Word: wheated
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...longer just threatening Australia's $30 billion agricultural economy, the drought is contributing to soaring world food prices - rice, wheat and corn prices have more than doubled in the past two years - which in recent weeks have triggered panic buying, hoarding and a string of riots across the developing world. "International agencies are belatedly recognizing," says Julian Cribb, a professor of science communication at Sydney's University of Technology, "that the global food crisis is much closer than the climate change crisis or even the next oil crisis...
...more meat and fish, this increases the consumption of grain in the form of feed: it takes 7-15 kg of grain to produce a kilogram of meat. Record-high oil prices and escalating freight costs, as well as drought in the Middle East, have all contributed to world wheat stocks, for example, plunging to their lowest level in 30 years...
...With everything else that's going on, the drought-ravaged rice and wheat farms of Australia's agricultural heartland - the Murray-Darling Basin, named for its two major rivers - have become the world's problem. As to how long that problem's likely to last, scientific opinion is divided. One school of thought is that there's no evidence global warming is causing this drought or will ever cause anything like a permanent one; there's even a theory that higher temperatures could help boost Australian agricultural production by bringing more rain to some parts of the country...
...drought has also savaged recent Australian wheat crops. Normally among the top three or four wheat exporters in the world, Australia has managed to produce little more than half of its usual 20 million metric tons in each of the past two years. But these setbacks are having a paradoxical effect. Not nearly as thirsty a crop as rice and expensive now on world markets at about $350 a ton, wheat in Australia is attracting new growers. "Some are looking at putting wheat in this year instead of restocking on cattle - because it's cheaper and because they...
...water shortages and maximizing production under trying conditions," says the National Farmers' Federation's Heffernan. "If they just get a bit of rain, you'll see production kick in very quickly because they've done the preparation." Any Australian rebound would be a bonus on top of expected bumper wheat crops out of the U.S. and Canada...