Agriculture's Profit Potential Is Growing Like a Weed

If you're on the hunt for massive gains, consider the fact that agricultural commodity prices have been falling. Falling prices offer buying opportunities! That's the reason why profit potential is growing.

As the global economic slowdown has churned along, economic progress has ceased. The commodity prices reflect the fact that we are bouncing along the bottom of a recessionary cycle.

Demand for most commodities has diminished. Commodity demand will, however, recover when the global economy begins to recover.

Whenever it does recover, agricultural commodity prices will skyrocket.

Many commodity traders are recognizing the opportunity and are now re-entering the market.

Few commodity traders enjoy the fame and respect that has been bestowed upon Jim Rogers. He co-founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros and retired in 1980 at the age of 37 having seen 4,200% growth in only 10 years.

In 1999, Rogers recognized and announced the now-famous "Super-cycle commodity bull market." He speculated on the precious metals when gold was trading near $260 per ounce and silver was trading near $4 per ounce.

With gold now trading over $1,500 per ounce and silver over $25 per ounce, most folks agree that he was right!

Significantly, Rogers believes that this Super-cycle will continue until 2020 to 2025 and that agriculture has lagged behind the other commodities.

He is now focused upon the agricultural commodities and predicts that he will make more from agriculture than he has from anything else in the past.

Coming from this particular billionaire, that's a big endorsement.

Investment and speculation capital tends to flow into sectors that offer the greatest potential rewards. Among commodities, the greatest potential rewards seem to be growing in the agricultural commodities sector.

Again, at some point, the global economy will recover and agricultural commodity prices will skyrocket from their present levels.

By speculating on agricultural commodities while prices are low, you will realize massive gains when the recovery materializes.

Most folks missed out on the major moves made by the precious metals and energy commodities over the last decade. That's because most folks ran away from the falling metals and energy prices of those days.

Falling prices, however, typically indicate buying opportunities for successful traders.

Of course, we should not be stopped by rising prices if proper research and analysis indicate that prices will go even higher. For example, I distinctly recall being told that I was crazy to buy gold when it reached $800 per ounce because it was at "all-time highs."

In this case, however, it is unlikely that you will find anyone claiming that commodity prices are near their highs. Most traders will admit that prices could indeed drift lower. If we are not at the bottom, however, most would agree that it is near.

So, how can you participate? There are a number of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that enable the average stock trader to participate in agricultural commodities without purchasing options or futures contracts.

The present state of the global economy indicates that we are seeing extraordinary buying opportunities RIGHT NOW in the agricultural commodities sector.

Consider the global demand for food. It may increase and decrease slightly as people adjust their budgets to economic downturns from time to time, as we are seeing presently. Overall food demand, however, does continue to grow as the population grows.

The world's population has more than doubled from 3 billion in 1960 to now. It is near, if not over, 7 billion people today. The United Nations estimates that the global population will exceed 9 billion mouths to feed, less than 40 years from now.

While the population has been growing, the arable land available for farming has been declining as more former farmland has been developed to meet the residential and commercial real estate needs of a growing population.

Rising food demand and declining availability of farmland equals higher food prices.

Granted, all commodities will see substantial price increases when the global economy begins to recover. Agricultural commodities, however, should see the greatest gains due to the fact that they are so far behind the metals and energy commodities.

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Greek Default Imminent

The Greek elections were confusing on multiple levels and this may be the catalyst that pushes Greece out of the European Union. Aside from the obvious economic issues, which was my primary focus, the confusion created by the press questioning Greece's ability to form a new government left me positively dumbfounded. Here in the U.S. it's a simple matter of counting up the votes and inaugurating the winner. Greece is a parliamentary republic, which means the President is ultimately decided by the 300 member Parliament.

Greece's top vote getter in the election was Antonis Samaras of the New Democracy Party. However, he won less than 20% of the popular vote and his party only secured a third of the Parliamentary seats. The Parliament holds their Presidential vote after the popular vote determines the Parliament's makeup. Thus the Presidential vote should be proportional to the Parliament's popular vote. Typically, Greece's elections are very similar to ours in that there have only been two parties with any real shot at gaining power. The second leading vote getter, Evangelos Venizelos, of the PASOK party, Greece's other dominant political party was able to garner 13% of the popular vote and a mere 41 Parliamentary seats.

The inability of either of the primary parties, who both favor austerity measures, to win a majority of Parliamentary seats further muddies the political waters and this is the cause of the, "Greece has failed to form a government" confusion. Greece is now going through the bargaining process with each candidate trying to win enough Parliamentary votes from the other parties to meet the two third's vote necessary to become President. Currently, neither of the primary parties, New Democracy or Pasok has been able to do it. The anti austerity radical and left wing parties that secured a record proportion of the popular vote have also failed in their turns to corral the necessary votes. This forces a second round of voting, which will require three fifths of the vote to win and will be held next month. Finally, if they are unable to reach a three fifth's majority, the Parliament is dissolved and a new election is held. The new President will be the one who gets the most votes.

The Greek people appear to be ready to default on their debt. The ability of the radical parties to gain such tremendous support, and possibly the Presidency, is a clear illustration that the Greek people are tired of living under German rule. The austerity cuts that we hear about on TV are very different to the Greek people who have seen their pensions cut in half, government payrolls and compensation slashed as well as nearly 10 tax hikes in the last two years.

The outflow of funds from Greek banks is accelerating at an alarming rate. Businesses and private citizens alike are scrambling to pull every Euro they can get their hands on out of their banks and into another country for safekeeping. Corporate and private deposits have fallen by 20% over the last year and more than 30% since 2009. The inability to form a government over the last week has accelerated the withdrawals to the tune of $700 million in the last week alone. That panic has caused the head of the Greek Central Bank to issue a statement suggesting that there is plenty of liquidity within the banking system and that there is no need to withdraw cash. Obviously, he's trying to quell the fears of his countrymen by whistling past the cemetery in the dark.

Greece did repay $556 million in foreign notes due to private investors who refused the 53.5% haircut on the brokered swap agreement. However, the situation is unraveling quickly. The rescue fund administrators have already begun withholding funds because the Greek vote drastically reduces their willingness to adhere to current austerity measures. The next line in the sand comes before the end of June when Greece is due nearly 40 billion Euros. The fear is spreading as Spanish yields are now above 6.5%. We stated 6% as their tipping point and now, even the Italian bonds are above that number. Finally, a Greek default will trigger losses around the world and due to the interwoven nature of swaps and derivatives, we don't really know what that will look like.....no matter what we're being told.

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When Lizards Will Not Eat, They Have to Eat

Like any animal, lizards at times in captivity will need to be force fed. There are situations and conditions which will result in a lizard not eating on their own.

Some diseases lizards can get will result in seizures, or a similar condition. It is imperative not to feed them during an incident like this. They will most likely not be able to swallow the food. It is best to seek the help of a veterinarian at this point. The animal will need to have a tube placed into their stomach to feed. If the animal shows no signs of seizures, they can be fed using a syringe. It is tricky to get their mouth open, but should be possible using the syringe itself.

Using the syringe, squeeze the processed food into the back of the throat, taking great care to avoid the trachea at the back of the tongue. Make sure to only offer as much food as the animal can handle. Larger lizards can obviously handle more food. It may also be possible to force-feed feeder insects. If the lizard is having digestive problems however, the liquid substitute is much easier to digest, as much of the work is already done. Another advantage of liquid feeding is the fact that you control exactly what the lizard is getting into its diet.

For the vegetable part of the liquid diet, vegetable baby food works very well. This food is high in vitamins and can easily be digested by the lizard. Make sure to add in a calcium supplement to the food. Younger lizards need to be fed more often but in smaller quantities, while larger lizards will need to be fed less often, but with higher quantities per feeding. You have to follow the natural way your lizard eats its food, as not to upset their natural metabolism. If your lizard eats both insects and vegetables, you can use a type of cat food (used for sick cats) if they will eat it. You can also try to add insect matter (use fresh insects) into the liquid mix.

When Lizards Will Not Eat, They Have to Eat   Snakes   

Snakes

Well, what is there about them you can say that is positive? How can anybody trust a creature that is born without arms or legs and smells with its tongue? Obviously, you can see I dislike snakes! For me, they just don't seem a part of the natural order of things without the usual appendages. A friend of mine suggested that I write down some of my encounters with snakes I experienced when I was exploring the Amazon basin and the western slopes of the Andes looking for gold and I guess my first brush with mortality from serpents came about as Eddie and I were walking into Puerto Napo from camp one day. The trail bordered the Napo River on the south side and we were making pretty good time on the twelve-mile walk. The ground was slippery as it always was from the continual wetness of the vegetation and we were always in danger of losing our footing. Walking, as it were, consisted of articulating a series of slips and slides and occasional falls. Well, Eddie was in front of me when all of a sudden he fell backwards.

Thinking he tripped, I caught him under his shoulders and helped him to regain his footing, but he instantly fell backwards again and there right in front of him in the middle of the trail was a snake, half coiled and half erect and ready to strike! I had almost pushed Eddie into the snakes' fangs! Close! Eddie shot the snake from a safe distance. We had other encounters with snakes on the eastern slopes, but most of them were on the west side of the Andes. The first occurred when I stooped over to enter a family dwelling in the village of La Concordia on the Cayapas River. We had been canoeing upriver all day and it was time to set up camp for the night. Our guide made arrangements for our accommodations to spend the night for a few cans of Tuna Fish and a pound of coffee. Barter was the preferred method of payment once you were out of civilization. We walked into the house made of Bamboo and a hardwood called "Chonta Duro". I have never been able to translate it into English except for the "Duro" part, which means "Hard". A log of this wood has a very fibrous core that can be burned out to form a pipe of sorts. We were to use it to bring fresh water into our camp for washing and cooking. It can further be split lengthwise to form a very durable flooring. It cannot be cut easily with a machete or axe and resists the saw on crosswise cuts. The blade of an ax will simply skip off of the wood, but I digress.

We sat on the floor eating supper and during the meal I glanced at the rest of the construction. They used the "Chonta Duro" logs as roofing timbers and as I followed one timber from the edge of the roof to the lodge pole, I saw something in the shadows that I couldn't quite make out, so I took out my flashlight and shone it right smack in the face of a fourteen foot Boa Constrictor! Our guide explained that this was a normal household pet to keep down the rat population. That night I slept comfortably in my sleeping bag outside on the ground. Our camp upriver was built on a small plateau on a hillside and was made of Bamboo and Chonta Duro timbers. We built it at ground level, as we were sixty feet above the surface of the river. The walls were only three feet high leaving a wide gap between the wall and the roof for ventilation. One morning, I had just awakened and was getting ready to get up when, BANG! Wally had shot a snake off of the top of the wall not three feet from my head! When I looked over the edge of the wall, the headless body of Beige, Brown and Black four foot Fer-de-Lance Pit Viper was sprawled lifeless on the ground. This snake is one of the most dangerous of all the snakes in South America for it is aggressive and will strike without warning. Thanks Wally! Another time, I was getting ready to walk out of the door of the our "House" and as I was crossing the threshold, I saw a large three foot bright orange snake crawling on the top of the wall. Another Pit Viper! I grabbed a machete and killed it! The last really good story again had Eddie and I as the centerpieces.

It was on a Sunday, and we decided to go fishing. Now in the middle of the jungle, this is not a sporting event for we used sticks of dynamite to do the fishing for us. Those of you that have qualms about this just have never been hungry! We grabbed several sticks of dynamite, caps and fuse and set off in our motor canoe upriver. The Canoe was made from a forty-foot hollowed out tree with wood planks added to the gunwales and a transom add-on for a forty-horsepower Evinrude, which I had had shipped from the States. Balsa logs added to the outside of the canoe at the waterline gave added stability. We named it the Nueva Esperanza or New Hope for good luck! I ran the canoe upriver about half a mile and beached the bow on a sandbar. We had fished this area before with good results. Eddie was sitting on one of the plank seats and getting the Dynamite ready. We were using two sticks as we were over a deep pool of water. Eddie lit the fuse on the first charge and I leaned back on the Evinrude to watch the results. After about a minute, we decided the charge wasn't going to explode and Eddie prepared another while I watched and made rude comments about him not being able to blow himself to Hell! The second charge followed with the same results and I watched as Eddie prepare a third. The rude comments started extending to his family lineage and as I watched, I saw something swimming across the river about two hundred feet away. I thought it might be an Otter and told Eddie what I was looking at when the object lifted its head clear of the water and looked right at us! I still couldn't make it out but it suddenly changed direction and started swimming towards us. I watched for a few seconds and determined it was a large snake about eight feet long and told Eddie about it.

Eddie looked and put the dynamite down and started looking for something to use as a weapon. Meanwhile, the snake was coming directly right at us and as it got closer, I could see the arrogance in its yellow eyes! He swam right up to the canoe and started to work its body onto the Balsa sponson. The Son-of-a-Bitch wanted us for breakfast! Eddie had found a length of broken paddle in the bow and as he was walking back to the stern of the canoe, the snake popped his head over the gunwale! Eddie finally reached where the snake was and smacked him several times on the head, until at last; it succumbed and fell back into the river with his head and about two feet of his length sinking beneath the surface. Dead for sure! Eddie was so nervous that he asked me to fix the third charge, which I did. I lit the fuse and instead of throwing the dynamite, I placed it very gently in the water, alongside the canoe. I had not noticed that the motion of Eddie killing the snake had caused the canoe to shift its position and end up right on top of the unexploded four sticks of dynamite! My subconscious took it into account and that's why I placed the charge alongside the canoe. Well, before I could say "Holy sh-t", we were greeted with a loud, thunderous explosion that lifted the canoe, all forty feet of her, about a foot out of the water, and slammed us back into the river, opening up a crack in the hull running from the bow to the stern, and we started shipping water. The only way to keep us from sinking was to find something to fill in the crack and stop the water from coming in!

Eddie looked at me and I looked at Eddie. All we had were the clothes on our back! It must have been a pretty sight to see two naked men trying to keep from sinking! We finally stabilized the leak and headed back to camp naked, trying to figure out what we would tell the others when we came upon the body of the limp snake. Now, Eddie wanted to bring the snake into the canoe so he could skin it and use the skull for a hat decoration, and I told him in no uncertain terms that he was going to walk home if he brought the snake into the canoe, but I laughed that we could use the snakeskin for some Custom Business Cards. Eddie instead put the paddle under the loop of snake below water and carried the rest of the body on the paddle the rest of the way to camp. I turned the canoe around facing upriver and was preparing to land when two things happened.

First Wally, who was seventy-one, walked down the path to see if we had caught anything, and secondly, Eddie threw the snake in a sweeping motion so that it landed at Wally's feet. The next thing you know, the snake started moving, he had only been stunned! Wally drew his machete and cut its head off. I never saw the old man move so fast! We found out later that the snake was another aggressive Pit Viper called the Bushmaster, also called an "Iki" by the locals. It was over eight feet long and had a diamond shaped gray and brown pattern like a Diamondback rattler and not one, but two sets of needle sharp fangs, one primary set in the front of the mouth and a second spare set in the rear.

And you ask me why I don't like snakes, well, there's several good reasons! I have other snake stories, but none of them are as interesting.

When Lizards Will Not Eat, They Have to Eat   Snakes   

Instructions To Help Mount Your Home Weather Station

Lot of people these days are investing in home weather stations. These typically consist of a receiver, thermometer, barometer, anemometer and rain gauge. The barometer is usually included into the electronic receiver itself but the other three instruments need to mounted in the correct manner so as to obtain the best and most accurate results.

The thermometer is the instrument that measures the ambient temperature so one cannot place it in the direct sunlight because the direct heat will change the readings. The thermometer needs to be mounted in the shade at a few feet above the ground so that you are assured of the readings. Generally people use a Stevenson's Screen in which they mount it. This assembly protects the instrument from the direct sunlight. This also shields it from precipitation and the shade of trees that can alter the readings.

The anemometer is the instrument that measures the speed and the direction of the wind. Any kind of obstructions in the path of the instrument can alter the readings so it is ideal to mount it at a height of at least 33 feet or more, away from any obstructions. This height requirement makes it ideal to put this instrument on most roofs. Care must be taken to make sure nothing will block the wind's path to the instrument at the chosen location.

The rain gauge is for measuring precipitation. So if you mount it in the garage or under a very leafy tree no precipitation will reach it. It should be mounted two feet above the ground and must be placed completely level to the ground. Care must be taken to make sure there is nothing overhead that will block or reroute the rain drops.

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Why You Should Take Camera Insurance

Whether one is a part-time or professional photographer, purchasing camera equipments is very expensive. Not only is the primary outlay very expensive, but for many, obtaining the right equipment and its supplies can be time consuming. However, if you are a proficient photographer, insuring your equipments under home insurance may not present you with adequate coverage. Therefore, if you cannot afford to purchase others, should something happen, it is important to reflect on other insurance routes, particularly camera insurance.

You will also note that light thieves and pickpockets usually target such items due to their small size and high value. This means there is a higher risk of losing your valued possession. However, due the simplicity of these devices, people opt to insure them through the existing home content policy.

According to experts, it is essential to insure the equipment through a specialist provider. Based on how one uses the equipment, be it as a hobby or as a means of income, there are two methods available for insuring the equipments, the amateur and professional camera insurance.

Since there are various packages available, it is imperative to locate cover tailored to ones specific requirements. For example, it is feasible to obtain cover for worldwide usage or public liability. Nonetheless, it is important to carefully go through the details of the policy in order to ascertain that you are paying for the right coverage.

Remember, these covers are offered in different classes. You can therefore take professional or amateur cover depending on what you do with your unit. There are also different packages offered therefore it is possible to find one tailored to meet your needs perfectly. This is usually great for the professionals. The best cover must also include information on how to protect your unit in addition to securing it.

You find that some providers may not cover for damages caused by liquids. This is because they might feel that the damage is too great or could have been avoided. Others may not pay for theft claims if the equipments were not locked away.

So regardless of whether you are a professional or a part-time photographer, you should make sure that you obtain the best camera insurance provider. All this can be possible if you search carefully and compare quotes from the different providers. Remember to read the details of the cover very carefully. This will ensure that you get the right cover and not pay for additional cover which you do not need.

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