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| Famines May Occur Without Record Crops This Year; Bumper crops or else | |
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| Topic Started: Jan 15 2008, 09:51 PM (2,029 Views) | |
| dibldabl | Jan 15 2008, 09:51 PM Post #1 |
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Wheat Warning: New Rust Could Spread Like Wildfire http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050924/food.asp [dibldabl: We beat this rust almost a generation ago. It's roaring back. Part of the pale horses' ride? Maybe. Good rust pics at the link.] As the world's population continues to grow, so does its appetite for cereal grains, which include such dietary staples as wheat. This growing demand has driven agricultural scientists to develop higher yielding grain varieties. However, wheat growers face a challenging threat to bountiful yields with the emergence of a new and virulent fungal pathogen. It stands poised to hammer wheat yields globally, according to data released this month in Nairobi, Kenya, at an international symposium convened to address the blight. The new pathogen goes by the name of Ug99, for the nation—Uganda—and the year in which its emergence was formally recognized. This variant of the Puccinia graminis fungus, a type of black-stem rust, has been popping up in fields throughout East Africa. Rusts take their common name from the fact that the pathogens tend to have a vivid red or orange hue. At the end of a growing season, black-stem rusts sprout dark spores that can survive over winter. At the Nairobi meeting, officials with the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center—an organization best known by its Spanish acronym, CIMMYT—summed up much of what they know about the Ug99 rust. For instance, the centers' scientists noted that most wheat currently being grown around the world has either established susceptibility to the new pathogen or unknown susceptibility. At present, CIMMYT officials reported, "only 0.3 percent of the more than 44 million hectares planted to known varieties [of wheat] is moderately resistant to Ug99." In monitored test plots of wheat, Ug99 reduced grain yields by as much as 71 percent. Its virulence indicates Ug99 "has broken down the sources of resistance that have provided effective protection [for wheat against black-stem rusts] for over 30 years," the CIMMYT researchers said. If not quashed soon, Ug99 infections might bloom into global crop epidemics within the next 15 years. In Africa alone, CIMMYT projected, grain-yield losses from such blights could approach $1 billion in value. Such events would increase the price of wheat on global markets and contribute to regional food shortages. These risks are especially grave for developing nations where reliance on wheat is high and budgets for fungicides are almost nonexistent, CIMMYT noted. At the meeting, CIMMYT officials circulated a new report on Ug99's threat. They also announced plans to upgrade or develop new research centers in the heart of East Africa. These facilities will be screening local wheat cultivars for newly mutated genes that might confer resistance to Ug99 and then launching efforts to breed new lines of wheat carrying those genes. Although wheat growers around the world had recently come to view stem rust as a thing of the past, the new CIMMYT report says, "new data show that such an assumption is no longer—and probably never was—warranted." Pesticides are not the answer East Africa has long been a breeding ground for new and virulent stem rusts—probably because the area has a mild climate and farmers plant wheat year-round. Ordinarily, stem-rust spores move only short distances, one stem infecting another as they brush against each other. However, Ug99 makes five distinct types of spores. Of these, the one known as the urediniospore is especially infectious and unique in its ability to ride air currents. Winds can carry these spores for hundreds or even thousands of miles. Until recently, the threat of such long-range rust spread was largely discounted because scientists believed that ultraviolet light from the sun would kill spores that got swept into high-altitude wind currents and then hitchhiked there for days. To the contrary, recent studies have shown that fungal spores have survived wind transport from Africa to at least as far as the Caribbean (SN: 10/06/01, p. 218). Although large-scale commercial growers typically use fungicides to deal with rusts, these chemicals are costly. Spraying can run to more than $100 per hectare (0.4 acre), CIMMYT notes. That's well outside the budget of farmers in developing countries. Therefore, the new report argues, ignoring these small growers' needs for Ug99-resistant cultivars risks launching frequent and potentially uncontrollable black-stem rust epidemics from untreated fields. Epidemic pending? Until a half-century ago, many popular wheat varieties were vulnerable to many variants of P. graminis. Mention of their sighting would trigger terror in the hearts of farmers, since an infection could rapidly render a healthy field of wheat into "a black tangle of broken stems and shriveled grain," the CIMMYT report says. These fungal blights periodically triggered disastrous epidemics until breeders began intense efforts to select and breed wheat lines with genes resistant to black-stem disease. Indeed, CIMMYT and its predecessor organization, created in 1943, owe their origins to global campaigns aimed at countering this wheat rust. The success of those breeding efforts "has led to complacency throughout the wheat community," observes Norman E. Borlaug, the 91-year-old Nobel prize winner credited with launching the "green revolution." It harnessed intensive plant-breeding programs to improve the yields of wheat, maize, and other plants that serve as dietary staples in developing countries. Although Ug99 appears confined to Africa at this time, CIMMYT reports that epidemics of less-virulent wheat-stem rusts have occurred in Turkey, Australia, Paraguay, and the U.S. Midwest. These outbreaks indicate that commonly planted wheat cultivars are vulnerable to Ug99 and other P. graminis variants, according to CIMMYT. In his preface to the new CIMMYT report, Borlaug observes that breeders around the world have acknowledged that "resistance to stem rust was no longer a leading breeding objective." And that's what makes the recent outbreak of Ug99 in East Africa so troubling, he says. Borlaug pointed out that, like wildfires, the spread of stem rust relies on favorable climate conditions, air movement, fuel (in this case, susceptible wheat), ignition points, and complacency. "Once started, both [wildfires and rust epidemics] are difficult to stop," he says. That's why Borlaug argues that mobilization against this blight is imperative. "The prospect of a stem-rust epidemic in wheat in Africa, Asia, and the Americas is real and must be stopped before it causes untold damage and human suffering," he warns. At the meeting in Nairobi, CIMMYT thanked Borlaug for "bringing this problem to the attention of the international community" and vowed it would indeed be launching a new Global Rust Initiative. |
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| Wil | Jan 15 2008, 11:05 PM Post #2 |
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May not have to wait 15 years, yeah the pale horse could be a'riding. ‘Panic Buying’ in the Grain Markets Agriculture Sector Developments by Joseph Dancy, LSGI Advisors, Inc. | January 4, 2008 The agricultural sector was one of the areas we found most attractive in 2007. We expect that will remain the case. Long term global price and demand trends remain positive. Recent developments include: * High ocean freight rates have pushed the delivered price of wheat upward but it is not choking off export demand according to analysts. Export sales of U.S. wheat are ‘beginning to look like panic buying’ according to some commentators. Overseas buyers are purchasing grain, anticipating the U.S. will run out of wheat. Analysts claim this may happen in the market for hard red winter and white wheat. Wheat exports ‘simply can not be sustained at current levels’ according to agricultural experts. ‘Either price will have to increase more to ration the remaining supply or, as was rumored in grain markets this week, the U.S. government will step in’. * Officials last month forecast U.S. wheat stocks will shrink to their lowest level in 60 years. The U.S. is the world’s largest exporter of wheat, and importing countries are bidding heavily for its crops as other exporters cut supplies. The USDA has cautioned in six months wheat exporters in the US have already sold more than 90 percent of what the agency expected to be exported for the entire year. * Russia, the world's fourth-biggest wheat exporter, announced plans last month to cap exports of the grain once exports reach 12.5 million tons. The threshold may be breached as early as January, according to Russia's Grain Union, which comprises the nation's biggest grain producers and traders. The Russian government also said it would raise its wheat export tariff sharply, to 40 percent from 10 percent, to keep grain at home. The move should restrict the world's exportable supplies and could boost demand for U.S. wheat. * China announced late last month that the export of wheat, corn, rice, soybeans, and various processed grains will be subject to export levies in 2008. The export levies will range from 5% - 25%, covering 57 types of grain or grain products. In 2007 China offered tax rebates on grain exports, a 13% rebate on 84 categories of grain and grain products. Levies for wheat and wheat products will be 20% and 25% respectively, while the export levy for corn, rice, and soybean will be 5%. Export levies on processed corn, rice and soybean products rates were fixed at 10%. * The Canadian Wheat Board, one of the world's largest sellers of wheat and barley, expects wheat prices to remain elevated well into next year because of low global stockpiles. “We see current strong prices being maintained” according to a spokesman. * Wheat rose above $10 a bushel in the futures market for the first time last month. Rice also jumped to a record, while soybeans reached the highest in 34 years. Corn was its costliest in nine months. * The U.S.D.A. issued a report last month forecasting soybean inventories will decline by 68 percent from year earlier levels. The agency also increased projected export volumes. An analyst noted the strong demand: “If we were not to plant anymore soybeans next year than we planted this year, and demand stayed the same, we would run out of soybeans in the U.S. on May 1 of 2009.” * Soybeans may lead gains among agricultural commodities next year because of crop shortages and rising demand for biofuels according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The New York-based bank raised its 12-month forecast for the crop last month by 61 percent to $14.50 a bushel from $9 a bushel. Wheat may trade at $7.50 a bushel in a year compared with a previous forecast of $6, Goldman said. The bank raised its estimate for corn by 20 percent to $5.30 a bushel from $4.40. * Price gains in the agricultural sector in 2007 far outpaced the S&P 500 index. Note specifically the gains in the price of eggs, wheat, soy, and barley in the chart at right (chart courtesy of Ned W. Schmidt, publisher of Agri-Food Value View). * The U.S.D.A. World Supply and Demand report issued last month lowered the estimated U.S. ending inventory levels for wheat, corn, and soybeans, mostly because of stronger than expected exports. * Food prices have increased substantially in the last year, but in real terms prices are still well below levels seen in the 1970’s. None-the-less, the upward trend in pricing is troubling to both economists and consumers. Chart at right courtesy of the Economist. * From 2002 to 2007 the number of acres planted in corn in the U.S. rose 24%, to 86.1 million. The energy bill signed last month by President Bush mandates that oil refiners eventually boost ethanol use as a gasoline additive to 36 billion gallons a year from the current seven billion gallons – which will further increase demand for corn. * While most of the U.S. corn crop - 43 percent - is fed to livestock to produce meat, dairy products and eggs, an increasing percentage is being used to produce ethanol. Twenty-four percent of this year's corn crop will be turned into ethanol, up from just 14 percent two years ago. * With soaring grain prices the price of U.S. farmland has also increased substantially. Farmland prices skyrocketed 50% over the past three years, to an average of close to $2,200 an acre according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Unlike the grain prices, the upward trend in land prices extends back over the last decade. Charts courtesy of Barron’s. * Net U.S. farm income is expect to hit a record $87.5 billion in 2007, and will reach another record in 2008 as economic trends continue according to U.S.D.A. estimates. * Over 37% of the United States is in severe to extreme drought conditions. According to the Federal U.S. Drought Monitor, at least 57% of the West and 76% of the Southeast is suffering from moderate to exceptional drought. The drought, if it continues, will hinder agricultural production. * The world is eating more than it produces and food prices may climb for years because of expansion of farming for fuel and climate change, risking social unrest, experts at the International Food Policy Research Institute concluded in a new report issued last month. * The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization last month warned that rising demand and falling supply represent an “unforeseen and unprecedented” shift in the global food system – raising political risks in some areas. * The global commodities boom has elevated rice -- a staple food for half of the world -- to its highest level in nearly 20 years according to an article last month in the Wall Street Journal. The ‘ubiquitous grain is suffering poor harvests and tight supplies in some of the biggest rice-exporting and rice-consuming nations, and is expected to contribute to a protracted bout of food-price inflation for the foreseeable future in the developing world.’ Chart courtesy of the Wall Street Journal. In summary, we have record low grain inventories globally as we move into a new crop year. We have demand growing strongly. Which means that going forward even small crop failures are going to drive grain prices to record levels. As an investor, we continue to find these long term trends - and this niche - very attractive. Copyright © 2008 Joseph Dancy Editorial Archive http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editoria.../2008/0104.html |
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| dibldabl | Jan 16 2008, 01:14 AM Post #3 |
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It will be interesting to see if the US imposes grain export controls next. If we do, then we are admitting that food may be getting short even for us. But if we don't impose controls, our stocks may be drawn dangerously low and if ANYTHING goes wrong with the 2008 harvest, well, we'll all be going on a diet. |
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| Wil | Jan 29 2008, 03:06 PM Post #4 |
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Wheat passes $13 a bushel BY TONY C. DREIBUS Bloomberg News Article Last Updated: 01/29/2008 11:22:11 AM CST Wheat traded in Minneapolis gained the maximum allowed for a fourth straight day on signs of dwindling availability of high-protein varieties in the U.S. Rising demand has eroded inventories of high-protein wheat grown in the northern Great Plains. Farmers will begin seeding U.S. wheat crops in April and May, and some may instead sow corn or soybeans that also are at record prices. Minneapolis wheat prices have jumped 23 percent in the past two weeks. "It's a protein issue," said Mike Zuzolo, chief analyst at Risk Management Commodities in Lafayette, Indiana. "Minneapolis cash prices are trying to assure spring wheat growers will get out of corn or pulses or oilseeds." Futures for March delivery rose 30 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $13.27 a bushel at 10:40 a.m. on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. The price has risen the exchange's 30-cent daily limit in six of the past eight sessions. Most-active futures have more than doubled in the past year. Hard-red winter, grown mostly in the U.S. southern Plains and traded in Kansas City, and spring wheat, sown in the northern Plains and in Canada, are high-protein varieties used to make bread, cereal and pasta. Hard-red winter wheat is in short supply after a freeze in April followed by excessive rain curbed yields. Because hard-red inventories are low, buyers are turning to spring wheat to fill their needs, thus driving up prices. On the Chicago Board of Trade, wheat for March delivery fell 19 cents, or 2 percent, to $9.44 a bushel, after earlier gaining as much as the exchange's 30-cent limit. Before today, the price was up 8.8 percent this month. Futures have also more than doubled in the past year and reached a record $10.095 on Dec. 1, after importers began buying U.S. grain on concern supplies would fall short of demand. Wheat was the fourth-biggest U.S. crop in 2006, valued at $7.7 billion, behind corn, soybeans and hay, government data show. http://www.twincities.com/ci_8109416?source=rss |
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| dibldabl | Feb 20 2008, 11:33 PM Post #5 |
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Famines May Occur Without Record Crops This Year, Potash Says By Christopher Donville http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...HQ1g&refer=home Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Grain farmers will need to harvest record crops every year to meet increasing global food demand and avoid famine, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. Chief Executive Officer William Doyle said. People and livestock are consuming more grain than ever, draining world inventories and increasing the likelihood of shortages, Doyle said yesterday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. Global grain stockpiles fell to about 53 days of supply last year, the lowest level since record-keeping began in 1960, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ''If you had any major upset where you didn't have a crop in a major growing agricultural region this year, I believe you'd see famine,'' Doyle, 57, said in New York. Potash, the world's largest maker of crop nutrients, has more than doubled in market value in the past year as record crop prices allowed farmers to spend more on fertilizer to boost yields. The company has more than doubled net income in the past two years to $1.1 billion and expects gross profit from potash to expand to $8 billion within five years from $912 million in 2007. Potash is a form of potassium that helps plants grow. Potash, based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, rose C$7.90, or 5.3 percent, to a record C$157.25 yesterday in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. Mosaic Co., the world's largest producer of phosphate fertilizer, rose $6.18, or 6 percent, to $109.55 in New York. Agrium Inc., the largest retailer of crop nutrients in the U.S., rose C$3.22, or 4.9 percent, to C$69 in Toronto. China and India Crop prices have soared as much as fourfold this decade because of increased demand for food in India and China, where hundreds of millions of people are moving up to the middle class and can afford to eat more meat from animals raised on grain- based feeds, Doyle said. Soybean futures rose to a record $14.2875 a bushel yesterday on the Chicago Board of Trade, capping an 85 percent gain in the past 12 months. Wheat prices, which have more than doubled in the past year in Chicago, reached a record on Feb. 11, and corn climbed to a record on Feb. 6. ''There is a dietary shift occurring in China today, particularly amongst the young,'' Hugh Grant, chief executive officer of Monsanto Co., the world's biggest seed producer, said in a Feb. 6 interview. ''As protein consumption increases, as they move from fish to chicken, chicken to pork, and pork to beef, the demand for commodities increases almost by an order of magnitude.'' 'Enormous Pressure' ''We keep going to the cupboard without replacing and so there is enormous pressure on agriculture to have a record crop every year,'' Doyle said. ''We need to have a record crop in 2008 just to stay even with this very low inventory situation.'' Planting more crop land in Brazil and boosting yields from existing fields in China and Russia, where agricultural productivity has lagged behind the U.S. and Canada, may be needed to avoid food shortages, Doyle said. ''The agriculture fertilizer sector offers tremendous fundamentals that will prove unique in an otherwise challenging and eroding macroeconomic environment,'' Robert Koort, a New York-based analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said in a Feb. 13 report. He recommends buying Potash shares. Potash Corp. is expanding output of potash by about 7 million metric tons a year in the next eight years as farmers seek to boost crop yields. The company currently can produce about 10 million tons. ''You won't have a global shortage of food because you don't have enough potash,'' said Doyle, whose company also makes phosphates and nitrogen-based nutrients. |
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| Wil | Feb 21 2008, 01:58 AM Post #6 |
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Wheat shortage sends bagel, pizza prices soaring BY CARL MACGOWAN carl.macgowan@newsday.com 9:03 PM EST, February 20, 2008 Take a spoonful of population growth. Add a pinch of ethanol. Throw in a weak U.S. dollar and a drought in Australia. That's the recipe for a staggering increase in wheat prices, which has caused the cost of bagels and pizzas -- to name just a few edibles -- to shoot through the roof. And it's not coming down anytime soon. The price of a plain bagel has jumped more than 10 percent at many stores, and some shop owners are afraid they won't be able to stay in business. "For the past four or five months, it's going crazy," said Joe Assemi, owner of Cup O' Joe Bagels in Huntington. "Pretty soon I'll have to shut the door and go home." Store owners have seen flour prices double and even triple in the past year due to fluctuations in the wheat market. Increasing demand and poor weather in Australia and South America are just two of the factors driving prices up. "We've had two years of horrible weather that has reduced stocks dramatically," said Joe Sowers, senior market analyst for U.S. Wheat Associates, a trade group in Washington, D.C. While their overseas counterparts deal with bad weather and export restrictions, many U.S. wheat farmers have switched to growing corn to meet demand in the expanding ethanol market, Sowers said. The full impact of the wheat shortage hasn't yet reached Main Street, he said. "It will get much, much worse," he said. That's bad news for Adam Rosner, owner of Bagel Boss, who said the price of a regular bagel at his 12 Nassau and Suffolk stores has risen to 90 cents from 75 cents a few weeks ago. Customers have changed their spending habits, he said. "They're not buying dozens now; they come in and say, 'Give me six bagels,'" Rosner said. At Michael's Pizza in Farmingville, owner Michael Perrino is contemplating raising the price of a slice from $2 to $2.25. Perrino said the 50-pound bag of flour that cost $16 a few weeks ago will cost $30 next week. "Now it's like you're working for nothing," he said. Business is off 2 percent to 3 percent at A&S Bagels in Franklin Square, said president Antonino Scolieri. "We figure by middle of March we're going to go up another 5 to 10 cents per bagel," he said. "There's no end in sight at this point." Scolieri said he will join bakers from around the country in Washington on March 12 to plead for help from federal agriculture officials and Congress. "I've been in this business since 1963. I've never seen nothing like this in my life," he said. newsday.com/news/local/ny-liwhea0221,0,2478668.story |
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| Wil | Feb 26 2008, 09:43 AM Post #7 |
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From The Sunday Times February 24, 2008 Food shortages loom as wheat crop shrinks and prices rise Jonathan Leake THE world is only ten weeks away from running out of wheat supplies after stocks fell to their lowest levels for 50 years. The crisis has pushed prices to an all-time high and could lead to further hikes in the price of bread, beer, biscuits and other basic foods. It could also exacerbate serious food shortages in developing countries especially in Africa. The crisis comes after two successive years of disastrous wheat harvests, which saw production fall from 624m to 600m tonnes, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Experts blame climate change as heatwaves caused a slump in harvests last year in eastern Europe, Canada, Morocco and Australia, all big wheat producers. Booming populations and a switch to a meat-rich diet in the developing world also mean that about 110m tons of the world’s annual wheat crop is being diverted to feed livestock. Short term pressures have compounded the problem. Speculative buying by investors gambling on further price rises has further pushed up prices. Though shortages are often blamed on the use of land for biofuel crops, the main biofuel cereal crop is maize, not wheat. Farmers have brought millions of acres of fallow land into production and the FAO predicts that the shortages could be eliminated within 12 months. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle3423734.ece |
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| julieann | Feb 26 2008, 11:03 AM Post #8 |
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FOOD SHORTAGES - If there is any disruption to this year’s grain harvest, the world will be facing famine in 2009. And this is not a question of third-world-countries famine, folks. Grain stores are at their LOWEST POINT SINCE THEY BEGAN MEASURING IN 1960: 53 days. Food prices are already on the rise; with grain shortages, will surely come hoarding and hyperinflation in food. If you think times are getting tough, add a real food shortage. Now it’s time to grow backyard farms (Victory Gardens) – in fact it’s not at all a bad idea. http://home.att.net/~thehessians/disasterwatch.html Depression + Inflation + Famine = Chaos! Oftentimes it seems so inconceivable that we could have come to this place, yet here is exactly what we are facing, right now: Depression in the housing market; retail inflation (due entirely to the price of oil and the plummeting dollar), credit availability all but shut down, and today we discover that grain stores are at their lowest point since they began measuring in 1960: 53 days. According to the CEO of Potash Corp., the Canadian fertilizer giant, if there is any disruption to this year’s grain harvest, the world will be facing famine in 2009. And this is not a question of the rock-concert-for-third-world-countries famine, folks. He is describing global shortages of wheat. Food prices are already on the rise; with grain shortages, will surely come hoarding and hyperinflation in food. http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/13002 http://home.att.net/~thehessians/disasterwatch.html |
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| julieann | Feb 26 2008, 11:39 AM Post #9 |
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The kind of frenzied activity the global vegetable oil market is witnessing at present is UNPRECEDENTED. It is unlikely to subside anytime soon, given the too many imponderables in the market place and speculative activity that is usually associated with market uncertainty. Without doubt, the global vegetable oil market is moving on factors much beyond the mundane demand-supply fundamentals that tradition-bound traders usually watched. http://home.att.net/~thehessians/disasterwatch.html Global veg oil market moving beyond demand-supply norms. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/0...22650181500.htm Rocketing prices for soft commodities such as tea, coffee, grains and soybeans are stoking up inflationary pressures, creating a nightmare for central bankers and consumers in the industrialised countries like Britain as well as the developing world. Coffee, cocoa, tea and grain markets are simmering near boiling point, with prices sitting at or near record levels on a combination of speculation by hedge funds and other investors, bad weather in producing countries and strong demand from China. Arabica coffee, the highest-quality bean, surged recently to a 10-YEAR HIGH of $1.6015 per pound, up more than 35% in the past year. Tea prices are also likely to jump to record levels this year, underpinned by production disruptions in Kenya. Cocoa prices in New York recently reached a 24-year high, up 45% in the past year. The price of bread and beer will likely rise further in recent months because grain crops have been hit by drought in Australia and Canada, two of the world's biggest wheat producers. Food inflation faces more upward pressure because US farmers have barely increased their sowing of cereal crops, despite record prices. http://www.theherald.co.uk/business/news/d...commodities.php FINLAND's butter mountains of the 1980s have been replaced by a shortage of milk - With the increase of production costs, Finland now produces LESS MILK THAN EVER BEFORE SINCE THE 1940s. Thanks to globalisation, as cheese manufacturers switch to producing milk powder for the growing markets such as China, the so-called low-cost cheeses have all but disappeared from the shelves of Finnish grocery stores. "There is a grave shortage of milk". The milk shortage has been further aggravated by exceptional natural conditions, such as droughts in Central Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The converting of fields into bio energy production especially in Germany and North America has also hit milk production. Grocery stores will not run out of milk, but the milk shortage may cause cheese dairies to shut down. "Who would have believed this a year ago? There is a shortage of milk in Finland, Europe, and the whole world". http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Finlands+...k/1135234157377 A day's wages for a quart of wheat. And do not touch the oil and the wine. "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. ...the seas and waves will roar. ...increase of wickedness ...brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. When you see all these things happening, look up, for your redemption is drawing near. |
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| twinkle | Feb 26 2008, 11:40 AM Post #10 |
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Spring wheat price soars amid global shortage The price of high-quality wheat has shot up in some countries and recorded its biggest increase in a single day. The price of North American spring wheat has gone up by 22 per cent, to nearly $27.00 a bushel. The rise took place after another big exporter, Kazakhstan, said it was imposing export tariffs to keep supplies at home. Global supplies are scarce because bad weather has damaged crops in Australia, Canada, China and Europe. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/26/2173186.htm |
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| julieann | Feb 26 2008, 07:11 PM Post #11 |
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Rev. 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." We are seeing/ witnessing prophecy coming to pass... Church, do you see it? |
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| dibldabl | Feb 26 2008, 10:24 PM Post #12 |
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Note that on a trading forum, when wheat hit $24/bu on the Minneapolis exchange recently, one trader commented that this price action seems to be driven by pure supply and demand economics not by speculators. This is the real deal folks. Get those vegetable gardens planted this Spring. Wheat Surges as Rising Demand, Limited Production Erode Supply by Tony C. Dreibus Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat rose the maximum allowed by the exchanges in Chicago, Kansas City and Minneapolis on speculation that rising demand will erode global inventories, even after prices more than doubled in the past year. Global stockpiles probably will fall to a 30-year low of 109.7 million metric tons, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. Export sales from the U.S., the world's largest shipper of the grain, are up 56 percent since June 1 compared with the same period a year earlier. Last week, hedge funds and other larges speculators increased by 2 percent their net-long positions, or bets that prices will rise, government data show. ''There seems to still be a lot of money flowing into the wheat markets,'' said Jason Britt, an analyst at Central States Commodities Inc. in Kansas City, Missouri. ''There's talk of export demand out there. And we're still dealing with the old crop and we still have tight supplies.'' Wheat for July delivery rose 60 cents, or 5.6 percent, to $11.245 a bushel at 9:54 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. A close at that price would be the biggest gain since October 2006. Most-active futures contracts touched a record $11.53 on Feb. 11 and have risen by the exchange limit five times in the past three weeks. The CBOT boosted its daily limit on price changes to 60 cents from 30 cents on Feb. 11. U.S. inventories by May 31 will drop to 272 million bushels, or 7.4 million tons, the lowest for the end of the marketing year since 1948, the government estimates. A freeze in April followed by excessive rainfall before the September harvest damaged last year's winter wheat crop. On the Kansas City Board of Trade, futures for May delivery also rose the exchange limit of 60 cents, or 5.4 percent, to $11.75 a bushel. On the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, wheat for May delivery rose 90 cents, or 5.6 percent, to $17.0825 a bushel. The March contract, which has no limit because it is the closest to delivery, rose $1.25, or 6.5 percent, to $20.50 a bushel, a first for any U.S. wheat contract. Global inventories also fell after drought hurt plants in Canada and Australia and excessive rain curbed yields in France and Germany. The U.S. is expected by the USDA to be the largest wheat exporter followed by Canada, Russia, Argentina, Kazakhstan and Australia. Wheat was the fourth-biggest U.S. crop in 2007, valued at $13.7 billion, behind corn, soybeans and hay, government data show. |
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| dibldabl | Mar 6 2008, 11:17 PM Post #13 |
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[The troublesome Ug99 wheat rust has been found in Iran. It is spreading. It is no longer confined to Africa as the original post in this thread states. dibldabl] FAO warning over virulent wheat fungus By Amin Ahmed http://www.dawn.com/2008/03/06/top18.htm RAWALPINDI, March 5: The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has asked the authorities of Pakistan and five other wheat-producing countries, located east of Iran, to be on high alert, following a report that a new and virulent wheat fungus has moved to major wheat-growing areas in Iran. The FAO says the detection of the wheat-rust fungus in Iran is extremely worrisome. The fungus is spreading rapidly and could seriously lower wheat production in countries at direct risk. Affected countries and the international community have to ensure that the spread of the disease is checked in order to reduce the risk to countries that are already hit by high food prices, the UN agency announced in Rome on Wednesday. The fungus, previously found in East Africa and Yemen, is capable of wreaking havoc to wheat production by destroying entire fields, FAO says. According to FAO, countries in the predicted, immediate pathway grow more than 65 million hectares of wheat, accounting for 25 per cent of the global wheat harvest. Quoting M. E. Tasneem, Chairman of the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council, the FAO said: "If we don’t control this stem rust threat, it will have a major impact on food security, especially since global wheat stocks are at a historic low". "If we fail to contain Ug99 it could bring calamity to tens of millions of farmers and hundreds of millions of consumers," says Nobel Laureate Borlaug. "We know what to do and how to do it. All we need are the financial resources, scientific cooperation and political will to contain this threat to world food security." The FAO estimated that as much as 80 per cent of all wheat varieties planted in Asia and Africa were susceptible to the wheat stem rust, Puccinia graminis. The spores of wheat rust are mostly carried by wind over long distances and across continents. The Iranian government has informed the FAO that the fungus has been detected in some localities in Broujerd and Hamedan in western Iran. Laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of the fungus. Iran said it would enhance its research capacity to face the new infection and develop new wheat varieties resistant to the disease. The wheat fungus first emerged in Uganda in 1999 and is, therefore, called Ug99. The wind-borne trans-boundary pest subsequently spread to Kenya and Ethiopia. In 2007, an FAO mission confirmed for the first time that Ug99 had affected wheat fields in Yemen. The Ug99 strain found in Yemen was already more virulent than the one found in East Africa. Ethiopia and Kenya had serious wheat rust epidemics in 2007 with considerable yield losses. The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI), established to combat wheat rusts around the world, will support countries in developing resistant varieties, producing clean quality seeds, upgrading national plant protection and plant breeding services, and developing contingency plans. The BGRI was founded by Norman Borlaug (known as "the father of the Green Revolution"), Cornell University; the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre and the FAO. Disease surveillance and wheat breeding is already underway to monitor the fungus and to develop Ug99 resistant varieties. |
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| dibldabl | Mar 6 2008, 11:24 PM Post #14 |
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[The coldest winter in 50 years has already caused crop damage, especially to cabbage, in China this year. Things are not off to a good start in other parts of the world either. dibldabl] Wheat Supplies, Already Tight, May Be Hurt by Global Drought By Tony C. Dreibus http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...refer=australia March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Global wheat production, after failing to keep pace with demand the past three years, may be hurt again in 2008 by dry weather in the U.S., Canada and Russia, the three largest exporters of the grain. A moderate drought in the southern Great Plains, where most U.S. winter wheat is grown, has slowed development of plants starting to emerge from dormancy, the Canadian Wheat Board said today in a report. Russian crops need rain and soil moisture in the Canadian Prairies is ``poor'' for crops that will be planted in May, according to the CWB, Canada's biggest wheat marketer. Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade, the world's largest agricultural exchange, have more than doubled in the past year and reached records on Feb. 27. Global production has failed to keep pace with demand in seven of the past eight years, eroding inventories to a 30-year low, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. ``Certainly there are some concerns in the southwestern U.S. plains regarding dryness,'' said Mike Palmerino, a senior agriculture meteorologist at Woburn, Massachusetts-based Meteorlogix LLC. Because world supplies are so low, ``anything that is potentially a problem is of concern,'' he said. Chicago wheat futures have rallied in the past year after the 2007 U.S. crop was damaged by an April freeze that was followed by excessive rainfall. Prices set records six times this year in Chicago, and reached the highest ever on the Kansas City Board of Trade and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. Declining Inventories World inventories are expected to fall to 109.7 million metric tons by the end of the marketing year on May 31, the lowest since 1978, the USDA said on Feb. 8. U.S. stockpiles may fall to 272 million bushels, or 7.4 million tons, by the end of May, the lowest in 60 years, the government said. In the U.S., the world's top wheat exporter, the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and western Kansas remained dry, the CWB said today on its Web site. That's fueled speculation about low soil-moisture levels for grain that's starting growing after lying dormant since November, the board said. Precipitation is needed ``very soon'' for plants in the region, the CWB said. About 42 percent of the Kansas crop was in good or excellent condition as of Feb. 28, compared with 64 percent a year earlier, the U.S. government said yesterday in a report. In Oklahoma, about 44 percent earned top ratings versus 58 percent in 2007, the USDA said. The Texas crop was 10 percent good or excellent, down from 42 percent last year, USDA data show. `Extreme Dryness' ``If you get into mid-March, they have to start seeing rain or there'll be speculation that the dryness will damage the crop,'' said Jamey Kohake, a broker at Paragon Investments in Silver Lake, Kansas. ``Down in the Texas panhandle you get into some extreme dryness. It gets a littler drier the further south you go. It could hurt crops longer term.'' Parts of western Kansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle and West Texas have received as little as 5 percent of normal moisture in the past 30 days, National Weather Service data show. The U.S. Drought Monitor shows parts of the region are in a moderate drought. Growers in the southern Plains grow mostly high-protein hard-red winter wheat, used to make staple foods including bread and pasta. Demand for the grain has increased in the past year because of concerns global growers wouldn't produce enough. A storm last weekend dropped rain and snow on parts of Kansas, helping crops in the central and eastern part of the state but missing the western counties, leaving them dry, Meteorlogix said in a report today. No significant precipitation is expected in the region for the next five days, the forecaster said. Russia, Ukraine In Russia, the second-largest wheat exporter, temperatures were also well above normal and mostly dry, the Canadian Wheat Board said. ``Precipitation is needed to give the crop a boost after several weeks of above-normal temperatures,'' the CWB said. ``Crops will now be actively growing in the south, increasing the need for precipitation.'' In the southern Canadian Prairies, temperatures were 1 degree to 5 degrees Celsius above normal last week, the CWB said. Precipitation also is needed in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and China, where warm, dry weather may hurt crops, the CWB said. El Nino Australia, which has suffered from extreme drought the past two years, has received light to moderate rains in some areas while others have remained dry. Meteorologist Palmerino said growing areas in that country may again suffer a lack of moisture as temperatures in the Pacific Ocean have warmed recently. Temperatures were about 1.8 degrees Celsius below normal in October and are now about 0.3 degrees below normal, indicating an El Nino system may be developing, which usually brings warm, dry weather to western Australia, Palmerino said. ``If this trend toward warming temperatures continues, one thing we can't totally rule out is the development of El Nino conditions as we move into the latter part of the spring and summer,'' Palmerino said. ``That would be of concern if we start to tilt sea temperatures in that direction.'' |
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| Wil | Mar 8 2008, 10:53 AM Post #15 |
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Merged the two similar threads on this, yes does indeed look like a Horseman has begun his ride. 3/6/2008 12:01 AM ET Could we really run out of food? Biofuel production, poor harvests and emerging nations' growing appetites are emptying the world's pantry, sending prices soaring. It's a good time to invest in agricultural stocks. By Jon Markman As if a bear market, credit crunch, energy crisis and city financing emergency were not enough for one year, experts say the world is now facing down the barrel of the worst catastrophe of all: famine. The very idea that the modern world could run out of food seems ludicrous, but that is the flip side, or cause, of the tremendous recent increase in the cost of raw wheat, corn, rice, oats and soybeans. Food prices are not escalating because speculators have run them up for sport and profit, but because accelerating demand in developing nations, biofuel production and poor harvests in some areas have made basic foodstuffs truly scarce. In energy circles, folks who warn about the beginning of the end of cheap fossil fuels talk about "peak oil" as a point we have dangerously and expensively crossed. Likewise, you can now add "peak wheat" to your political and investment lexicon. And it's a lot worse. Food fighting One can always move closer to work to cut down on gasoline. But be forced to eat less toast, beer and steak? Them's fightin' words. Wheat futures prices have tripled since 2004, corn prices have almost tripled since 2005, and soybeans have tripled since 2006. Meanwhile, crude oil is up merely 60% in the past three years, which makes it seem very bearable in comparison. U.S. stock prices have barely eked out a 10% advance since 2005, underscoring the diminishment of our buying power. A large pepperoni pizza these days costs about as much as a share of Citigroup (C, news, msgs). Citigroup finished Wednesday at $22.15. This is no joke, already, in Asia. Rice prices surged to a 20-year high this week -- more than $18 per hundred pounds -- as countries that have the most are hoarding it for their own people. Vietnam, India and Egypt have restricted exports to keep local markets stocked. Thai, Philippine and Indonesian officials are warning of civil unrest if the flow of rice does not increase. Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan in recent weeks have restricted wheat exports as well, slapping on big tariffs to make sure shelves are stocked in their homelands amid soaring prices. A major Russian grains-company chief told Reuters that his country "is in a condition that has never happened before." Higher prices are not meeting any resistance from desperate buyers. Most unusual about this phenomenon, according to BMO Financial Group strategist Don Coxe, is that until now, food crises in world history were regional concerns that arose from crop failures, war or pests. Once global trade of grains got going in the 19th century in a major way, food shortages in one country were ameliorated by imports, he said. What's happening now is a lack of supply everywhere at once. Culprits abound, but chief among them is urbanization, which has cut the amount of acreage devoted to farming. The United Nations reports that the total area devoted to crops worldwide had risen by 0.3% annually since 1961, to 3.8 billion acres through the latest survey. But the growth has stalled to 0.1% annually in the past decade. Unlike energy, you can't drill deeper in the ocean or under Arctic tundra for more food. One key way to increase agricultural supply and reduce prices is by improving seed technology. So if you want to profit from rising prices, notes MSN Money's Jim Jubak, your best bets may be seed companies Also, surging income growth among emerging middle classes in China, India, Southeast Asia and South America has boosted demand for meat protein, and feed for new Asian cattle ranches and pig farms is putting intense pressure on the world's corn supply. Of course, the weather plays a role, too. A terrible drought in the breadbasket of Australia over the past two years has combined with bad harvests in Argentina and Brazil to create some of today's shortfall. Empty global cupboards Shortages are real. The Financial Times reports that rice stocks have fallen this year to about 70 million tons, the lowest level in 25 years and less than half the total held in global inventories in 2000. Wheat inventories, called "carry-overs" in the trade, are at 30-year lows even though world wheat production was actually up 1% last year. In the past year, reports show, wheat inventories in the European Union have plunged to 1 million tons from 14 million tons. A leading Canadian fertilizer executive told analysts recently that according to his company's calculations, global grain reserves are "precarious," at just 1.7 months of consumption, down from 3.5 months of reserves as recently as 2000. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/SuperModels/ |
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| JMA | Mar 8 2008, 12:20 PM Post #16 |
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Will....I just get a blank screen when I click on the link.... |
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| Wil | Mar 8 2008, 12:26 PM Post #17 |
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Sorry Jeannie, this one should work: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Inves...nOutOfFood.aspx |
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| dibldabl | Mar 18 2008, 10:09 PM Post #18 |
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Queues for bread in Egypt ------------------------------------ Egypt army to tackle bread crisis http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7300899.stm Egypt's president has ordered the army to increase the production and distribution of bread, in an attempt to cope with serious shortages. Rising prices and alleged corruption have sparked recent clashes at bakeries in poorer neighbourhoods, leading to several deaths. Hosni Mubarak said eradicating bread queues was "imperative". The army and interior ministry control numerous bakeries normally used to supply bread for troops and police. Mr Mubarak issued his order to the army at a meeting of cabinet ministers on Sunday that was called to address the growing crisis, his spokesman said. "Bread should be provided to the citizens and the lines should disappear," Suleiman Awwad quoted Mr Mubarak as saying. The price of wheat has more than tripled on international markets since last summer. Mr Mubarak has ordered the government to use some foreign reserves to buy additional wheat from the international market, the spokesman said. Many of Egypt's 70m population, about half of whom live below the poverty line, survive on subsidised bread. Unsubsidised bread is 10-12 times more expensive than the subsidised five-piaster loafs (less that $0.01). |
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| Wil | Mar 25 2008, 11:09 PM Post #19 |
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Grains analyst: A drought away from disaster Mar 24, 2008 9:30 AM, By Roy Roberson Farm Press Editorial Staff Wheat stocks are at their lowest ebb since post-World War II and prices are at near record highs. Soybean stocks are likewise moving to below that magic five percent level and corn — well the demand for ethanol speaks for itself. Low wheat stocks have encouraged investment bankers to dump millions of dollars on the U.S. market in hopes of making a quick profit. The result has been to artificially increase the price of wheat-containing food products and to push the supply of wheat worldwide to alarmingly low levels. Demand for corn, in hopes of off-setting supply problems that have contributed gas and diesel prices pushing $4 per gallon in some areas of the U.S., is sure to keep corn prices soaring. And, soybeans, though not as much in the press as corn as a source of biofuels is quietly becoming an oil of choice for easy to produce biodiesel. With diesel prices already nearing $4 per gallon, it is a safe bet biodiesel will get more and more attention as a fossil-fuel alternative. While high grain prices provide unprecedented opportunities for the production side of agriculture, the business side is precariously balanced between the proverbial rock and hard place. One bad production year could mean disaster for the agriculture infrastructure of the U.S. Or, as one analyst contends, “we are one drought away from disaster.” High prices are not necessarily a farmer’s best friend, says Jimmy Glover, general manager of Glover Milling Company in Bailey, N.C. “A few may make a lot of money, but in the long-run the entire industry will suffer and some people will go out of business,” Glover says. Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, himself a former grain dealer and former President of the Southeastern Grain Dealers Association, says these unprecedented high prices (corn, wheat and soybeans all at or near 10-year highs at the same time) put grain dealers in a situation where one bad margin call or one missed hedge can put them out of business. Farmers, likewise, can literally lose the farm by forward contracting high priced grain, because of drought or any number of production problems, not being able to deliver the contract and having to buy grain at inflated prices. A number of factors have come together to put the world supply of wheat, and to a lesser degree corn and soybeans, at perilously low supplies. Some of the reasons are weather-related, but some are strictly man-made. Extreme weather shifts over the past two years have reduced wheat harvest worldwide by nearly 10 percent. High corn prices, fueled by the demand from the ethanol industries in the U.S. and western Europe have correspondingly pushed wheat planting down in what are typically among the highest-yielding wheat producing countries in the world. The combination of factors has left wheat supplies at their lowest levels since 1973, or since 1940, depending on which analyst is to be believed. Either way, wheat stocks of less than four percent worldwide has prompted stunningly high prices, reportedly as high as $25 per bushel in some markets. The low wheat stocks and the worldwide focus on finding alternative biofuels has caught the eye of major investors worldwide. As a result huge financial portfolio managers, most notably in the U.S., have dumped billions of dollars in the grain futures market. While these financial maneuvers marginally impacted the price of soybeans and corn, it has dramatically impacted the cost of wheat. If corn and soybean stocks take the same path as wheat, whether driven by crop production declines worldwide or by investment brokers, the basis for over 70 percent of the food products in the United States will be directly affected — and not in a positive way. The real losers in this high stakes game of supply and demand are consumers. Analysts are already simulating what would happen if a drought hit the Corn Belt. Bruce Babcock, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University, estimates that corn could reach $8 a bushel from $5.65 as of early March. Corn prices affect the cost of gas, as more states go to 10 percent ethanol blends to meet clean air standards. Corn prices affect the price of beef, pork, poultry and other meat products. A $6 a pound sirloin steak and $4 gallon of milk are bargains, compared to the price should corn sell for long periods of time at $8 per bushel. Wheat prices have already sent bread prices up, and with wheat selling for $10-12 per bushel, bakers simply can’t absorb the extra price. U.S. consumers will likely pay the higher prices for meat, but not for bread. In the Southeast in 2007, drought decimated the 25-year high acreage of corn planted. Despite huge acreage increases, corn yields across the region were down from 2006 levels. Fortunately, the Midwest — America’s Corn Belt — faired much better, and the Southeastern corn failure was just a minor blip on the overall corn radar screen. Had that same level of drought hit the Midwest, not to mention other top corn-producing areas of the world, the result would have been catastrophic. Since 1971, in the United States, droughts or floods have wiped out 21-29 percent of the Midwest corn crop four times. Dramatic wheat losses, due to spring freezes are even more frequent. Soybean losses to drought, delayed planting and the real threat from Asian soybean rust puts that crop at similar or worse risk. The risk of drought is higher than normal because of La Nina. The cooling of ocean temperatures associated with La Nina has a drying effect and has been pointed to as the culprit for extended droughts in Africa and to less dryer levels in other parts of the world. Past drought, freeze and flood-related crop shortages have caused widespread shortages of food. The next disaster would be the first to cause a widespread shortage of fuel as well. That's because ethanol — mostly refined from corn — will make up about 6 percent of the nation's gasoline supply this year, and that's expected to rise to 10% over the next five years. The amount of ethanol used in California gasoline is expected to grow at a faster rate, reaching 10 percent by 2010. What’s driving U.S. grain markets? • Low cost of the U.S. dollar. The United States has historically exported over 40 percent of its wheat crop and over 25 percent of its soybean crop. Low cost of the dollar makes U.S.-grown commodities more attractive to developing markets. • Exports. Overseas demand for U.S. wheat is forecast to hit a 12-year high of 1.2 billion bushels in 2008. Soybean exports are expected to total slightly more than 1 billion bushels — 113 million bushels below the 2007 export record. • Crop failures worldwide. Wheat production in South America, Australia and western Europe has been cut from five to 20 percent in each of the past two growing sesons. • Alternative fuels. U.S. corn farmers are expected to top 90 million acres again in 2008, down slightly from 2007. Corn produced for ethanol is expected to increase 51 percent in 2008, to 3.2 billion bushels. • Historic low supplies. Wheat stocks of 272 million bushels is the lowest since the 1940s and soybean stocks of 160 million bushels is the lowest in the past 35 years. Traditionally, large supplies of peanuts worldwide has reduced the shortage in soybeans for oil, but reduced peanut stocks and high prices reduce the bailout for 2008 and beyond. • Investment money. The potential for high risk, high profit in the commodity industry has attracted investment bankers and high capital portolio managers who have dumped huge amounts of money, especially in the U.S. market. For the farmer, the high prices have meant correspondingly high prices in fertilizer and other fossil-fuel based production products and equipment. The high prices of grain have not uniformly meant high profits for farmers. Hopefully, a weather friendly 2008 growing and harvesting season will mean good profits for growers and reasonable prices for consumers. http://southeastfarmpress.com/grains/grain-supply-0324/ |
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| 7SevenThunders7 | Mar 26 2008, 01:24 PM Post #20 |
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ATN Brothers & Sisters, I had this strange dream Oct. 23, 2007 and posted it here. I started to think it was a personal prophecy for my own family because we have endured hardship now since last October and we've been living on the kindness of Christians for our food since then. But now I think it may have been demonstrated to me in a dramatic way, but the word is for the entire world. I didn't tell anyone what the Lord said to me one morning, it was too horrible to imagine. This morning I saw the grain and fruit mixed with the little black bugs raining down on me, in the spirit and so I knew it was time to sound the alarm. I woke up one morning and started to pray and mediatate on the Lord as is my habit of doing and the Lord spoke to me and said, "Get a pen and paper and write what I tell you!" So I got up and got a pen and paper: (the Lord's words BOLD) THAT ALL MEN MAY KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD 12 GREEN SEEDS SLEEPING IN THE SOD, THESE ARE THE TWELVE DISCIPLES: I didn't understand but I kept writing what he commanded me to write. LET THERE BE WAR LET THERE BE BLOODSHED This is when I got afraid and asked, "Lord! Are you sure that's you?" I was still crying. I felt like a child being punished, crying for the Father to have mercy. LET THERE BE FAMINE IN THE LAND As I wrote it I argued with the Lord, "No! Please don't make me write that!" I started to cry as I wrote it. He pushed me on and spoke boldly to proclaim His will. LET MY MARTYRS BLOOD BE SHED I understood that am one of the martyrs in white robes, crying out, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” LET THE EARTH BE SHAKEN LET THE SUN BE DARKENED LET THE MOON BE MADE BLOOD LET THE STARS FALL TO EARTH LET MY MIGHTY WINDS PREVAIL LET THE SKY BE RENT IN TWO LET THE MOUNTAINS CRUMBLE LET THE ISLANDS FALL INTO THE SEA I understand now that these 12 seeds had been planted by God and the they were 'sleeping' or getting ready to sprout one by one. These are His judgements on mankind. The first seeds are now opening up. Soon they will be pushing through the soil and reaching up toward the sun. ~7Seven |
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