US ag industry: the greatest force for stability on the planet

Pick out the world's biggest exporter of wheat from this chart.

It's the US, which is also the biggest exporter of corn, soybeans and food aid.

Guess what got devastated this year?  Corn and soybeans (where the US just lowered its forecase of yields for the 3rd time), but somehow the US pulls off a slight increase on wheat.  Problem is, everybody else is down.  From the WSJ story (which provided the chart above):

The weather troubles, if they continue [read, winter wheat], risk pushing wheat back to the fore of global concerns about soaring food prices.  Wheat is a staple food around the world and a major source of basic nutrition for the poor, and prior price spikes in recent years contributed to political unrest.

Like the doubling of bread prices in Egypt in the months leading up to Mubarak's fall.

I say this in presentations all the time: the biggest force for global stability right now is the U.S. farmer.

Comments

[Jeremy]

Really interesting perspective; thanks. But if US exports are bringing so much peace and stability, what happens when governments, like Egypt's, decide they can o longer afford to buy them?

[Mark Evans]

Why isn't Canada mentioned here? Are they that small a wheat exporter? Does it all go to US and is therefore irrelevant?

[David Emery]

> governments ... decide they can no longer afford to buy

In-kind foreign aid, which would be -a lot harder- to subvert than cash payments.