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USDA Projects Smallest US Wheat Harvest Since 1972 Due to Plains Drought

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Re: USDA Projects Smallest US Wheat Harvest Since 1972 Due to Plains Drought

#171

Post by bluGill »

nonethewiser wrote: post #144
panflute wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think international trade is so stable that any shift would imply equal and opposite shifts in trade. For example it looks like Brazil's production is up 5% while China's overall usage may be down 6%.

Do you think China's new demand on Brazil could be handled by Brazil with previously idle capacity?

It'll know however Brazil has been greatly expanding how much farming they've been are able to do in recent years. I wouldn't call that idle capacity because it never was used and it never was intended to be used in previous years but now they're turning what previously was wild land - forests and such into farmland

Re: USDA Projects Smallest US Wheat Harvest Since 1972 Due to Plains Drought

#172

Post by bluGill »

colechristensen wrote: post #159
8note wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US shale oil notably has a lot of natural gas - methane. the methane isnt the issue, building and operating the processing plants is

Hard to find exact data but 60-80% of the cost to manufacture ammonia comes from the cost of natural gas. Feel free to look a price charts for both to see the correlation.

Long term yes, however the building in such a plant is very expensive in the short term. As such, no one is going to build a plant unless they actually think it will have reasonably high utilization.

Re: USDA Projects Smallest US Wheat Harvest Since 1972 Due to Plains Drought

#173

Post by AnimalMuppet »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #117
mythrwy wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US does have potash mines for example around Carlsbad New Mexico. But these cover only a percentage of domestic need. Perhaps they could be scaled up not sure.

Also famously near Moab, Utah.

Isn't the stuff west of Green River, Wyoming also potash?

Re: USDA Projects Smallest US Wheat Harvest Since 1972 Due to Plains Drought

#174

Post by yareally »

pragmatic wrote: post #94
ericpauley wrote: post #7

Title claims "due to plains drought" but the article text largely attributes this to increased planting of soy for its lower fertilizer requirements (related to Strait of Hormuz).

Wheat isn’t grown in the same places that beans grow. If you can, you’re rotating beans and corn every year. (“Roundup ready” of course) Wheat is on the marginal drier land. Not that they couldn’t plant wheat there but beans are way more profitable and so they don’t. The plains is by definition more arid, marginal land a step up from pasture/grazing. A lot of traditional wheat/sunflower/barley/oats has gone over to b…

My parents live in Ohio and rotate wheat/soy/corn every year as do their neighbors

Re: USDA Projects Smallest US Wheat Harvest Since 1972 Due to Plains Drought

#175

Post by laughing_man »

IAmBroom wrote: post #151
FrustratedMonky wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe a positive. Soy Beans are more healthy. So lower fertilizer demand, and healthier produce, could be a net positive. Kind of like an oil shortage is driving an increase in EVs and renewable energy. Finally waking up the US that oil dependence is a National Security issue that renewables are possible solution for. That renewables aren't the 'woke' enemy, but a valid technical option. So, maybe a net positive.

> Finally waking up the US that oil dependence is a National Security issue that renewables are possible solution for. That renewables aren't the 'woke' enemy, but a valid technical option. Amazingly invisible fact to the US political right. Glaringly obvious, yet they can't see it. It's almost like they don't even have their country's best interests at heart...

It's invisible because it doesn't exist. The US is a net oil exporter.

Re: USDA Projects Smallest US Wheat Harvest Since 1972 Due to Plains Drought

#176

Post by readonkeyless »

ericpauley wrote: post #7

Title claims "due to plains drought" but the article text largely attributes this to increased planting of soy for its lower fertilizer requirements (related to Strait of Hormuz).

The fact that the US is growing more soy when one of its largest importers, China, hasn't agreed to an import deal and actually seems to be importing more and more from Brazil instead, is extremely confusing. That is unless the farmers are pretty confident that the US will come to an agreement or failing that, expecting some type of US government bail out/subsidy.

Re: USDA Projects Smallest US Wheat Harvest Since 1972 Due to Plains Drought

#177

Post by datsci_est_2015 »

IAmBroom wrote: post #152
datsci_est_2015 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think laws become less relevant over time for many reasons. There are entire books written about silly and obsolete laws, e.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trenton_Pickle_Ordinance_a... The age of a law or regulation is likely a strong indicator for its relevance in modern times, especially if it’s regarding something quite niche.

These laws are neither silly nor obsolete. That's a distraction. So is the age of the law, for that matter; courts don't waste one second on the topic. Settled law is settled.

I’m no lawyer, but according to my perusing (sourced directly from the BLM), the 1877 Desert Land Act is very much obsolete.

The age of a law does not matter with regards to its validity, you are pedantically correct. But it very much matters to its relevancy, which was my argument. Laws regarding horse traffic in Manhattan may still be valid, but a lot less relevant than they were hundreds of years ago - assuming they haven’t been repealed.

Regarding the “Colorado River compact”, I would say my qualifier of “quite niche” is important. Ownership and water rights over the second largest watershed in the US by affected population is far from “niche”.

On the other hand, how settlers can claim public land in the desert (which happens incredibly rarely now, by design) is quite niche.

Re: USDA Projects Smallest US Wheat Harvest Since 1972 Due to Plains Drought

#178

Post by aziaziazi »

threetonesun wrote: post #19
9rx wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can eat soybeans, though, which are seeing record production thanks to it supplanting what is affectionately known in agriculture circles as poverty grass.

There's some cosmic irony that this is happening when the people who came up with the derogatory term "soy boys" are in office, but I'm too depressed to laugh about it.

AFAIK the first occurence of that expression is from Katy Perry in 2018: https://youtu.be/tWbLkXhGEmo?si=EGtXdwHneXGQRWbP&t=153

Re: USDA Projects Smallest US Wheat Harvest Since 1972 Due to Plains Drought

#179

Post by aziaziazi »

walthamstow wrote: post #56
bluGill wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are different grades with different properties. However very few are consumed by humans. When sold for humans it is called edamame. The most common use is crush the beans, and collect the oil feeding the rest to pigs. If you read the ingredients at the grocery store, soy bean oil comes up a lot. Soy bean oil is also often used in diesel engines after processing.

> When sold for humans it is called edamame. or tofu, soy sauce, miso, natto, tianmianjiang, a thousand other things made from soybeans

Tempeh (the cousin of natto) is delicious too and can be used in a variety of recipes from grilled to stew to ice creams.

Re: USDA Projects Smallest US Wheat Harvest Since 1972 Due to Plains Drought

#180

Post by aziaziazi »

bluGill wrote: post #62
9rx wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When sold for humans it is called edamame. Edamame is limited to special varieties that are harvested before ripening, which isn't the soybeans those supplanting wheat will be growing. You're probably thinking of tofu, natto, or something in that vein.

Most of those things don't look like soy beans. (then again almost nobody is eating unprocessed wheat either)

> unprocessed wheat either

Bulgur is a staple in many regions. It's a groat so technically slightly precessed but many consider it whole.

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