Crop Reports and other Shenanigans

[Wifezilla]

This discussion started in December of 2009. Here is the old thread...
http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4166

And here is the latest...

"At 4.31 billion bushels, the USDA's estimate of the June 1 inventory of corn was 245 million bushels smaller than our calculation of likely stocks if domestic consumption during the March-May quarter was in line with USDA projections for the year. The inventory estimate implies that 3.386 billion bushels of corn were consumed during the previous quarter. Exports were likely near 540 million bushels. If domestic processing use of corn was at the pace projected by the USDA, consumption in that category was near 1.5 billion bushels. The remaining 1.346 billion bushels would have been in the feed and residual category, a record for the quarter. Use during the final quarter of the year would need to total only 576 million bushels to reach the USDA projection of 5.35 billion bushels for the year. Use at that level would be the smallest in 14 years.

Such a large feed and residual use during the March-May quarter this year is not believable due to the smaller number of livestock being fed and the large increase in feeding of distillers grain. So, where did all the corn go?"
http://axcessnews.com/index.php/articles/show/id/20413

"The Department of Agriculture, which paid $15.4 billion in 2009 subsidies, is no longer centralizing the data that made it easier to pinpoint individuals who receive farm payments through their affiliation in farming corporations, co-ops and other types of business partnerships.

Recipients can hide behind paper farms and reap thousands of dollars in a taxpayers program without being accountable for it, said Don Carr, a spokesman for the Environmental Working Group (EWG)."
http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2010/usdafarmsubsidy/

and if you have a link to the old thread please post it.

 

[abifae]

Best to prepare for the worse, since we can't gain access to the reports anymore

 

[Wifezilla]

"America's corn supplies are to prove even tighter than in the run up to the price spike two years ago, after official statisticians stunned markets with lowball sowings and stocks estimates.

Rabobank, revising up forecasts for prices of both corn and wheat, estimated US corn inventories would fall by more than 13% to 1.23bn bushels the 2010-11 crop year, following last week's surprise US Department of Agriculture figures."
http://www.agrimoney.com/news/us-corn-supplies-to-prove-tightest-for-15-years--1940.html

 

[Wifezilla]

Wheat rose to a seven-week high as speculative investors bet demand will increase because U.S. production of corn, a competing grain used to feed livestock, may not be as big as expected.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...rs-bet-demand-will-gain-on-corn-shortage.html

 

[Wifezilla]

"The Canadian Cattlemen's Association says the federal and provincial governments need to act in days.

Vice President and MacGregor-area producer Martin Unrau says politicians must ensure crop insurance rules or any other government responses to the current conditions are not dissuading farmers from seeding late feed crops. He says producers could be facing a tough autumn if millions of acres of farmland in western Canada remain unseeded due to the wet conditions and flooding.

"It would be positive for everybody, both the grain industry and the cattle industry, if we can get some of these later crops in," says Unrau. "With the feed shortage that we see looming in the distance, I believe there will be quite a demand for some of those later seeded crops, especially the greenfeed.""
http://www.portageonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18077&Itemid=469

 

[Wifezilla]

"The Matabeleland North Provincial Agronomist, Mr Davison Masendeke, told Sunday News that seed for wheat was unavailable on the open market but obtainable well after the farming season had started.
He said the province had targeted to plant 923 hectares but only managed to plant 415, 6 hectares.

Our major problem was the shortage of seed. It was not available on the open market. It was only available after the planting season had elapsed, "
http://www.sundaynews.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=6578&cat=1

 

[Wifezilla]

"While trend experts, economists and investment gurus have been predicting food shortages for some time, new evidence indicates the U.S. Department of Agriculture may be covering up the greatest food shortage in modern history.

One analyst, Eric deCarbonnel from MarketSkeptics.com believes the answer is found in data he believes the U.S. Department of Agriculture has manipulated to keep food prices low.

"Instead of adjusting production estimates down to reflect decreased production, [the USDA] adjusted estimates upwards to match increasing demand from China. In this way, the USDA has brought supply and demand back into balance (on paper) and temporarily delayed a rise in food prices by ensuring a catastrophe in 2010," he said."
http://the-classic-liberal.com/food-shortage-coming/