drought and profit

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/prelim/drought/palmer.html _______________________________________________________ http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/ __________________________________________________________ there's a drought on...the palmer drought indices tell me that the rain in june brought the long-term and short-term indices into line...instead of a long-term severe and short -term extreme drought we now have only severe drought in both...good news for all the climate change deniers out there...as a corollary to this index mundi tells me that the price of corn ( this is dense yellow number 2 we're talking not sweet corn...the industrial feedstock for hot pockets and mountain dew ) settled at $326.97 per metric ton (tonne)...the price was $267.63 at the end of june...soybeans are up to $627.85 a metric ton as opposed to the $522.33 they cost at the end of june...see a trend? there has been a bit of scattered rain in between the 90 degree days hereabouts and farmer brown's soybeans (top two photos) don't look bad at the moment ( although if you look closely you will see the soil is already dry as dust on the surface and the reprieve won't last long without a sustained rain) there are some volunteer corn plants in that beam field which won't make monsanto happy...those corn seeds are licensed for one crop only...no seed saving...you can also see they don't look like the corn in the last three photos...genetically engineered to be viable and productive for only one generation? my best guess would be yes...and speaking of corn, farmer brown's field has grown some since my last visit...it looks okay too...at least at a distance...up close it looks a lot like a dose of atrazine is called for...the rows aren't exactly weed-choked but there's enough bermuda thistle and queen anne's lace going on to point out a need for some agricultural chemotheraphy[jackson]...on the whole a dicey situation for both consumers and speculators...some drought relief could send the price of grain futures plummeting and cost any trader long on grain a bundle...conversely a good year for speculators means beef, chicken, and pepsi will all cost more if you want them on your table...agriculture has never been a secure line of work and that seems to be underscored by the vagaries of the weather this season...it's had an impact from industrial agriculture to the native species in my gardens...i'll be out in farmer brown's fields again and i will doubtlessly be in the gardens trying to get a handle on where all this is going...more if and/or when i figure something out. ________________________________________ 7-16-2012 6:35 p.m. as an afterthought on farmer brown's field...some birds really like bermuda thistle and i have to wonder if it isn't ( intentionally or unintentionally ) a sort of trap crop that could divert some birds from the corn...just a thought...i haven't seen many birds hanging out in the fields of dense yellow #2 that i've been touring all around here for the last few years...perhaps they don't even recognize it as food ( more research...sometimes i think i think too much )and perhaps i'm over-thinking farmer brown's motivations...still...i could be.