Drought, food production, and wilted crops
Approximately 38% of #corn production is within an area experiencing #drought, @usda_oce pic.twitter.com/H1g2JBszFR
— Farm Policy (@FarmPolicy) August 26, 2021
Drought conditions is parts of the USA are affecting food production:
August 26, 2021
Extreme drought and grasshoppers have taken a toll on Montana grains with harvest down by as much as half from a year ago.
The state, which normally ranks third in the nation for wheat production, has suffered steep declines in yield as nearly 99% of Montana is in severe to exceptional drought in the final weeks of harvest.
“Yield-wise, it will be our worse year since 1988,” said Cassidy Marn, Montana Wheat and Barley Committee executive vice president, referencing a year that’s been repeatedly uttered by Montana producers.
History remembers the 1988 drought as the year fire burned through 793,880 acres of Yellowstone National Park, but it was also a brutal year for Montana’s dryland farmers. https://www.kpvi.com/news/regional_news/drought-hoppers-put-montana-wheat-farmers-on-the-ropes/article_3c6437c2-ae3d-58f2-8ef1-6a3486587e33.html
“Extreme heat is baking most of the U.S. North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska all contain areas of extreme drought, according to data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. North Dakota and Minnesota, in particular, are experiencing near-record lows in soil moisture, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“As a result, many crops planted this spring are wilting. Some 63% of the U.S. spring wheat crop is in poor or very poor condition, versus 6% at this time last year, according to Agriculture Department data.”
“The poor weather has caused the USDA to scale back its expectations for U.S. crop production in 2021—which, in turn, is causing domestic inventories to dwindle. In the USDA’s latest monthly supply and demand report, the agency pegged ending stocks for corn, wheat, and soybeans all at their lowest level since 2013.”
“For 2021, wheat prices are up 12%, and corn prices are up 11%,” 08/24/21 https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2021/08/drought-continues-to-impact-u-s-crops/
Crop failures and reduced production tend to raise prices and cause food inflation.
Of course, there are also droughts and pests in other parts of the world.
Notice also the following:
Food Inflation Hits Family Budgets, Menus From India to Nigeria
Bloomberg spoke to families from around the world, spotlighting the kinds of trade-offs households are having to make to feed themselves. In Nigeria, Nafisat Ekerin implores vendors to cut her a deal — something she wasn’t in the habit of doing before Covid-19. In Brazil, Izabel Francisca Teixeira Valdeci scours open-air markets and supermarkets for the best deals. In the U.S., Melissa “Liss” Burnell, buys meat in bulk.
Food prices in July were up 31% from the same month last year, according to a gauge from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. While much of the rise is transitory, factors such as climate change and China’s strong appetite for imports will likely persist. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-08-20/supply-chains-latest-food-inflation-hits-home-around-the-world
The Bible warns of food shortages and pestilences. Nearly 2000 years ago, Jesus taught:
7…And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:7-8)
We seem to be in the time Jesus called “the beginning of sorrows.”
The Bible also prophesies food inflation:
5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” (Revelation 6:5-6)
The above prophecy will come to pass (see also Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and/or watch the video The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse). Those predictions have NOT yet been completely fulfilled. Food shortages and price fluctuations for food are still going to happen and we are seeing some now.
The Bible connects sin and drought. Scripture shows that water/rain/drought will become a problem for various disobedient peoples:
13 ‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. 15 And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.’ 16 Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, 17 lest the Lord’s anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you. (Deuteronomy 11:13-17)
10 “Because, indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace — and one builds a wall, and they plaster it with untempered mortar — 11 say to those who plaster it with untempered mortar, that it will fall. There will be flooding rain, and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall tear it down. 12 Surely, when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the mortar with which you plastered it?'” 13 Therefore thus says the Lord God: “I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in My fury; and there shall be a flooding rain in My anger, and great hailstones in fury to consume it. 14 So I will break down the wall you have plastered with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered; it will fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst of it. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 13:10-14)
15 “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 16 “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. 17 “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18 “Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. 19 “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. 20 “The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. 21 The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. 22 The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. 23 And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. 24 The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed. (Deuteronomy 28:15-24)
6 I will lay it waste; It shall not be pruned or dug, But there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds That they rain no rain on it. (Isaiah 5:6)
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts. 2 “Judah mourns, And her gates languish; They mourn for the land, And the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. 3 Their nobles have sent their lads for water; They went to the cisterns and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; They were ashamed and confounded And covered their heads. 4 Because the ground is parched, For there was no rain in the land, The plowmen were ashamed; They covered their heads. 5 Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field, But left because there was no grass. 6 And the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights; They sniffed at the wind like jackals; Their eyes failed because there was no grass.” 7 O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, Do it for Your name’s sake; For our backslidings are many, We have sinned against You. (Jeremiah 14:1-7)
5 “A sword is against the Chaldeans,” says the Lord, “Against the inhabitants of Babylon, And against her princes and her wise men. 36 A sword is against the soothsayers, and they will be fools. A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed. 37 A sword is against their horses, Against their chariots, And against all the mixed peoples who are in her midst; And they will become like women. A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed. 38 A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is the land of carved images, And they are insane with their idols. (Jeremiah 50:35-38)
4 We pay for the water we drink, And our wood comes at a price. 5 They pursue at our heels; We labor and have no rest. (Lamentations 5:4-5)
16 Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, surely I will cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem; they shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and shall drink water by measure and with dread, 17 that they may lack bread and water, and be dismayed with one another, and waste away because of their iniquity. (Ezekiel 4:16-17)
7 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! 8 Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord. 9 “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. 10 Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. 11 For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.” (Haggai 1:7-11)
10 Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter. (Revelation 8:10-11)
8 Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory. (Revelation 16:8-9)
Droughts and weather problems, including floods and high heat, can contribute to food shortages, higher food prices, and sometimes famines.
Of course, in the USA, many lost their lives from flooding this week: Tennessee flash floods kill 22 with dozens missing.
That brought the following prophesy to mind:
6 “Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. And lack of bread in all your places; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord. 7 “I also withheld rain from you, When there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, And where it did not rain the part withered. 8 So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water, But they were not satisfied; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord. (Amos 4:6-8)
Notice that God uses weather to warn people to turn to Him, but many ignore this:
17 I struck you with blight and mildew and hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you did not turn to Me,’ says the Lord. (Haggai 2:17)
21 And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great. (Revelation 16:21)
The Bible shows:
30 God…commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30)
And weather-food problems are a way that God uses to urge people to repent (cf. Haggai 2:17).
Now, does this mean that those most affected by weather are necessarily worse sinners than those less affected?
The biblical answer is no.
Notice the words of Jesus:
45…He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)
4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13:4-5)
That being said, there is a cost to sin and we are seeing some results of that.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Weather Blessings and Sorrows Are weather problems a warning? What should be done? What does the Bible teach about weather? What about floods, droughts, heat, earthquakes, tornadoes, and solar storms? Here is a related YouTube video Does God Use Weather? A related item in the Spanish language would be Bendiciones y maldiciones del clima.
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse What do each of the four horseman of the Apocalypse represent? Have they began their ride? Did Jesus discuss the any of this? Might their rides coincide with the “beginning of sorrows? Do they start their ride prior to the Great Tribulation? Did Nostradamus or any other ‘private prophets’ write predictions that may mislead people so that they may not understand the truth of one or more of the four horseman? There is also a related YouTube video titled Sorrows and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is are links to related sermons: Christian Election: Is God Calling YOU? and Predestination and Your Selection. A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?
Christian Repentance Do you know what repentance is? Is it really necessary for salvation? A related sermon is also available titled: Real Christian Repentance.
Just What Do You Mean — Repentance? Do you know what repentance is? Have you truly repented? Repented of what? Herbert W. Armstrong wrote this as a booklet on this important subject.
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