Renewable Farming

“Fifth wave” of flooding in Yangtze Basin threatens worst damage yet

Evidence keeps building that widespread flooding is intensifying China’s demand for imported corn, soybeans, wheat and sorghum. We first speculated on this in an analysis posted July 24 and updated since.

August 25, 2020 — Now we can link you to a video posted by an American-based news firm, China Observer, which provides an extensive description of August flooding on China’s major rivers and grain-producing regions. Torrential rains have flooded tributaries of the Yangtze River upstream of the massive Three Gorges Dam. Although a catastrophic failure of the dam is unlikely, authorities will have to open more floodgates, intensifying floods downstream from the dam. 

The video created by the China Observer staff resonates as an objective look at the flooding situation as of late August. It also offers insight on the financial maneuvers behind the construction of the Three Gorges Dam which is now enriching controlling investors, but leaving few financial crumbs for the general public. 

Update August 26: Chinese trade officials propose a new “soybean alliance” to widen their reliable sources of imported soybeans. They add that the U.S. and Brazil will remain the main sources for imported beans in the future, but the feeler to Russia is one more signal that China feels a need to broaden food security.