Rain and the Crops

We have been having a little rain quite regularly. The corn has really grown and will be knee high by the 4th of July for sure. It is so neat to see the bean fields coming up too. The farmers put in a lot of work and had to do it inbetween rains, but they got it done. The crops look good around here. I feel so sorry for all those people in Texas who have been washed away, losing homes, cars, even family. We are blessed that we haven't had any of that.

Change in the Weather

We have had a strange Spring and Summer and now Fall is following the same way.  It has been exceptionally dry.  The rain has gone north and south of us, leaving us with very dry ground.  The crops have had to be brought in early as they have matured too quickly and some of the ears on the corn, I have heard, don't even have kernels on them.  Others are so small.  I read yesterday that the beans are falling out of the pods onto the ground and therefore, can't be picked up by the combine.  This makes for a smaller yield of both corn and beans.  We are using a lot of both to make Ethanol in the gasoline and I don't think it is right to use food for fuel.  Grocery prices are going up because of it and things could get worse. The farmers can't afford to feed their animals the high priced grains so we will be seeing a shortage of meat too.  None of that is good news.

Increasing Food Costs Blamed On Ethanol

Food costs kept rising in June, but motorists finally got some relief at the gas pump, helping to lower inflation to the smallest increase in five months. The Labor Department reported that consumer prices edged up by 0.2 percent in July. That was the best showing since January and far below the 0.7 percent surge of May, the biggest jump in nearly two years.But with the use of corn for ethanol pushing up food costs and gasoline prices rising again in July, economists said the moderation in inflation could prove temporary.