The American harvest season for wheat, soybeans, cotton, corn and other major commodities begins shortly. The farmers that will be pulling in this year’s harvest in the central states rely on barges to carry their corn, soybeans and wheat down the Mississippi River to the Port of New Orleans.
New Orleans is a crucial link to export markets but was badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Local officials are hopping mad from Minnesota all the way down to Mississippi.
The Midwest has experienced the worst drought in 20 years.
The storm destroyed sugar cane and rice fields across the southeast.
As a result of the damage to pipelines, oil platforms and refineries in the Gulf Coast farmers are forced to pay more for fuel to harvest and transport crops. This has impacted their profits and the financial markets.
Commodity exports and imports are slowed. Bananas, orange juice, apple juice and other materials imported from Central and South America are delayed in pick up or delivery. The ships are turned away because the secondary ports cannot accommodate the ships. Prices are already rising in supermarkets.
Midwestern farms have been shipping stored corn and soybeans to make room for this year's harvest but damaged waterways and grain handling facilities have left the barges stuck on the river.
Secondary markets and aid shipments of grains and beans will not be moving any time soon and will worsen the hunger crisis in Africa and southeast Asia.
There has been no response from the White House.
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