2009 - Year Without A Summer

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

Yesterday, there was an article on Drudge Report that linked to an article on Accuweather.com about the continuing cold in the Upper Midwest and Far Northeast. They indicated that likely these areas would not have a true summer this year. What will that do to food production?? Wheat and Corn production come to mind.

[CIW]

Although cooler growing seasons do effect timing of the crops maturity, the amount and timeliness of water during the srowing season is far more impactive on yields.
Specifically wheat is considered a cool weather crop and hybridized corn has been bred to have larger leaf surfaces, giving them more ability to convert the suns energy.

[calliemoonbeam]

Wish we could trade some of my heat for some of their cold, lol. We reached 100 in mid May(! - really rare) and have been at least 90 almost every day in June so far. I'm REALLY dreading July and August! Plus, in between it rains, rains, rains, so when the sun comes back out it just steams and the humidity is a killer. I daydream constantly of moving back to Colorado or California, lol.

[Aintlifegrand]

Originally Posted by calliemoonbeam

Wish we could trade some of my heat for some of their cold, lol. We reached 100 in mid May(! - really rare) and have been at least 90 almost every day in June so far. I'm REALLY dreading July and August! Plus, in between it rains, rains, rains, so when the sun comes back out it just steams and the humidity is a killer. I daydream constantly of moving back to Colorado or California, lol.

I sure hope you are growing a garden as this is the perfect combination... we too have been experiencing a weird season thus far.. hot days..really cool nights and rain at least twice a week...for us by now we would be just hot, humid and more humid...I have only watered two times since April because of natures's sprinkler system...

[cowboy joe]

Even NASA is shaking their head over the season so far:

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2...larminimum.htm

Cooler than normal here in the northeast...not that I'm complaining after hearing about how hot it's been else where.

[Wolf mom]

The weather here is upside down also. Extreme wind, one week hot, the next too cold to remove the protection the Wall of Waters gives my tomato plants.

It's very interesting that "those that appear to know" are not looking at the influence the sun has on our weather. There has been little sun flair activity in a couple years - that has direct influence on our weather!

We have cycles within cycles. Research 'Tree Ring Research' from the U of AZ. for wet/dry periods, and draught disasters since the 1500"s.

The southewst is in the most severe draught that has occurred since about the 1300's stated Dr. Swetnam, of the U of A, but that does not mean it is because of global warming.

[kohburn]

its global warming, watch out!

on a more serious note: the global warming vs global ice age thing is still being debated among the science community. Some say that we are currently topping out and are heading back into a cooling cycle.

[Callieslamb]

I am jst gald I put ion 6 Siberia tomato plants. they are blooming wth the rest of them are sitting there shivering. I wish I had put the peas in now, I thought it was going to get hot eventually.

[ChristyACB]

It was nice for us for a good while but then...alas...we are in the 90s as per usual.

[rambler]

Here in southern MN, we had a very wet fall & winter with very deep frost.

This spring was late & slow because of that, but we had very little rain - was turning into a moderate drought. That allowed us to get the crops - mostly field corn & soybeans here - planted.

The past few weeks have been quite cool. We finally got an inch and 1/2 of rain last weekend, but it has been down right COLD, cloudy, and grey now. The past 2 days have not hit 60 degrees for a high, and lows are in the mid 40s. Nothing has grown in the past 3 days, too cold.

This whole week should warm up to 'almost' 80 one day.

This is June, normal highs are in the upper 70s to 80.

We had a cool year like that 3 years ago, we were _very_ fortunate to have a hot September which brought the crops around to 'normal'.

Last year it was real difficult to get a crop planted - it was wet wet wet, and cool also. I got good yields last fall, but the crop was very wet & a challenge to harvest - cost me a lot more to get it in a bin.

Back in the mid 1990's we also had a very cool summer, and that year the crops dod not produce well, and did not dry. Was well below average.


We are in a very odd ecconmic time. With so much of our ecconomy depressed, one would think demand for grains would drop. But, our poor dollar is so low, that it makes our grains look like a bargin to other countries - we can sell cheaper that Brazil these days, even if a bu of corn is worth more _dollars_ to you & me, it is not worth more yen or euros - because of the exchange rate.

So, we are exporting a lot of grains, demand is still there.

Soybeans are in a _very_ tight world supply, we are going to run out of them more or less. About September we get into the 2009 supply, and they assume a lot of soybeans are being grown out there, so there will be plenty of beans by fall. But between now & September, either the price will go up, or we will use up all available beans. In other words, soybeam meal for the protien in your livestock feed is going to roller-coaster in price real bad over the next months.

Corn they are worried about the real bad weather in Illinois, Indiana, and easterly. They typically have the _best_ crop of corn in the USA, but they have been flooded out, can't get planting. Their corn that is planted looks very, very poor. So one day corn is up 12 cents in price per bu; the next day it is down 15 cents per bu. These are extreme price variations!

Wheat was up 22 cents a bu today. Last week it was down 50 cents a bu in _one day_.


Grain buyers and sellers are very confused, and go from one extreme emotion to the next, every other day.

With the ecconomy continue to collapse, depressing grain prices?

Will weather issues like you mention or world demnd against out crumbling dollar value create a lot of demand around the globe for USA grains?

We seem to be on a knife edge this year, you ask a very good question.

With the price of fuel going up again, and as high as fertilizer was last spring, cheap grain prices would be a disaster for us all.

With the poor ecconomy & people out of work, high grain prices would also be a disaster for all of us - famers included.

It would be smart to keep track of what is going on, and in or out of your grain needs before something major comes along - making grains jump high, or drop off low.

You have a good question. I didn't answer it, but keep asking & learning, things are very extreme one way or the other, stay on top of this issue. I'm trying to, and it is very difficult this year!

--->Paul

[insocal]

Here in So Cal we had a week or so of real summer back in late April, got almost 105F. May and June have been gorgeous (frequently they are anything but), and even our June Gloom is gloomier and cooler than usual. We had unheard-of June rain a few days ago.

Whether or not it's weird, or a sign of apocalypse to come, I will take any nice weather that comes my way here, because summer will surely arrive sooner or later, and last year that meant 117F.

[NorthernWoods]

I'm not making a fuss; I work outside. I did take notice though. I heard on the tv a few days ago it was suppose to dip to 40 degree here in PA that particular night. I thought that was unusual.

But we don't really see the heat until July through September. Summer is coming late this year. However, crops are going to be wicked this year! We have gotten A LOT of rain. I don't think I ever had crops so far along this early.

[farmergirl]

YuccaFlats,
This thread title caught my eye as I remember you are in Texas. I was thinking, "Wha? It's hotter than blazes and it's only the beginning on June!"

[DoubleBee]

I won't complain about a cooler than normal summer. Lower electric bills here sound fine to me.

[Jerngen]

Normal highs for this time of year here are in the high 60's. It's been running very low to mid 50's. Some days down into the mid 40's for highs.
Today I think was 52 degrees at 3pm.

Supposed to warm up into the 60's soon, that'll be nice.

[Jennifer L.]

Originally Posted by YuccaFlatsRanch

Yesterday, there was an article on Drudge Report that linked to an article on Accuweather.com about the continuing cold in the Upper Midwest and Far Northeast. They indicated that likely these areas would not have a true summer this year. What will that do to food production?? Wheat and Corn production come to mind.

Kind of depends what you call a "normal" summer, I think. In June it rarely gets hot here, and until recent years, upper 80's and low 90's were quite rare in July and August. I'll take this nice "normal" cool summer. Last few years have been too hot, so if it stays like this, great!

Quite a few years ago I put my jacket on one fall and there was a knife section off of the haybine in the pocket. That meant that sometime after late June it had been cold enough that working on equipment I'd needed a jacket. Now that's pretty cool when you are coming up on the 4th of July!

Jennifer

[simplyflow]

Originally Posted by Jerngen

Normal highs for this time of year here are in the high 60's. It's been running very low to mid 50's. Some days down into the mid 40's for highs.
Today I think was 52 degrees at 3pm.

Supposed to warm up into the 60's soon, that'll be nice.

Wow, wouldn't it be nice for something in the 60's? Yesterday, the highest temp here that I could find was around 46, give or take.

Little chilly for me, but I would rather put on a coat than put up with 90+ in June or any other time of the year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jim-mi]

It was 45 at 10:30 this morning when I left the house.

[NickieL]

its been a LOOOOOOONG spring here. I'm waiting for summer.

[paintlady]

Here in northern MN. it has been downright cold and while the cold wet weather has prevented me from getting my garden in yet the grain crops are doing well. Wheat likes cool weather as do oats. We are organic so we don't use chemicals and plant a legume instead that provides nitrogen and other nutrients. It is supposed to warm up here next week. This isn't the first cold year we have had. It froze in August in '04.