operating at a loss ($128.42)

the curious incident of the out of sync bean field continues as the field begins to ripen in anticipation of harvest...

there are plenty of pods along the bottoms of the rows...

and just as many in the canopy...

there are quite a few grasshoppers out and about among the beans as well...i am supposing that there was no insecticide sprayed on this field..or if there was its effectiveness had diminished...like all things anthropogenic...

clearly the efficacy of the herbicide which was sprayed earlier in the season has faded significantly...the field has been invaded by wildflowers and thistle and queen anne's lace ( a particularly difficult, deep rooted member of the carrot family )...it probably doesn't matter this late in the season...at least in terms of competition for the beans..they are about done...and what, i wonder, will become of the beans when they are done...last may, just before this field was planted soybeans were selling for $431.00 a metric ton...this is september...just before the harvest in north america...a time when supply should be fairly low if not short and prices should be on the upswing...instead, according tot he quote i just took from index mundi soyneans are settled for the day at $302.58 a metric ton...$128.42 a metric ton less than four months ago...something must be wrong with the "market forces" that market moralists are on about all the time...wonder what could have happened.