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| -Short Attention Span Theater- | ||
| Tofu Shortage! Oh the humanity! | ||
| 2004-12-07 | ||
| A fungal disease of soybeans first reported in Japan in 1902 has spread across the planet and devastated crop yields. The fungus — called soybean rust — reached Africa in 1996 and arrived in South America five years later. In China and other parts of Asia, the disease has reduced soybean yields by up to 80 per cent, and it cost Brazilian farmers US$2 billion last year. In September, hurricanes carried spores of the fungus on to North America. A severe shortage of tofu will likely result in a drop in the Moonbat population, perhaps making them an endangered species.
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| Posted by:Mercutio |
| #20 4 bucks a pound at em grocry store by my house.>:( What can I say, Mucky? That is truly pricey. You may want to switch a grocery store or move from your location beyond polar circle a bit more south. You can grow your own, too, even on a balcony, let alone if you have a strip of a backyard at your house. That way you eat them for free the whole summer and most of the fall. What I am trying to say.... stop whining! :-) |
| Posted by: Sobiesky 2004-12-07 10:24:23 PM |
| #19 The good thing about soybean fields is that next year they can be some other kind of field. |
| Posted by: gb506 2004-12-07 10:08:11 PM |
| #18 Yipes... most of Illinois (the red parts, dontcha know) is covered with soybean fields. I always knew I was getting close to U of I when I could smell the roasters in Gibson City. Hopefully this won't spell the beginning of the end. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-12-07 10:01:25 PM |
| #17 Looks like I was wrong about the fungus getting a toehold on the continental US. I was just talking to a field rep from just-west-of-east Texas, who says that some soybean farmers in southern Louisiana got hammered by the rot. Our only customers in that end of the state are all cotton or sugarcane growers, so it's not showing in my numbers. A soybean rot like this is especially nasty - you can lose in excess of 80% of your crop in a few days if you don't hose it down with fungicides, four applications' worth, and quick-like. Soybeans aren't a very profit-dense crop - their main selling point is their low chemical and fertilizer footprint - which makes the necessary treatments particularly painful, fiscally speaking. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2004-12-07 7:36:20 PM |
| #16 :-p |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2004-12-07 6:32:05 PM |
| #15 jeez...who let the adult in? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-12-07 6:20:47 PM |
| #14 The summer tomato crop got pounded into soupy salsa by the hurricanes...prices should start to moderate as the fall/winter fruit comes online... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2004-12-07 6:08:41 PM |
| #13 Well, mucky, look on the good side: It will be too expensive to throw tomay toes in demonstrations any more. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-12-07 6:03:13 PM |
| #12 Mucky, what about tomay toes? Sumthin wrong with'em? He probably really likes Tomei toes. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-12-07 6:01:28 PM |
| #11 4 bucks a pound at em grocry store by my house.>:( |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2004-12-07 6:00:15 PM |
| #10 are tomahtoes expensive too? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-12-07 4:16:24 PM |
| #9 Tomatoes cost more than ground chuck. I blame the Reagan spending cuts. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-12-07 4:05:25 PM |
| #8 Mucky, what about tomay toes? Sumthin wrong with'em? |
| Posted by: Sobiesky 2004-12-07 3:19:20 PM |
| #7 first tomaytoes now this >:( |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2004-12-07 3:15:32 PM |
| #6 Yeah, I just checked my soybean datasets, and unless I'm missing something, there doesn't seem to be any indications of a production dip in the areas I cover. Other than one dealership in the southeast Delta, everybody's having their best year in at least six years. Maybe that one dealership is the fall-point, but I can't tell - I don't have any history for him. Hey, there's an upside to this fungus landing with the hurricanes on the Gulf Coast. Those Delta agribusinesses use obscene amounts of fungicide and dual-purpose pesticides which can double as fungicides. They'll barely notice the additional chemical burden down there - the productive fieldland down there is like the Somme in the immediate postwar era. Gassed sterile. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2004-12-07 2:10:17 PM |
| #5 Starbucks is made from roasted soybeans. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-12-07 1:59:45 PM |
| #4 "Can you say the same for what you drink?" Well, if it's in distilled water, whole milk, Lipton tea, or Starbucks' javanese coffees, then no. That's all I drink, heh. ;-) |
| Posted by: .com 2004-12-07 1:35:01 PM |
| #3 There is a shortage of Bears, as well! .com says: I can say that I don't eat anything in which it serves a beneficial role. Can you say the same for what you drink? :-) |
| Posted by: Dragon Fly 2004-12-07 1:27:38 PM |
| #2 I hate to say it, because of all the soybean farmers who are obviously going to be devastated by this, but I don't think I'll miss textured soy. It has been introduced in so many products that it boggles. Yet, with 100% confidence, I can say that I don't eat anything in which it serves a beneficial role. For me it's just taste-reducing filler. Regardless, this is a huge global opportunity for bio / genetic engineers to prove their worth to the idiots - and I hope they're up to the task for the millions who depend upon this crop. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-12-07 1:17:42 PM |
| #1 Soy is a prime component in many foods, one way or another. Cool Whip, for example. All Hershey sweet chocolate products contain soy. Another soy derivitive is the mono-diglyceride used for emulsion. 60% of processed foods in the US probably contain soy or a soy byproduct. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2004-12-07 1:09:38 PM |