|
Agriculture facing its own Katrina
By Jimmy Westerfeld
McLennan County Farm Bureau President
Texas Agriculture
October 21, 2005
http://www.txfb.org/TexasAgriculture/2005/102105/102105opinions.htm
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
Agriculture today is facing a major catastrophe not experienced since the Dust Bowl days of the Great Depression. Based on expert economic projections, for the first time in decades, many U.S. farmers cannot possibly "cash flow" a crop or crops for the year 2006. Bankers are saying "No." Many of us will not be able to farm this year or the next. The doubling and tripling of fuel and petrochemical prices are the last link in a chain of bad economic events.
Since Aug. 29, the entire world has been focused on the aftermath of the terrible destruction of Hurricane Katrina. Then, to make a terrible tragedy even worse, Hurricane Rita slammed into Southeast Texas and Western Louisiana on Sept. 24.
These two storms had an impact on the nation's fuel refining capacity, increasing prices beyond an already dismal situation. In agriculture, we cannot pass these prices along as other industries do. Ultimately, it means the numbers don't add up. If we can't show positive cash flow, we won't get our operating loans.
For farmers, a Katrina-like disaster is building. It will soon swamp many family farming operations. Astronomical fuel prices, fertilizer and chemical costs have reached the point that even a modest profit is impossible.
Farmers are receiving the lowest price for commodities that myself or most farmers can remember. Farmers are a proud group, usually not willing to protest. This time, I hope someone is listening. We are literally at the end of the turn row. That's a metaphor for desperation. Agriculture is in serious trouble.
A friend of mine and long-time Central Texas farmer sums up the current crisis in a unique way: "It's a lot easier to do nothin' for nothin' than somethin' for nothin'." Why invest huge amounts, work from daylight to dark and struggle for a profit when you know you have no chance?
What if, one by one, many farmers are forced into the painful decision that they can't afford to plant this year and the next? How many such decisions will it take to produce, nation-wide, the bare grocery shelves brought about by Katrina and Rita?
Granted, food can and will be imported. If we allow American agriculture to wither and die, that will be our only choice. If this sounds familiar, it's exactly what we did with energy. Does anyone like what they are paying at the pump now? Do we really want our food supply at the mercy of producers outside our own borders?
With this dismal prospect in mind, we can begin to view the federal farm program as an investment in keeping farmers on the land and preserving the ability to feed our own people at a reasonable cost. Congress and the Bush administration have proposed drastic spending cuts in the federal farm program, while preserving lavish pork barrel spending. Are our priorities really that far out of whack?
U.S. agriculture can feed the world if the profit is there. The federal farm program is a safety net that equally protects U.S. farmers and consumers. Under the current protectionist trade policies in the world, there is no way to farm without it. Drastic cuts would take us down a policy path that is dangerous for our food security. I don't believe we really want to go there.
Hurricane Wilma Is Most Powerful Storm in Atlantic History
Willie Drye
National Geographic News
October 19, 2005
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1019_051019_hurricane_wilma.html
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
The 2005 hurricane season reached two more milestones this week: Hurricane Wilma has become the 21st tropical storm of the season and has quickly grown into the most powerful hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin.
The storm is expected to make landfall in the U.S. late Saturday on the southwest coast of Florida. Evacuation orders have been issued for Monroe County, which includes the Florida Keys.
State parks in the Keys have been closed to encourage tourists to leave the islands, and an evacuation order for residents goes into effect tomorrow.
Also, patients in Keys hospitals are being airlifted out of the islands.
Record-Breaker
One of the best indicators of a hurricane's intensity is its barometric pressure; very powerful hurricanes have very low readings. As of 11 a.m. Eastern time today Wilma's barometric pressure reading had dropped to 26.04 inches or 882 millibars, a record low.
Forecasters expect Wilma to lose some of its intensity before landfall, but the storm is still expected to come ashore as a major hurricane, with winds of at least 111 miles an hour (180 kilometers an hour).
The previous record for the Atlantic Basin was Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, which had a low pressure of 26.18 inches or 888 millibars. Gilbert made landfall at Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.
The most intense hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. was the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, which had a reading of 26.35 inches or 892 millibars, when it struck the Florida Keys.
Wilma began on October 15 as a tropical depression in the central Caribbean Sea. When it became a tropical storm two days later, it was the 21st of the season. The last time that many tropical storms formed in a single season was 1933.
Wilma has astonished meteorologists with its rapid intensification. As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wilma was a minimal hurricane with winds of 80 miles an hour (130 kilometers an hour). But only 18 hours later it had mushroomed into the Atlantic's most powerful storm.
James Franklin, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said Wilma "obliterated … by a wide margin" the previous record for rapid intensification set in 1967.
"It's certainly the most dramatic strengthening I've ever seen," said Keith Blackwell, hurricane researcher at the University of South Alabama's Coastal Weather Research Center in Mobile.
Blackwell said Wilma's rapid intensification was caused by the warm waters of the northwest Caribbean, which have spawned other extremely powerful storms. Hurricane Wilma formed in the same area as Hurricane Mitch did in October 1998.
Storm-Weary Gulf Coast
Hurricane Wilma became only the latest unusual event in a season full of anomalies.
Two hurricanes that formed in July—Dennis and Emily—were the most intense on record for that month.
In August, Hurricane Katrina virtually destroyed New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Less than a month later Hurricane Rita became the third most powerful hurricane ever to form in the Atlantic before weakening and making landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border.
"There are so many astounding things about this season," Blackwell said.
In Florida, which was pounded by four intense hurricanes last summer, residents are becoming weary of the storms.
" Montana looks really good to me right now," joked Irene Toner, a director of the Monroe County Emergency Management Department.
Toner has had to order repeated evacuations of the low-lying islands, which are very vulnerable to hurricanes.
"We were on guard really since the last hurricane season," Toner said. "We were surprised that this season has been as busy as it has, but we were not overly shocked by that."
The hurricane season continues until November 30.
Willie Drye is author of Storm of the Century: the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, published by National Geographic Books.
|
Agriculture facing its own Katrina