impacts on corn, soybeans and peanut production with each losing nearly 10% of the average total acres produced in the United States. How can anyone look at these numbers and believe that there will be little effect on food prices?
At a minimum, we can expect significant price increases in meat products as corn and soybeans become more expensive feedstuffs for hogs and chickens. Marginal lands that are in these states, pastures and low productivity fields will likely be the first tracts forested, with an immediate impact on beef production as breeding herds are liquidated due to a lack of pasture and forage crops for winter sustenance. The swine and poultry industries in the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas will be especially hard hit as the costs of corn and soybean meal imported from the Midwest move higher. [Read More...]
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