Started as an answer to a question on Reddit.
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I did some investigating, and it looks like I should update some of my thoughts on world grain production. I'll share that below, but first wanted to honestly answer your question about where I got the idea.
Well, to be honest, my understand went back quite a while to a book I no longer remember the title of, but what it pointed out was that the US won the Cold War and faded the threat of Japan (if you'll remember they were once considered our greatest threat, before their stock bubble burst and their demographic pressures caught with them). It made it seem like US grain exports were a key factor. Though the situation has changed in Russia to a shocking degree, as I will show below, I did some more digging and it turns out that claim was not lacking in merit.
Beginning with the 1972-73 crop season, the Soviet Union imported more wheat than any nation had ever taken. In 1984-85, takings were 55.5 million tonnes of both wheat and corn, a record for a single country to take in one year.
But, it looks like some updating needs to be done. According to this source, wheat production goes
- China 2. India. 3. Russia 4. US 5. France
I am shocked by Russia's turn-around. It really goes to show that famines are often political in nature and that collectivized farming was not a great idea. (Side note: France is also amazing. The country is around the size of Texas -- smaller, in point of fact).
But if you are a "bread basket" you can't just eat up all the grain you produce; you need to export it to get leverage. Go to this source for exports, and behold!
- Russian Federation: $8.4 billion, 20.51% of world exports
- Canada: $5.7 billion, 13.87% of world exports
- United States of America: $5.5 billion, 13.27% of world exports
- France: $4.1 billion, 10.04% of world exports
So, yes, Canada can consider itself a great exporter. I think I might have to amend down how important US grain is to it's continued ability to screw everyone else by holding the world reserve currency. Man. . . it really might be military or bust at this point.
