Friday, August 3, 2012

Drought, Hurricanes, and Congressional Recess

Well the drought continues with spotty rains but in some areas the rains were pretty heavy. I personally know of several March planted peanuts which seem to have gotten rain all year in adequate quantities. Wednesday night they had water standing in the rows and power lines were down in the area. I think those peanuts have adequate water to fill the rest of pods and get them to harvest.

There is a tropical storm which is predicted to become a hurricane in the gulf. If it was to turn northward and drop some serious rain across the Southeastern peanut belt...what a blessing. This would take us a long way toward breaking the drought.

Congress recessed for the five week August recess. They failed to pass a farm bill or even drought relief so somebody is going to have to work on their vacation to get something done or they may all get a permanent vacation. The drought relief package in the House covered livestock and a few specialty crops. Odd argument from Congress...if we don't do this there will be a rise in food prices. That is all sound bite because if you ain't got it you ain't got it and prices are going to rise. That is the way the free market works and we have no policy to build government owned reserves so somebody will just have to go hungry unless China opens their reserves and ships them here.

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