Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Tuesday Links

  • Is the eastern US cooling in winter due to global warming?
  • Tar sands extraction not so pretty.
  • British supermarkets starting to sell "ugly" blemished fruits and vegetables in response to climate-related harvest difficulties and high prices.
  • Spanish economy still contracting.
  • Farmland prices still rising.  I don't know if this has reached the bubbly phase yet, but it seems likely that it will at some point.

1 comment:

porsena said...

Another twist on the rising price of agricultural land comes from this article in the Globe and Mail, which sets out how a new wave of immigrants is drawn to farm the Canadian prairies.

Most are motivated by the province’s booming agriculture sector and a sense that Saskatchewan farmland, while soaring in price, is still remarkably cheap. Many are also convinced that the demise of the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly over the sale of wheat and barley will open opportunities to sell grain directly to buyers in Asia. For these investors, the plan is simple: Buy up acres of land, partner with a local farmer to grow the crops, and then ship the produce directly to customers in China.