extreme weather

Farmers and ranchers say they are in a better financial situation than a year ago, according to the Ag Economy Barometer's monthly survey. The Purdue economists who oversee the barometer said farmers are markedly more optimistic than last summer, with one factor being the expectation of lower taxes in coming years.

A day after warning of potential disruptions worldwide due to climate change, President Obama signed a memorandum "establishing that the impacts of climate change must be considered in the development of national security-related doctrine, policies and plans," said the White House. The memorandum created a Federal Climate and National Security Working Group involving 20 agencies in the job of identifying security priorities affected by climate change and to share information about how to respond to it.

Last month was the warmest July in 136 years of record keeping, and puts 2016 on track to be the warmest year on record, says NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. And the NASA institute says that, because seasonal temperatures are highest in July, the peak of summer, "it means that July also was warmer than any other month on record."

Brazil will harvest a smaller-than-expected 70 million tonnes of corn this marketing year, said USDA, lowering its forecast by 7.5 million tonnes in one month because of adverse weather. Brazil is the third-largest corn grower in the world, trailing the United States and China, and is a U.S. competitor for export sales.

Researchers say that over a four-decade period ending in 2007, the world lost a tenth of its cereal grain crops, such as rice, wheat and corn, due to droughts, heat waves and other extreme weather, reports the New York Times.

Scanty vegetable supplies are causing "exorbitant prices," says the chief executive of Landec Corp, which sells salad kits, vegetable trays and fresh-cut bagged produce in the food and biomedical markets.