2009/10: "Disastrous" global harvest year?

According to this fellow, anyway, the 2009 harvest year was "disastrous." He is talking about the US, but none of the news on this topic I've heard from other countries has been positive so far.

Whatever your stance on the environment, no sane person will deny the basic fact that for whatever reason(s), there are good years and bad years for global food production. 2007 was a bad year. 2008 was a good year. (Note how in 2009, food prices were down or at least remained stable in most parts of the world, compared with the previous year). 2009 seems to have been a bad year. Perhaps a very bad year. That probably means another ugly crunch at the grocery store for most folks (those lucky enough to even have access to grocery stores, that is).

The data is not in from every country yet, and yes, the sketchy blog linked to above is the best I can find at the moment. Personally, govt stats on food (from whatever government) are to be mistrusted on general principles, but there are some truths too big to hide. Most of us with at least one eye on farm-related news around the globe this year knew the news would probably not be good.

I welcome any rebuttles or better sources.





[edit on 1/5/10 by silent thunder]

reply to post by silent thunder


Interesting, because the latest ALTA report from the web bot guys talk about major shortages (crops?) and riots being a huge theme for 2010. Hmmm....