Dust Bowl, Part Deux

If you, or someone you know, has never read, seen, or heard of The Grapes of Wrath, a vacation down under may be in order. The years-long drought on the island nation will now require several years of consistent, above-average rainfall to correct. And The Land Down Under isn’t the only place suffering.

Global warming, if it isn’t directly causing the problem, is certainly a complicating factor; most analysts predict that farming will become far more difficult as the climate continues to warm, and some even expect that the problem will spread to other areas. And did I mention this is at a time where global food demand is skyrocketing?

The good news is that policy makers seem quicker to adapt to these changes, rapidly shifting support to a farm bill that focuses less on thirsty corn biofuels, and more on biofuels made from byproducts and grasses. Whether this unusual agility will continue through the legislative process, however, remains to be seen.