Earth Equity News

Argentine Drought Withers Agriculture and Kills Over a Million Cows. By Joshua Partlow, WashPost, February 9, 2009."Argentina is suffering its worst drought in decades and the cattle are dying by the barnload. Since October, the drought has taken down 1.5 million of the animals, according to an estimate by the Argentine Rural Society, in a country that last year sent 13.5 million to slaughter. The cattle for the most part are dying of hunger, as the dry skies have shriveled up their pastures, along with huge swaths of Argentina's important soy, corn and wheat fields... The drought began a couple of years ago in southwest Buenos Aires province and northeast Santa Fe province, but has spread in recent months to most of the pampas. Agricultural groups estimate that Argentina, one of the world's top grain exporters, has lost more than $5 billion from the weather and that it could significantly slow the nation's economic growth. The 2008 harvests of several crops came in far smaller than those of the previous year."