WHEN levees broke across Illinois, Missouri and Iowa this month, the resulting floods destroyed an estimated 2 million hectares of corn and soya crops, making the Midwest flood the most destructive since 1993.
Back then, when more than 50 towns were wrecked, it was buildings and infrastructure that got the attention, not lost crops. This time it’s different. Empty grain silos and rising food prices have made the loss of the harvest in one of the world’s key areas for food production big news. Unfortunately, this very fact makes it even less likely that there will be any attempt to…
