Saturday, October 31, 2015

Barron's: As Sunspots Fade, Will Crop Yields Fall?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A decades-old government crop report, combined with the very latest data from NASA, seem to indicate that there will be poor growing conditions and lower grain yields over the next few years. As a result, traders should expect prices for wheat and corn to rise.
The report from the U.S.D.A., published almost four decades ago, studied crop yields in the U.S. from 1866 to 1973. The paper, “Do Sunspot Cycles Affect Crop Yields?” by Virden Harrison, an agricultural economist with the commodity economics division of the USDA’s economic-research service, matched historical crop-yield data for wheat, corn, rice, and cotton with sunspot activity. And NASA forecasts for sunspots suggest that the sun is commencing lower activity. Read more here.
Photo by NASA on Unsplash


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