The huge food production concentrations west of the Mississippi River — e.g., 30+% of U.S. beef and dairy cattle from four High Plains states (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska); 30% of U.S.

As of May, drought remains extensive in the U.S. southwest and northern Mexico, with many zones of unlivable severity, for lack of water. These were the conditions which designers of NAWAPA in the 1960s, and the Plhino/Plhigon in Mexico, intended to prevent.

Iowa cropland values have doubled since 2008, jumping by 17% in just the last year alone. Details of the bubble are in the most recent biannual survey by the Iowa Chapter of the Realtors Land Institute survey, which came out in March.

If you had to name one institution that epitomizes President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, it might be the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)." So opens an editorial published on April 25th in the Washington Post, which supports the Obama Administration's proposal to privatize the TVA. Could tearing apart FDR's legacy be the reason that President Obama has proposed to sell it off?

Dozens of farm counties in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri — the heart of the Cornbelt — have been declared disasters from the flooding in the mid-Mississippi River Basin, which poses a threat to the 2013 corn crop, after last year's harvest was down sharply from drought.

Mexican farmer and peasant organizations are demanding that the federal government immediately make the issue of food production its top priority, or face mass protest and social upheaval from starving citizens.

Adverse weather is delaying corn planting in both the United States and China, which adds uncertainty to an already dangerously inadequate world food supply and farm capacity.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Moscow, the first Japanese head of state visit to Russia in ten years, has resulted in significant agreements, which could also have a positive impact on the current tensions between Japan and China. These include:

"The Coming Crisis in Electricity Generation," posted today on the energybiz.com website, is an excellent outline of how decentralized, unpredictable, and unstable renewal, or "green," technologies, will destroy more than 100 years of reliable U.S. electricity generation and distribution systems.

Quentin Kopp, former San Francisco Supervisor, State Senator, and Superior Court Judge, granted an interview to Patt Morrison published by the Los Angeles Times on April 17, on the long-proposed California Bullet Train, which Kopp passionately advocated.