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ARTICLE: "Fields of Grain and Losses: For Oklahoma Farmers, The Market for Wheat Falls," by David Streitfeld, New York Times, 21 November 2008.
Real squeeze going on after two years of skyrocketing crop prices: the price paid for them is "dropping much faster than the cost of growing them."
Besides the manic markets, there's the question of bank solvency closer to home and a rising dollar.
OK is especially hard-hit right now because two-thirds of its wheat goes overseas, more than the rest of the country as a whole!
Who'd have guessed the Oklahoma is so dependent on globalization?
What triggered the last two fab years was a cheaper dollar, crop disasters in Australia, and Asia's skyrocketing demand. So farmers in OK responded and "made a killing"--if they cashed in on this year's crop early enough.
Those who waited to sell got burned.
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