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CleanTechnica reports
The "flash drought" that came out of nowhere this summer in the US High Plains, afflicting Montana and the Dakotas the worst, has already destroyed more than half of this year's wheat crop, going by some recent field surveys. Considering that the region is now one of the top wheat-growing regions in the world, the damage is very notable.
These so-called flash droughts are expected to become considerably more common over the coming decades as the climate continues warming and weather patterns continue changing.
[...] Something that's interesting to note here is that 2011, only 6 years back, was actually one of the wettest years on record in eastern Montana. Those sorts of rapid swings between extreme precipitation and flooding on the one hand, and extreme flash droughts on the other, are only going to become more common from here on out. Eventually, most of the agriculture in the region will have to cease.
Grist calls this a Cereal Killer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @06:09PM (10 children)
I'm confused. Are we talking about celiac disease [wikipedia.org]? Or are we complaining about health food fads?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @07:19PM (6 children)
There is a little of both. Gluten intolerance (GI) includes more than just Celiac Disease, but actual scientific studies put the prevalence less than most realize even when you count those that are asymptomatic. According to my gastroenterologist (that I see for things other than GI), the last time he ran the numbers, the people who come through his door claiming GI that actually have GI is just over 5%, which is LOWER than the number in the general population. And there is no end to what he calls "gluten-free hypocrites," who claim intolerance but drink malt beer and eat other food they don't realize have gluten in them (like one that could only eat bread after using the gluten-free setting on her toaster), or claim sensitivity to foods that have no gluten in them, like corn and rice flour, or dairy and meats. He also dislikes them because the fad is making food more expensive for people without GI, spread disinformation, and make some think that the condition is purely psychosomatic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @11:24PM (5 children)
How does it make food more expensive for people who like to eat gluten? I would expect the opposite.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 11 2017, @12:08AM (4 children)
I meant to put "it makes food more expensive for people WITH GI," which is a result of the fad because it basically turns it into a luxury good.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday August 11 2017, @02:50PM (2 children)
I've found the opposite actually. The fad anti gluten people have caused suppliers to offer many more gluten free options, which are improving in quality and dropping in price. Gluten free food is no longer a rare specialty item.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 11 2017, @08:01PM (1 child)
Does it really though? All my GI family complain of same or higher prices, especially in staples. What they really complain about though is how many foods with big "gluten free" and other advertising were already gluten free or had ready alternatives. You can buy the regular and "gluten-free" versions of many foods with the exact same benefits, but the ones with the stickers on them are pricier.
Of course, it could just be where they shop vs. where you shop, in both where you live and what store you choose to go to.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday August 11 2017, @09:29PM
I think that's something a lot of people don't understand.
Your standard oatmeal may not contain wheat as an ingredient, but if it's made in the same facility as cream of wheat or other flour bearing products or if the oats were shipped in the same trucks or anything like that it may contain micrograms of wheat dust, which is enough to cause some people significant issues or even send them to the hospital. It's like if you had food that was made in the same building as a botulism toxin refinery using some of the same equipment; you'd pay extra for the food made elsewhere even if they assured you that they didn't put any botulism toxin in it.
So while you could buy cheap oatmeal before and have a decent shot at not getting sick from it depending on your sensitivity (I have sometimes gotten sick from the standard Quaker oatmeal), if you wanted to be certain you'd have to roll your own or maybe buy expensive organic small-batch free-range oatmeal where each grain of oat was individually hand washed. Now there are mainstream lines so you just pay a small premium.
I emailed Quaker about the subject a couple years ago and they said that they couldn't guarantee that their oatmeal didn't contain wheat, for the above reasons. Now they have GF oatmeal for not much more than their standard, so I can have a cheaper reliably GF breakfast than the comparable alternatives of a few years ago.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @04:21AM
Thanks for clarifying. I've noticed that gluten-free foods often are expensive. Greater demand could lead to greater production and wider availability. In theory, it could even result in lower prices because of economies of scale. But businesses tend to charge what the market will bear.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by frojack on Thursday August 10 2017, @07:33PM (2 children)
98% of the gluten whiners are indeed talking about the fad.
The fad is something of a self fulfilling prophesy.
You see a fad, you jump on the band wagon.
You avoid wheat like it was death.
Gradually your gut loses the ability to digest wheat. (not just gluten - all of the wheat).
You eat some wheat, fart and bloat a bit, attributed it to gluten intolerance.
Go back to eating gluten free smug that you are now a member of the in crowd.
Hint: Its temporary. You'd have as much problem digesting North American Wheat if you
had been raised on a diet of UK wheat, or Australian wheat. Your gut will reacquire the ability.
But you'll be way less cool.
Only 0.18–1.2% actually have celiac disease.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @07:55PM
Eating grains is weird anyway. Why not eat real food like meat, vegetables, nuts, and fruit? Leave the grains for when you are really desperate, then the insects for being really, really desperate. They shouldn't be a staple food. Then again I don't enjoy sugary deserts either so maybe that is just my taste.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday August 10 2017, @10:05PM
Sorry, but it doesn't necessarily work that way. (I'm a single data point, so I need to say "necessarily".) For totally other reasons I stopped eating wheat for around a decade. So much so that my sister who has celiac and ends up in the hospital if she eats something that's been cut with a knife that has been used to cut bread, could eat the same food I do. Then for other reasons I started eating wheat again, not just wheat, but actually refined gluten as well as wheat germ and wheat bran. This caused **NO** digestive problems except for a few days of rather loose bowels...too much wheat bran.
So you don't necessarily become wheat intolerant just because you don't eat it for awhile.
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