The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization has called for an emergency conference to come up with a solution to this year's global grain drain.One quarter of the nation’s wheat crops are fallen casualties to the driest season in 130 years, and farmers in the world’s third leading wheat exporter have an uncertain future.“We are facing our problem alone,” said Sergey Rasporozhchenko, director of Sakhnovskaya Collective Farm. “What shall we do? Cut jobs? I jut don’t know.”Rasporozhchenko couldn’t harvest half as much wheat this season as he did last year. For him, the problem is simple: no rain plus low yields equals smaller profits.But there remain those who can always make money out of other people’s misery, speculating on the changing prices. But that’s little consolation for those out in the field.“They all want to buy on the cheap and sell high,” Rasporozhchenko told RT. “The agricultural producer is the weakest link in this chain. We sustain the main losses, both monetary and productive.”The cracks in the ground are so dry that you have to dig about a meter to reach any moisture. And this year's drought threatens next year's harvest. Farmer's need to plant by September 10 to reap a good crop, but they can't do it if there is no rain.Russia’s wheat production will fall short of last year’s by 38%, according to reports.That has led some to hype up the scale of the crisis.However, concerns that a global food shortage is imminent is an exaggeration, according to experts.“The present-day situation with world grain and wheat stocks can hardly be compared to the one that existed several years ago, when wheat was expensive, when many countries banned exports and hungry people revolted,” said agricultural business analyst Andrey Sizov. “Today, the situation is different. The lower forecasts for a new harvest are being compensated for by huge imports of grain, including wheat.”Worldwide grain reserves and a higher-than-average harvest in the US means Russia’s recent export ban will not affect the market.Prime Minister Vladimir Putin extended the temporary freeze until next year. Put in place on August 15, the ban is meant to calm fears that Russia will be left with no grain, which means supplies both at home and abroad will be unaffected for now. But for farmers like Sergey, thinking of the future, the forecast looks stormy. He is just hoping the clouds have a silver lining – and, in his case, much needed rain.
RT
