Of Plagues and Floods

First the locusts, now the floods. Australia, a land used to the extremes of weather, has this year suffered a double whammy in its eastern farm belt. Hard on the heels of a record-breaking locust plague, much of its grain crop in New South Wales, the country’s prime breadbasket, has been wiped out by devastating, record-breaking floods that converted over 30 percent of this state into a disaster area in November.

For many farmers, this is their third season in a row suffering crop losses due to rain. Already in decline through loss of markets and the drain of rural youth to the cities, this will be yet another blow to Australia’s rural industry, which has seen hundreds of farms close over the past two decades.

Now, with chemically ravaged soils compounding Australia’s endemic soil erosion problem, lack of proper crop rotation, and monoculture practiced on a grand scale, the effects of global warming and resultant climate change are wreaking havoc on this country’s farm economy. Australia is experiencing the curses that come from breaking the natural laws of environmental care, farming and animal husbandry (Lev. 26:19-21).