Record rainfall in Beijing

Beijing's heaviest rainfall in 60 years kills 10

Rainfall causing widespread chaos in the Chinese capital, stranding 80,000 people at the city's main airport

The Guardian,

22 July, 2012

The heaviest rain storm in six decades to hit Beijing killed at least 10 people and caused widespread chaos, flooding streets and stranding 80,000 people at the city's main airport, state media reported on Sunday.

The storm, which started on Saturday afternoon and continued late into the night, flooded major roads and sent torrents of water tumbling down steps into underpasses.

In the suburb of Tongzhou, two people died in a roof collapse and another person killed was struck by lightning, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Other deaths were caused by electric shocks from downed power lines and drowning, it added.

More than 500 flights were cancelled at the Chinese capital's international airport, the Beijing News said.

However, the subway system was largely unaffected, aside from being swamped with people desperate to get home and unable to use cars, buses or taxis.

The city received about 170mm (6.7in) of rain on average, though a township in Fangshan district was hit by 460mm (18.1in), Xinhua said.

The Beijing city government said on its website it was working to get the metropolis back on its feet, but reminded people to prepare for further bad weather.

"The weather forecasters say that from late July to early September this city is prone to flooding, and there could be further large-scale storms or extreme weather," it said.

Many residents took to China's popular microblogging site Sina Weibo to post dramatic pictures of the storm. Some complained the city should have been prepared, especially since the government had issued a severe storm warning the day before.

"It was forecast early on that Beijing would get torrential rain, so why were pumps and other facilities not prepared in time?" complained one user.

But at least one good result came from the storm. The official pollution index, which had showed an unhealthy rating before the storm hit, registered "excellent" on Sunday, with the air noticeably free of its normal acrid smell.

America's corn farmers high and dry as hope withers with their harvest

Brutal mix of triple-digit temperatures and lack of rain forces farmers in the corn belt to consider abandoning entire crop

the Guardian,

22 July, 2012

The worst drought in a generation is hitting farmers across America's corn belt far harder than government projections and forcing them to a heart-breaking decision: harvest what's left of their shrivelled acres or abandon their entire crop.

For Mike Buis, pictured, who farms in west-central Indiana, the most he could hope for, his best-case scenario, was saving one-third of his crop.

"I'd be tickled to death if it would make 50 bushels (1.5 tonnes), if we don't have rain," he said. Most of his crop was a write-off, and Buis was already looking ahead to next year.

"Some stuff technically is not going to be worth the combine bill to harvest it," he said. "This is my 49th crop, and I have never had a year like this."

Such individual calculations are replicated thousands of times across the 1,336 counties – about a third of the country – that are now officially a disaster zone, because of a brutal combination of triple-digit (40C) temperatures and prolonged drought. Scientists see both as evidence of climate change.

Buis has seen no rain on his 3,200 acres (1,300 hectares) since 28 May. Some stalks are chin-high – but with no ears of corn. Others are as squat as pineapple fronds. Soy bean that should be spread out at knee-level barely graze the shin.

The additional crop failures are set to push corn and soy bean prices upward of today's all-time high. Corn prices have risen by about 40% in the last few weeks, soybeans by about 25%.

That, in time, will mean higher prices for milk, poultry and meat for American consumers, and misery – possibly chaos and unrest – in African and Latin American countries, which depend on imported grains, food security experts say.

The US government warned this week that a third of the corn and soybean crop in drought-stricken areas was in poor condition.

But in Indiana, at the centre of the drought, they say the true extent of the crop losses will be far higher.

"Everybody that has walked their fields knows it's going to be worse than what they thought. That's just a universal across-the-board deal," said Norv Gottula, who owns the Cloverdale Agri Centre grain dealership.

"We've had droughts like this in '83 and in '88, but this here is more severe and it's going to be more wide reaching than before. One, because I think the actual crop loss and devastation is going to be worse, and two, because there is so much more money involved in putting up a crop," he said.

Farmers and local businesses in Cloverdale are already cutting back. One of Gottula's customers slaughtered her goats, rather than pay the extra cost to feed them. Livestock farmers are killing hogs and cattle, because they can't afford the higher-priced corn to raise them. The local ethanol plant has halted production, as have other plants across the midwest making fuel from corn and soy beans. The local horse rescue shelter took in three extra animals, because their owners can't feed them.

Sales of tractors and other farm machinery are down by 70%, said Dave Dorsett of Reynolds farm equipment in Martinville. "As soon as this drought hit, it has taken a drastic fall from lawn mowers all the way through the ag equipment," he said.

"We've even had guys putting the money down and letting the money go just so they can get out of their contracts."

Similar shockwaves are spreading throughout other rural communities, said Ernie Goss, an economics professor at Omaha's Creighton University, and who conducts a regular survey of rural communities in 10 midwestern states. Nearly a third of bank managers said farmers' borrowing was up, Goss found. Two-thirds said ethanol and biodiesel plants were cutting back or shutting down completely, and consumer confidence had fallen sharply even in farm communities that have so far been relatively recession proof.

"There has been quite a lot of boasting that unemployment is at less than half the national numbers in Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota – a lot of that is traced to farming," Goss said. "In some parts of the region it could be some of the toughest times since the 1980s."

And this is just the beginning. Most analysts expect the real food price shock to hit late this winter or early next year – and warn that it will be far worse than the government's current estimates.

The worst is yet to come

Some analysts, such as the Earth Policy Institute's Lester Brown, say the US department of agriculture has underestimated the shortfall in the corn and soy bean harvest.

Brown says he expects this year's harvest to drop by 96m tonnes – about double the official estimate.

Meteorological forecasters, such as Accuweather, have also warned corn yields will be much lower than the USDA projections.

Farmers in areas of severe drought, like this stretch of Indiana, are also pessimistic. "We have had crop insurance guys in our area seeing from 10 bushels an acre to 30 bushels an acre (130kg/hectare), and those are 200 bushel an acre farms," said Dorsett.

Department of agriculture officials say America will still produce a reasonable corn crop – farmers planted more than 96m acres of corn this year, the most in 75 years. Some of those acres are in areas that are not affected by drought, the officials say.

But almost everybody agrees: the worst is yet to come, especially for those countries struggling to pay world prices for corn and soybeans. Along with prices for milk and meat, due to rise because of the increased costs of animal feed, consumers can expect price rises for processed foods that use corn and soy.

American consumers, however, are unlikely to feel the pain as deeply as those in poor countries.

"The poorest countries bidding for grain are very sensitive," said Sophia Murray of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. "They have no reserves of currency to pay more or bid higher when prices go up."

Low income people in the developing world also spend a bigger share of their income on food, making them more vulnerable to price shocks, as during the 2008 food crisis.

"The low income countries, wherever they are in the world, consumers spend larest fraction of their income on food: sub-Saharan African, parts of which have corn or maize as their staple, South America from mexico south," said Robert Thompson, a food security expert at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

'It's a guessing game'

In the corn belt, however, they are already looking to next year. Do they roll the dice again on corn? David Rhea, Buis's cousin, stands to lose a considerable amount on this year's failed harvest because he does not have full insurance coverage.

To his mind, this drought properly started last year, when July brought blast-furnace temperatures. Winter brought very little snow or rain. Then came June's heatwave, earlier than last year's run of triple-digit days, and of even longer duration.

Is it evidence of climate change? "I'd have to ask Al Gore," Rhea joked.

But the question is growing impossible to ignore, even in strongly Republican parts of rural Indiana. Another year or two like this one and farmers are going to have to change their practices, Buis said.

"I think it is a historic shift," said Dorsett. "There is not question that that is shifting, based on climate, based on conditions, based on crops. We have had 70 or 80 degree (21-27C) weather at the end of February and in March. That is what you have in Arizona."

But he's less clear on how farmers should respond. "It's very unstable. It's a guessing game. Do we go ahead and come back and plant? Do we just go with the same old planting techniques we've done for the last 50 years and roll the diece again, or do we try to beat Mother Nature," he said. "It's a tough one."

Ask yourself, what will happen when we lose the capacity to import food from the other side of the world

Vegetables imports on shelves as rainfall leads to British shortages

Supermarkets are being forced to import vegetables from abroad after the wet and cold summer weather has led to many traditional British crops running late and reduced yields.

The Telegraph,

22 July, 2012

It is the time of year when shops should be overflowing with the produce of our green and pleasant land.

But this year’s wet summer means traditional summer vegetables are being imported from the other side of the world away to supply the country’s supermarkets - including onions from Argentina and cauliflowers from New Zealand.

Even the most quintessential English vegetable of all – peas – are being imported from Guatemala.

In fact one small shopping basket of vegetables bought at supermarkets last week had travelled more than 42,000 miles to make up the shortfall in British produce. Normally its contents would have come from Britain.

Growers are blaming the poor summer weather for delaying crops as plants have struggled to get the warm conditions and sunshine they need to flourish.

Weeks of torrential rain have left the soil waterlogged in fields, making it difficult for farmers to plant and harvest crops.

Carrot growers have seen harvests down by between 20 and 25 per cent compared to what they would normally expect at this time of year. Low light levels have also meant many carrots are 10-15 per cent shorter and fail to make the grade insisted upon by supermarkets. Some supermarkets have turned to South African imports to keep their shelves stocked.

Brassica crops such as cabbages, cauliflowers and broccoli are also suffering shortages as the plants have failed to mature in time for the usual peak summer season. Imports from New Zealand, California, Germany and Holland are being brought into the country to fill up supermarket shelves.

Even potato farmers have suffered problems with higher than normal levels of blight while many have struggled to harvest their crops from the waterlogged ground. Around 1,000 tons of potatoes are being imported from Belgium each week to cover the shortage. Other imports are coming from Egypt and Israel.

Many bean varieties are being imported more than 4,200 miles from Africa and Guatemala while courgettes are coming from Portugal and Spain around 1,000 miles away. Onions are being imported from as far away as Argentina and New Zealand.

Fresh garden peas, which are currently at the peak of their season in Britain, are also being imported from abroad. Some of this can be explained because the bulk of British grown peas are used in the frozen market rather than for fresh food supplies.

Vivaldi potatoes, a British variety that grows all year round, and Maris Piper potatoes, commonly used in chip shops, are also being imported from Israel more than 2,200 miles away to supplement stocks on British supermarket shelves.

Hayley Campbell-Gibbons, chief horticultural adviser at the National Farmers Union, said: “Some growers have had an awful time. There are shortages of brassica crops, while root vegetables like carrots and parsnips are also down.

“If the weather settles then we could see many of these crops appearing later in the season.”

The wet conditions are in stark contrast to the problems faced by farmers last year when drought hit many of Britain’s crop yields.

James Hallett, chief executive of the British Growers Association, added: “The courgette season is running a bit late, and the UK onion season has been a bit slow to come this year as the plants have not been getting enough sunshine.

“Cauliflowers have suffered the effects of the weather so there have been small amounts of imported produce from California and other European countries to make up the shortfall.”

There are also concerns about the impact the poor summer will have on crops that typically ripen later in the year. Apple crops are expected to be down by at least 30 per cent for some varieties such as Braeburn after storms and torrential rain damaged many crops in orchard.

Cereal crops are expected to be marginally down on last year with wheat yields one per cent lower, barley seven per cent lower and oats eight per cent lower. Farmers have also experienced extensive rain damage to their oil seed rape crops.

The waterlogged ground is also feared to have effected root crops such as parsnips, which typically start being harvested from the end of summer and through the winter.

But with better weather forecast over the coming weeks, it is hoped that many British crops will begin to catch up and hit the shops as they get a long needed dose of warm weather and sunshine.