The Ukraine–the breadbasket of Europe–is forecast to have lower quality wheat in the recently-commenced 2022/23 marketing year, due, mainly, to the impact of cold weather earlier in the season.
Ukrainian farmers have now harvested 82% of the planned area of wheat, with 15.5 million mt in the bins; however, trade sources have warned that the overall quality will be far lower than normal, with a large share of feed wheat.
“I know that the quality is bad, but I have not seen any ratings yet; I think more than 50% is rated as feed. We also used to have high protein wheat in the south and the east, in the steppe, while in central and western parts it was lower. And this year its unlikely that some additional fertilizers were added for the quality,” one analyst pointed out.
A second analyst told agricensus.com: “I expect poor quality this season — 60/40 or 55/45 share in favor of feed wheat. There were heavy rains before the harvest and less fertilizer was applied. Usually we have more food, but not this time.”
With regards to pricing, the gap between 12.5% and 11.5% protein wheat has soared to $20/mt, with and the gap between 11.5% and feed wheat has increased to at least $10/mt — an indication that quality wheat is harder to come by.
By comparison, last year the gap between 11.5% and feed wheat was $5-7/mt.
Neighboring Russia has faced similarly dire quality issues this year, and although a record crop is expected in terms of volume–at around 90 million mt–the quality so far has been much lower than the norm, according to market analysts.
And likewise, the spread between Russian protein grades has also increased to $20/mt.
Across the world’s top producers, crops are fairing very poorly. And whatever the cause–natural inclement weather of manmade input shortages–the writing is on the wall going into the final quarter of 2022 and into 2023: The threat of a global famine is very real.
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CHITIN IN INSECTS
While on the topic of ‘what the hell are people going to eat in the coming months and years’, I’ve been made aware that insects–the ‘new’ food source our betters demand we switch to in the name of saving the planet–contain a chemical called “chitin”, which, according to some sources, is a compound capable of causing serious damage to humans: cancers etc.
In insects, chitin functions as scaffold-like material, supporting the cuticles of the epidermis and trachea as well as the peritrophic matrices lining the gut epithelium. It is important to the insects, of course, hence its existence.
By some accounts, though, the chemical compound is bad news for any human ‘curious’ enough to ingest it — it is a building block for fungus and cancer, and it can not be cooked out.
Unsurprisingly, the ‘official Party line’ states that chitin is perfectly safe (and effective!). This is what the EPA has to say: “Given its lack of toxicity, chitin is not expected to harm people, pets, wildlife, or the environment…” Not expected…?
Also in support, the use of edible insects has a long history in China, where they have been consumed for more than 2000 years.
For me, the jury is still out… thoughts?
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“CANNIBAL” CORONAL MASS EJECTION (CME) INBOUND
NOAA forecasters say the cumulative effect of a series of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) will result in a strong G3-class geomagnetic storms between Aug 18 – Aug 19. The discharges have stacked-up on one another, or “cannibalized”.
During G3-storms naked-eye auroras can descend into the USA as far south as geomagnetic latitude 50 degrees — that’s Illinois and Oregon, possibly even lower.
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Perturbations to the power grid are also possible, particularly given Earth’s ever-waning magnetic field strength.
Active sunspot ‘AR3078’ has been flaring almost constantly since it developed its delta-class magnetic field:
AR3078 has been flaring consistently.
The strongest flare so far, an M5 on Aug 16, produced a shortwave radio blackout over the Indian Ocean:
The remaining two CMEs associated with this recent flaring are predicted to combine and impact Earth’s magnetic field during the late hours of Aug 18, accordung to NOAA’s latest modelling (shown below).
The combo consists of Aug 14’s dark plasma eruption and Aug 15’s exploding magnetic filament.
Cannibal CMEs contain tangled magnetic fields and compressed plasmas that can spark strong geomagnetic storms.
NOAA forecasters recently upgraded their geomagnetic storm watch from category G2 (moderate) to category G3 (strong).
This will likely mean KP Index readings of 6, possibly even 7 on Thursday into Friday, and will bring the familiar health risks associated with such activity: top of the list being heart rate fluctuations and full blown heart attacks/strokes (prayers for the jabbed):
Ben Davidson of Suspicious Observers confirms some of the foregoing in his daily Space Weather News update: Solar Storms Imminent, Disaster Cycle Confirmations
I will read and comment in detail but for now will just say that the slice of Chorizo still image is scary.
Cross referenced this on my post today:
https://francesleader.substack.com/p/all-quiet-on-the-western-front