Luscious Corn

August 18, 2005
Luscious corn and bean fields are sights to behold. Will this greenery crush the complacency of a bumper crop? Soybeans won the poker game a few years before, tall and full plants lined the seemingly never ending fields. The elation waned quickly when harvest rolled in. Just green leaves with small pods. Counting the chicks before they hatch. Agricultural is the largest industry in the world. Along side this claim, the dying trade. Costs of production has escalated in an industry relative to petroleum. Fuel for the farm equipment, chemicals, propane for drying the grain, the list continues. Survival rate in agricultural is staggering, smaller farms have given way to corporations. Acreage determines income and supply chain. More acres also mean more costs, on the other hand, more acres means a wider buffer in the event of crop failure. Agriculture is an industry without a fixed income, the worth of goods fluctuates with the Chicago Board of Trade, while crop performance is at the mercy of weather and nature. Prayer may help, but all one can do is watch idly as the seed germinates. Watching the sky and the checkbook while the season changes from Spring to Fall. Hoping that this crop will pay for the hundred thousand dollar fertilizer bill with enough to purchase seed for the next crop. Someone has to feed the world. The farmers plant the corn that feeds the livestock which returns as dinner. So you are a vegetarian, that guy who groomed your salad-dinner had fried chicken for lunch!
Thursday, Aug 18, 2005 - 07:07am (PDT