Drought, Wheat, and China

For awhile I have been following the drought situation in N. China. The area might have reached a tipping point recently in terms of longer term negative affects of the drought.

The below article confirms my suspicion that there is reason for concern:

Areddy, James T., 2011. U.S. says drought in china puts wheat crop at risk. The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 8.

First, the area involved in the drought is large:

"In a rare special early warning global alert, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said north China's 'ongoing drought is potentially a serious problem.' The Rome-based FAO, which based its notice partly on a stream of warnings from Beijing about the wheat crop, said the provinces primarily affected include Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan, Hebei and Shanxi, which together represent about two-thirds of China's national wheat production."

Second, there are large amounts of people affected:

"The U.N. agency cited figures already published by China that 5.16 million hectares of a total 14 million hectares of wheat producing areas are under threat in the affected provinces. It also cited Chinese reports that 2.57 million people and 2.79 million head of livestock are short drinking water. The agency said a drought that continues through the spring, or lower-than-usual temperatures in February, would make the situation 'critical.'"

Finally, this is a frightening statement from the article:

"Xinhua reported Tuesday that Shandong, a cradle of Chinese civilization along the Yellow River and the birthplace of Confucius, has had only 12 millimeters of rain since last September. The report cited Meteorological Bureau estimates that if there isn't substantial precipitation by the end of the month, the province will have suffered its worst drought in two centuries."

bold added

I deeply believe that there needs to be a unified study of agriculture, water, and energy not only for American interests but also for the global economy. Tight food supplies are contributing to global inflation and placing stress on governments. Some believe the uprising in Egypt is at least partly the result of food price inflation among other things.

MIT is place to do this research because it has perhaps the most highly developed combination of technological innovation and interdisciplinary studies in the world.

In addition, agriculture needs a new approach to various data and information standards. It is proven that standards contribute a great deal toward productivity.

My viewpoint is that there is much to be done in using agricultural data as a supplement to genetics in improving yield. Standards organizations like GS1, along with technology innovations like antenna-based sensing, are the wave of the future for nearly all segments of agriculture.

I think agriculture needs a new research look.