From DTN News: NAWG Reverses Policy on Climate Change
A statement Friday from Karl Scronce, National Association of Wheat Growers president and a wheat producer from Klamath Falls, Ore.:
“The NAWG Board of Directors met this morning via conference call and voted 26 to 2 to approve a new resolution regarding greenhouse gas regulation. The Board also voted 24 to zero to remove existing resolutions relating to greenhouse gas regulation and an agriculture cap-and-trade program.
“The new resolution reads:
“’NAWG is opposed to greenhouse gas legislation or regulation that has a negative impact on production agriculture. NAWG will strive for a net economic benefit to farmers, agriculture and food production. We believe neither greenhouse gas regulation nor legislation should take effect until the major carbon emitting countries of the world have agreed to regulate their own greenhouse gases in a like manner to ours. NAWG urges USDA to do a detailed economic analysis of any legislation or regulation before it becomes law. Furthermore, NAWG will oppose EPA regulation and will work to overturn the Supreme Court ruling.’
NAWG staff and grower-leaders plan to continue to work on this issue to achieve an outcome that the Board feels is in the best interest of our grower-members. “
Here is the official NAWG resolution statement at the NAGW website
h/t to WUWT reader “CuriousGeorge)
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
David in Davis (12:44:00) :
” wheat as a poison, I ain’t buyin’ (excess sugar and fat consumption, yes.) Sugar and lack of dental hygiene lead to tooth and gum disease. ”
Ok, don’t buy into it. You won’t like contrary views on fat, either (I like natural fasts very much and avoid modern industrial seed oils).
In addition to straying much too far from the original topic, I also suspect a few scientific citations wouldn’t satisfy your doubt; after all, wheat consumption is ubiquitous in our society (and certainly “engrained” in Western civilization). It is quite rare to even question wheat, though that is changing slowly. Awareness and a new view of wheat is occurring even in Italy, the current hotbed of gluten-related research.
A decade+ and a lot of determined curiosity were required to shift my wheat/grain paradigm (sparked by a high blood glucose condition that was discovered when I was pregnant 11 yeas ago – in fact my dentist caught it first and my doctor missed it at first). In my search for more information I was aided and resisted simultaneously by my very skeptical husband, who is a croissant-loving research biochemist ;-).
I’m not naive or evangelical enough to think I can dislodge a major brick in the foundation of Western civilization (or even one resistant mind) with a few links to studies, and frankly, neither of us have the time that would take convince you and the others who cling to grains so I’m not going to provide you with citations (though there are more links than you’ll care to follow at the very scientific Whole Health Source or Hyperlipid blogs). I’d rather sow a few seeds of doubt; perhaps a few will germinate out of curiosity. Or not.
Other possibilities exist (other than a grain diet) for giving the Romans good teeth. One is that it could be the water. The Romans used a lot of lead in their plumbing (the root word in plumbing is plumbium which is Latin for lead). Lead appeared everywhere. If the Romans didn’t want to bother building an aqueduct across a valley then they used a siphon. The pipes in a siphon were usually made of lead. The higher up in the Roman aristocracy you were, the more indoor plumbing you had. Roman indoor plumbing was made of lead. That is probably why most of the Roman leaders were loony-tunes.
So does lead in your water give you good teeth?
Jim
Jim –
Actually it appears from both epidemiological and animal studies that the opposite is the case for the relationship between lead and dental caries:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/281/24/2294, but this isn’t yet regarded as completely definitive since no causal mechanism has been demonstrated.
Maybe they had sufficient exposure to fluoride in the water or elsewhere that was counteracted by the lead. However, assuming they really did have good teeth, I suspect it was a lack of sugar in their diet, not to mention that Coca Cola had not yet been invented.
David
I meant that “wasn’t” counteracted by the lead.
Curiousgeorge (04:55:36) :
“Van Jones resigned. Now to get rid of the rest of them. Hansen, Sunstein, and related, & Pelosi, Reid, and eventually Obama.”
Now George, that’s a pretty blatant political statement that I’m rather surprised escaped moderation. You don’t have to be a conservative to have doubts about AGW. It is and should be all about the science (or lack thereof).
Best,
David
p.s. You forgot Chu, but at least he’s for nuclear.
I was unable to find much information on US wheat and corn yields, but it appears that yields have recovered from a very slow start and are now headed for about average results.
Is this correct?
Re: Anna (09:35:20)
I do have a background in soil science, including some engineering courses on the mechanics, and I agree that the natural vegetation would have kept far more of the soil anchored (with some regional/local exceptions).
My concern is that those lacking broader perspective when reading about the 1930s drought will not be aware that the 30s were a time of major changes in the Earth system – i.e. even with state-of-the-art conservation practices (had they been in place) the 30s would still have been a time of severe problems for humans, plants, animals, etc. in the affected region.
http://www.sfu.ca/~plv/ChandlerPeriod.PNG
http://www.sfu.ca/~plv/1931UniquePhaseHarmonics.png
http://www.sfu.ca/~plv/EstChandlerPeriodMorlet(2pi).PNG
http://www.sfu.ca/~plv/Phase(2r..-Pr)MorletPiLin(3.5,9.5)Chandler.PNG
http://www.sfu.ca/~plv/ChandlerPeriodAgassizBC,CanadaPrecipitationTimePlot.PNG
The following is a global-scale synchrony that existed after but not before:
http://www.sfu.ca/~plv/(J,N)o2&Pr.png
I wrote to leading world authorities regarding the preceding findings. Regrettably, atmospheric angular momentum (AAM) records do not go back far enough to answer some of the fundamental questions which have arisen. My guess is that a few (fundamental) things will be learned about climate the next time the synchrony breaks down.
>> David in Davis (19:28:51) :
Actually it appears from both epidemiological and animal studies that the opposite is the case for the relationship between lead and dental caries:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/281/24/2294, but this isn’t yet regarded as completely definitive since no causal mechanism has been demonstrated.
Maybe they had sufficient exposure to fluoride in the water or elsewhere that was counteracted by the lead. However, assuming they really did have good teeth, I suspect it was a lack of sugar in their diet, not to mention that Coca Cola had not yet been invented. <<
Thanks for the link. It’s an interesting paper.
Yes, I think a low sugar diet would be quite beneficial to my teeth. My Coca Cola addiction will be my teeth’s undoing.
Jim
I think the headline should have read “NAWG Shoots Self in Foot”.
In the very short term, this may be a profitable position. In the long term, can you say “Dust Bowl”? I say this because by all indications, this is what will be seen in the wheat belt if we let BAU continue.
Anna,
Nice brief account of the history of wheat cultivation on the short grass prairie. It hasn’t been pretty and rain certainly did not follow the plow.
Fascinating debate – even RW’s contentious (TIC?) remark has thrown up some useful detail. FWIW, I have two comments:
1) I recall that a wheat shortage was predicted this year, due to late planting in many states (I live in the UK, but am considering the more significant situation in N.America). Has this materialised, or is the harvest OK?
2) WRT Anna’s piece, I believe that selective breeding of crop varieties (the monoculture problem) has had the unintended consequence of removing selenium in wheat. As this is an essential trace element for development of the immune system and thyroid function, perhaps it is an even worse food now than previously.
Still a good drink, though.. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_beer)
Jim
“My Coca Cola addiction will be my teeth’s undoing”
Better that than your brain. The ‘diet’ versions all contain aspartame, the well-know neurotoxin…
If you have time, Google ‘nutrasweet’ and ‘rumsfeld’ (yes, him). I’m not sure I’d call it fun, but it’s illuminating.
Allan MacRae
Didn’t mean to duplicate your enquiry! Perhaps the extra CO2 has helped things along?
I’ve said this before I’ll say it again.
Grain is unique among commodities because it is not existing.
Where is next years grain? We assume it will exist.
World wheat usage is around 650 million metric tons!
Take a look at the world grain usage tables.
Often we have as little as 90 days of supply in the world.
What on earth do you propose to replace that 650MMT with?
What do you suppose would happen if even 1/3 of that 650MMT
Did not materialize?
Bottom line here, Grain is a gift.
David
“You don’t have to be a conservative to have doubts about AGW”
Hear, hear. This is such a widespread over-simplification. I regard myself as liberal (in the UK, anyway!) and am generally concerned about the environment, waste, sustainability and so on, but thanks to sites like this, I am now satisfied that the AGW hypothesis is (and always was) complete hokum.
I think the fact that George W Bush resisted it so strongly put a lot of people on the wrong side ( on the basis that he was wrong about most things) but even he could be right occasionally, whether or not for the right reasons!
It saddens me that groups like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, whom one might expect to be objective, are as craven as any politician when a gravy train appears at the platform…
P Walker
“nearly everything I’ve heard about nutrition over the last forty years has been disputed”
Slightly OT, but whenever our family hears about another food fad, we invoke Woody Allen’s ‘Sleeper’, where he wakes up 200 years in the future, to a dish of chocolate fudge cake. He protests and demands something healthier, only to be told, “but this is health food”.
gtrip
“why does our life expectancy keep going up?”
Because infant mortality keeps going down. In other words, this is a statistical issue rather than one of longevity. Even in central Africa, there are people who live to a good age, it’s just that to get that opportunity, you have to survive into adulthood, which is a lot less likely.
If you add up the ages of everyone who has died and obtain an average, it will give a low figure, but that doesn’t mean that no-one lives beyond middle age, or that the life expectancy of a healthy adult is badly affected.
I suspect, however, that the general health of the elderly in affluent societies is worsening, even if more of them being kept alive. How much of this is due to diet is a moot point…
Jim, re: your Coca Cola addiction
And it’s not just the sugar. This is one place that CO2 really is bad for us. When ever we consume soft drinks we are bathing our teeth in carbonic acid due to the CO2 added for the fizz. However, fruit juices and fruit based carbonated drinks are apparently even worse. Next to plain water, unflavored mineral water is least detrimental (but, of course, you get no caffeine kick):
“Buffering capacities of soft drinks: the potential influence on dental erosion
M. Edwards, S. L. Creanor, R. H. Foye & W. H. Gilmour
Hard Tissue Research Group, University of Glasgow Dental School, U.K.
Correspondence: Dr S. L. Creanor, University of Glasgow Dental School, 378 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JZ, U.K. E-mail: s.creanor@dental.gla.ac.uk
Copyright Blackwell Science Ltd 1999
ABSTRACT
The pH of fruit juices and carbonated drinks are known to be low and have, therefore, been implicated in the increasing incidence of erosion. The ability of a drink to resist pH changes brought about by salivary buffering may play an important part in the erosion process. The aims of this study were to measure the initial pH of several widely available soft drinks and determine their buffering capacities. As part of a larger study, the following groups of drinks were tested: pure fruit juices, non-fruit-based carbonated drinks, fruit-based carbonated drinks, flavoured spring waters, and plain carbonated mineral waters as positive controls with still water as the negative control. The measurement of pH was carried out using a pH electrode connected to an Orion EA940 Ionanalyser. One hundred millilitres of each drink was then titrated with 1 m sodium hydroxide, added in 0·5 mL increments, until the pH reached 10. Each titration was repeated three times. The average initial pH was lowest for the non-fruit-based drinks (2·81±0·274) and highest for plain mineral water (7·4±0·1002). The buffering capacities can be ordered as follows: fruit juices>fruit-based carbonated drinks and flavoured mineral waters>non-fruit-based carbonated drinks>sparkling mineral waters>still mineral water. It is concluded that fruit juices and fruit-based carbonated beverages, with their increased buffering capacities, may induce a prolonged drop in oral pH.”
Since they provide no information on beer or champagne, let’s just assume the more the better and stay away from that nasty fruit juice!
David
James P (06:46:22) :
P Walker
“nearly everything I’ve heard about nutrition over the last forty years has been disputed”
Woody Allen’s ‘Sleeper’ reference: Bingo! I love that part of the movie.
I find the newest “health foods” such as HFCS-sweetened yogurt puddings with added probiotic “regularity” bacteria amusing. Wow, they are expensive, too, compared to old-fashioned lacto-fermented cabbage like our great-grandmothers and their ancestors made and consumed (so easy – essentially grate the sauerkraut and let it sit a bit – the friendly bacteria do the rest). I don’t put “healthy” candy-bars, um, I mean granola bars with added omega 3 FA or whatever the nutrient du jour is, in his lunch box, I put a handful of soaked and slow-dried raw nuts. Eating old-fashioned real food (not boneless, not skinless, with the super nutritious yolks, with the natural fat) that better fits our paleolithic physiology isn’t hard or even that laborious – my slow cooker and the rotisserie on the grill sub in beautifully for a grandmother cooking at the hearth or indeed the ancient practice of slow cooking with heated stones in buried in a hole (mmm, bone broth with oxtail simmering right now, much more delicious and absorbable than a calcium-fortified frankenfood).
farmersteve (06:31:35) :
“Grain is unique among commodities because it is not existing.
Where is next years grain? We assume it will exist.”
World wheat usage is around 650 million metric tons!
What do you suppose would happen if even 1/3 of that 650MMT
Did not materialize?
Bottom line here, Grain is a gift.”
Thanks for those figures. You are absolutely right; we should be worried about the yield figures. We are hooked on wheat and we are once again facing a supply issue (no more great plains to left in the world to exploit and wheat sure isn’t going to be grown in space). But is wheat really such a “gift”? Perhaps a back-handed gift sort of like cocaine – it’s great while we’re “up” but now we are now addicted to it and need it to get us through the day. Is it any wonder that wheat has opioid-like chemicals that tickle opioid receptors? Wheat is very hard to give up – I know this first-hand. But if, no, when, the world runs suddenly runs extremely short on wheat, watch out – the wheat-junkies will be jonesing’ for a fix and it won’t be pretty. We’ve already seen a preview with the recent food riots in some places.
According to today’s Calgary Herald, harvest in Alberta is one-to-three weeks behind, as a dry and cool spring, followed by frosts and a chilly summer, stalled crop development.
August and September have been warm, which is fortunate.
Sorry, do not have information for the rest of the grain belt.
“According to Alberta Agriculture’s latest crop report, yield estimates for most crops had improved by three to four bushels per acre from the previous report. Estimates remained below 80 per cent of the last five-year average, however. The Sept. 1 report added the province needs another two weeks of frost-free weather to get the crop past frost danger.
Farmers may get their wish, as Environment Canada is forecasting above-normal temperatures for the weekend and into next week in central and southern Alberta. Meteorologist Bill McMurtry said there could be some frost warnings issued for east-central Alberta, but killing frosts aren’t in the picture. “
While their reversal on EPA regulation is a good start for them, the tougher nut to crack is their continued endorsement of growing ‘biomass’ which brings them subsidies as welll as potentially much more profit for growing fuel for houses and automobiles than they were earning by growing food for people.
http://www.wheatworld.org/html2/biomass.cfm?ID=42
“Many agricultural producers who will grow dedicated energy crops in the near future grow wheat now or have acres in CRP that previously produced wheat. As an association, we feel it is our responsibility to ensure both wheat growers and biomass growers are accurately and adequately represented in policy discussions. ”
Besides increasing the price of food and further burdening taxpayers with subsidies, it puts farmers squarely in a camp to favor higher oil and natural gas prices. That will have them lobbying against offshore oil exploration and fighting things like new coal fired electricity plants. If your intent is to ultimately starve off the third world, mandating biofuel consumption is an easy policy choice to make.
Even though Oxfam still does not understand the overall carbon scam they are beginning to realize the problem with biofuel – http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/bp114-inconvenient-truth-biofuels-0806.pdf