The following articles are compiled by:

Rick Allinson

Rick@WatchmenWatching.com

 

 

 

Prairie farmers enjoy record wheat prices
Source: CTV

 

01 October 2007 – Record high wheat prices are giving prairie farmers a reason to smile, but could mean bad news for consumers.

Spurred by droughts in Australia, the world's third largest wheat exporter, and flooding in other grain producing countries, Canadian wheat is in demand more than ever.

Wheat prices have climbed almost 50 per cent to more than $7 a bushel in the past year -- while barley prices are up 70 per cent and durham prices have doubled.

Analysts predict wheat prices -- already at a 30-year high -- may climb even higher.

"We'll most likely see record years in everything," Dog Chambers, manger of Quality Grain Marketing, told The Globe and Mail.

"We've definitely moved into a new realm with grain prices, and you only have to go back 18 months to see feed wheat trading at $2 a bushel."

…

Excess rains in Europe and parts of the United States have contributed to the tightening of supplies to the point where world wide stocks are at their lowest levels ever.

"People are worried there won't be enough wheat around," says Bruce Burnett, director of weather and crop surveillance at the Canadian Wheat Board. "Especially to cover needs six months from now."

 

Bakeries close their doors as collapse in wheat production adds to crisis
Source: Guardian

 

02 October2007 – Zimbabwe's bakeries have shut and supermarkets have warned there will be no bread for the foreseeable future as the government admitted that wheat production has collapsed after the seizure of white-owned farms.

The agricultural ministry announcement that the wheat harvest is only about a third of what is required, and that imports are held up by lack of hard currency, came as a deadline passed yesterday for the last white farmers to leave their land or face prosecution for trespass.

Article continues

 

The maize harvest is expected to be equally dire and price controls to contain hyperinflation have emptied the stores of most other foodstuffs. The World Food Programme says at least 3 million people - one in four of the population - will need food aid in the coming months. It describes hunger in some parts of the country, which used to be a food exporter, as "acutely serious".  

 

Comments:  Update; It was only a couple of weeks ago that I covered the wheat crisis that is slowly brewing around d the world. Prices continue to climb as major exporting countries have all felt the pinch of low production due to a lack of rain or too much of it. If the wheat price is at a 30 year high consider what another bad year (next season) will bring? Slowly the world is entering into a food crisis and during the last 3 ½ years of the tribulation period, the situation will be critical.

 

Re 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

 

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'Summit failure may ignite new intifada'
Source: Jpost  

02 October2007 – A failure in the upcoming US-sponsored Middle East peace conference would have more dangerous repercussions than the botched Camp David summit in 2000, Fatah officials warned on Tuesday.

This was the first time senior Fatah officials hinted at a possible wave of violence if the conference - expected to be held in Annapolis, Maryland, next month - did not meet the Palestinians' demands.

"If we don't prepare well for the conference so that it will result in something positive, the repercussions will be more dangerous than what happened after the failure of Camp David," said Azzam al-Ahmed, head of the Fatah parliamentary list. He is closely associated with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Palestinians might decide to stay away from the meeting, Ahmed warned. "If the [Israeli and Palestinian] negotiators don't reach an agreement before the conference, there will be no point in holding it," he said. "Let's bear in mind that invitations to the conference have not been issued yet."   

 

Comments: Keep an eye on the Abbas, Olmert meeting that will take place tomorrow. (Wednesday 3 October)  

 

These are the issues on the table.

 

Mideast summit may be delayed to late November

 

According to sources who spoke with senior PA officials in recent days, the following are the main demands that Abbas will present at the start of negotiations:

* Settlements: Israel should declare an immediate freeze on construction in the settlements and quickly evacuate the outposts, as well as several settlements.

* Borders: The declaration should state that the future border will be based on the 1967 lines. Exchanges of territory will be limited to 2 or 3 percent of the West Bank in order to ensure territorial contiguity for the future Palestinian state and prevent the division of the West Bank into several cantons surrounded by settlements. The territory to be exchanged must be equal in quantity and quality.

According to another Palestinian proposal, instead of referring to borders, the declaration would refer to the area of the Palestinian state in the West Bank (about 6,500 square kilometers).

* Safe Passage: The Palestinian state should have a sovereign area that will be used for passage between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

* Jerusalem: East Jerusalem, including the Old City, should be the capital of the Palestinian state and under full Palestinian sovereignty.

* Refugees: Israel should recognize its responsibility for the suffering of the Palestinian refugees and compensate them.

 

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Keep watching (Matt 24:42)!

 

Until next time,

Shalom!

 

 

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