October 2018
With the heatwave long gone, and autumn setting in full-force, farmers can again return to some normalcy with their crops. This will be a welcome relief to many in the agricultural sector, as the unsure summer months have proven difficult for many.
As is discussed later in this issue, in a feature by Matt Holmes, many countries are now basking in the return of normal weather. India, in particular, is welcoming the monsoons that come with the late-summer and autumn season. Rainfall is absolutely crucial to the millions of farmers throughout the world, and India is no exception.
Farmers in India have been finding times particularly tough, without their prescribed amount of rainfall. With crop failure almost inevitable, many farmers have been plummeted into irreparable debt with little money left to support their families and businesses.
Thankfully, the arrival of monsoon season has saved India once again, and farmers can rest easy that their crops are safe.
Turkey is also similarly reporting a successful year for the grain market, as the exchange rate for world grain prices rise in a positive upward trend. The Turkish Grain Board has recently released figures and exchange rates for grain, displaying the varying factors affecting the staple food ingredient.
Of course, all this uncertainty regarding grains and crops all boils down to the inevitability of climate change. Despite climate change and global warming being topics that have been discussed or decades, recently over the past few years the effects of this change have soared to dangerous levels, bringing the future of agriculture and the farming industry into question. This summer was one of the hottest yet, and even The Global Miller team felt the effects of the heat, which makes it clear that something isn"t right, considering our main office is based in the dismal UK!
In a recent study, by some members of the University of Michigan, analysed fossils have suggested that our fossil fuel emissions will lead to our planet becoming uninhabitable, dead and lifeless. Global warming was also discovered to affect our plants, changing the amount of carbon they will be able to store, alongside affecting our global water supply and the global biodiversity that we all depend on for a thriving ecosystem. Jonathan Overpeck, the dean of the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan, states that things will be "a lot harder for us in the future", unless we make some drastic changes right now.
Despite the extensive quantity of research that has taken place with the aim to minimise the impact of global warming, unless we all take major steps to fix these issues, the agriculture industry, alongside the entire world, will only continue to suffer.
For the future of farming, and sustainable food for everyone, we must begin to seriously act to slow down and prevent the damage we have done to our planet.
