2/27/2006: Wheat mountains
 

http://cellar.org/2006/wheatmtn.jpg

Here we see a hiker attempting to reach the second peak of the Wheat Mountains, a minor range in Bhutan.

No, it's actually mountains of grain! The backlighting of the climber gives it away: this is a massive grain shed, and the climber is actually the site's manager. This grain is Australian, and it waits to be exported.

It turns out Australia sends off about 2/3rds of its wheat crop. It's sent to just about every major nation on the Indian Ocean and the south Pacific. The Aussies are feeding the world!

And the world is eating grain that some guy climbed all over.

That seems like a very dangerous thing to do. Grain quicksand comes to mind not to mention the amount of dust in the air. I believe I've even heard of grain silos exploding from the dust combusting.

And the name of the mountain is.......
Wonder-loaf. :D

Wow. I wonder what the consistency is like? I guess it's a lot more solid than you'd think, considering those interesting formations in the foreground. (Not to mention the guy hiking all over it.)

He couldn't cross the Grain Mountains, so instead had to go under them, through the Mines of Corn-ia. :lol2:

This is a Monday IOTD - and grainy days and Mondays always get me down.

I knew there was a reason I liked it here.

:lol: Indeed!

This is interesting because over most of the past century, the USA produced the most wheat for consumption and export. Starting at the turn of the last century St. Paul, MN lead the world in production and export but now we are not the leaders in this area. Instead we lead the world in the production of corn.

Why? Because the demand for corn syrup for our wonderful processed and fast foods and drinks has totally changed the face of the american farmland. Furthermore corn can be grown year after year with less need for rotating crops, just as long as the farmer uses a ton of fertilizer and some pesticides it just keeps growing.

Now Corn is really going to be king as the push to make fuel from ethanol grows. :headshake

Australian wheat is exported by a legal monopoly called the Australian Wheat Board. The AWB is currently in a lot of trouble for exporting to Iraq before the US invasion while knowing that some of the money was going to Saddam. It's part of the "oil for food" scandal. The Australian government is also getting a lot of bad publicity right now as there are accusations that the government knew about the kickbacks and turned a blind eye.

Some of you might be surprised at the massive volumes of Australian exports... not just beer and wool (which is what we seem to be most famous for), but also most of the world's uranium, most of the world's opals, huge amounts of coal and wheat, a lot of sheep and beef and gold and diamonds... Australia is a country that is rich from mining and primary production, despite the fact that most of the country is infertile desert.

maybe he's wearing snow shoe type gear...with a fine mesh..

I see stuff like this all the time , you should have seen the mess when a 1,000,000 bushel holding tank burst , it unzipped up a seam just like a zipper !!!

I will have to get some pics of BULK grain storage for the Gubment , it is stored on the ground under tarps .

Would he go out if he REALLY had to pee?

the US IS the #1 exporter of wheat, followed by Argentina. China is the #1 importer, followed by Russia. Now, ask me about rice! I know all about rice!

Oh, shit. I see tw is going to reply to this thread. I hope he doesn't give me any crap about the US and wheat and how we use it as a geo-political tool...

Not exactly. The reason we grow so much corn is also why America (and France) are accused of undermining world trade. Government subsidies for corn are some of the world's largest. Its lower price is also another reason why corn syrup - pure sugar - is replacing nutritious ingredients in American foods. For example, Apple Juice was once from apples. Now corn syrup is a major ingredient - pure sugar.

Ask not why we are eating too much. Ask why there is now so much sugar in American diets.

And ask why corn could be better produced in other nations where people need the jobs - if American government subsidies did not subvert world corn prices.

Where is Canada. I though Canada exported more wheat then Argentina?

According to the USDA at this site the lineup for exports is;
#2 United States 28,500 thousand metric tons
#3 Australia 15,000 thousand metric tons
#4 Canada 14,500 thousand metric tons
#6 Argentina 9,000 thousand metric tons
#7 Kazakhstan 6,500 thousand metric tons
#8 Russia 3,500 thousand metric tons
#9 India 2,000 thousand metric tons
#10 Turkey 800 thousand metric tons
#11 Ukraine 100 thousand metric tons
But they don't say who #1 is......very strange :eyebrow:

The total area (hectares) growing wheat is;
#1 India 24,860,000
#2 China 22,000,000
#3 United States 21,470,000
#5 Australia 13,020,000
#6 Kazakhstan 11,300,000
#7 Canada 10,470,000
#8 Turkey 8,600,000
#9 Pakistan 8,090,000
#10 Iran 6,500,000
#11 Argentina 5,700,000

Do you know that the steepness of the slope has a specific maximum value? The name of that value is called The Angle of Repose (The maximum slope or angle at which loose, cohesionless material remains stable. Dictionary of Geological Terms, 3rd Edition, American Geological Institute). For wheat the value is about 25 degrees.

Carry on.

Come on down to the Tampa Brewery sometime! I'll buy you a pint and tell you the stories of what we do to the sacks of barley and hops that are stored in stacks that we use as comfortable seats while waiting our turn to play darts.

What you do to the sacks of barley and hops---does it rhyme with darts? :)

Tampa Brewery has unique, aromatic blends. Not much to my taste, though. I prefer the mixed drinks, there. :)

That redefines the term: beer fart.

Is this just down the road from Big Rock Candy Mountain?