This Week’s Under-reported News Summary – Aug 21, 2024

Compiled by Bob Nixon

  • Global warming changing Vietnam's Mekong Delta rice production
  • US farm income plunging for prairie states
  • 'Clean energy' industrial-scale wood-pellet industry ravaging forests

Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta has historically provided perfect conditions for rice production.  The region, home to 20 million people, is often called Vietnam’s “rice basket.”  But climate change, sand mining and upstream dams blocking essential fertile sediments, have all contributed to a decline in agricultural productivity in recent years.

(“In a Dammed and Diked Mekong, a Push to Restore the Flow,” Yale 360, May 8, 2024)

Across the state of Kansas, times are tough for local businesses. As farmers in the Plains states are hard hit by slumping commodity crop prices, shrinking government price supports and high interest rates, the economic pain is spreading from the fields to Main Street.

(“Farmers Financial Pain Spills from Kansas Wheat Fields to Main Street,” Reuters, June 18, 2024)

Along the U.S. West Coast demand is growing for the export of wood pellets to Europe and other markets on an industrial scale.  Wood pellets, made of compressed wood, are used as fuel for power generation and home heating.  By grinding down trees into pellets, this growing biomass industry seeks to benefit from subsidies offered in both Europe and Asia to encourage the growth of renewable energy sources.

(“The ‘Clean Energy’ Industry Ravaging Natural Forests to Feed Power Generators,” In These Times, July 12, 2024)

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