VOA标准英语2012--European Farmers Work to Boost Global Grain Supplies
时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2012年(九月)
European Farmers Work to Boost Global Grain Supplies
Britain has just been hit with its wettest summer in 100 years and that's been bad news for a lot of farmers, especially inland and in the north. But in the eastern pocket of Suffolk, wheat yields have been good.
Farmer Robert Raven 1 has already harvested his wheat and says the quality seems to be high. He says although agriculture here does suffer shocks, on the whole farmers in western Europe tend to get by.
"Europe has a less variable harvest over the years purely 2 because our weather is more predictable. So although we do suffer from volatility 3 ourselves it's certainly not the extremes you get elsewhere," Raven said. "When we talk about a bad year it's nothing compared to what you get in other parts of the world where they get complete crop failures because of the weather."
The European Union is one of the world's top grain producers and a key supplier to neighboring regions in the Middle East and North Africa. So it's good news that, although its harvest is expected to be slightly lower than normal this year, it's a relatively 4 small shortfall.
Elsewhere it's a different story.
In the United States, the world's leading corn producer, the worst drought in over half a century has depleted 5 crops. The government estimates this year's production to be the lowest in the past six years.
In Russia, another top grain supplier, a heat wave has slashed 6 the wheat harvest by around one-quarter.
The poor harvests are causing grain prices to spike 7 and raising concerns about a global food crisis.
Peter Hazell, an expert on world food problems at Imperial College London, says relatively good yields in the European harvest this year is good news but won't resolve worries over food insecurity.
"Europe produces about 300 million tons of cereal each year. The U.S. produces about 400 million tons," he said. "To put that in perspective the world produces 2.4 billion tons a year. So Europe is a significant producer but it also has a lot of people and it actually exports quite a small amount."
Hazell says this year's poor harvests are likely to impact the world's poorest the most. And it wouldn't be the first time.
Four years ago, prices rose dramatically, making basic staples 8 unaffordable for many.
The crisis contributed to economic and social instability in a number of countries and, in some places, to rioting.
Hazell says in recent years the ratio of supply and demand has become too finely balanced.
"All the food that we produce these days is used," he said. "Whereas in the past we always had surpluses - we don't have those surpluses anymore so when we get a drought there is a shock in the system, we do not have the stocks to release to buffer 9 it."
He says with price spikes 10 already a problem, and an extra two billion people expected by 2050, there are no easy answers.
But he says in the long term, extra food won't be coming from countries that are already the world's top producers, like in Europe or North America, but from places where land has yet to be fully 11 exploited.
"A lot of the future potential lies in the developing countries, particularly in Africa and Latin America," Hazell said. "These are countries where a lot of poor people are engaged in farming so here is an opportunity to grow more food to feed the world and have some of the poorest people engaged in that process solving their own income and employment problems in the process. So that is the real win/win opportunity."
But in the short term, farmers in Europe and around the world are working to get the greatest yield out of the land they have.
Robert Raven sold much of this year's wheat months ago. But with prices now high he will be making a good profit on the extra grain and expects his profits to top recent years'.
European farmers, he says, are doing their best to make sure people around the world can eat.
"We will be exporting as much as we can to try to help fill the shortfall left by the U.S. and Russia," Raven said. "Obviously when the world can only produce as much grain as it does we cannot completely fill the gap but Europe is certainly emptying the barns as much as possible."
And with crops yet to be harvested this year in many parts of the world, farmers in those countries are hoping for good weather and strong yields to add to the global stock.
- We know the raven will never leave the man's room.我们知道了乌鸦再也不会离开那个男人的房间。
- Her charming face was framed with raven hair.她迷人的脸上垂落着乌亮的黑发。
- I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
- This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。
- That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
- Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而,由于相当长的时间里波动性小,灾难短视就获胜了。
- The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
- The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。
- Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
- He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
- They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。
- The anvil onto which the staples are pressed was not assemble correctly. 订书机上的铁砧安装错位。 来自辞典例句
- I'm trying to make an analysis of the staples of his talk. 我在试行分析他的谈话的要旨。 来自辞典例句
- A little money can be a useful buffer in time of need.在急需时,很少一点钱就能解燃眉之急。
- Romantic love will buffer you against life's hardships.浪漫的爱会减轻生活的艰辛。
- a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
- There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉,以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》