California Farmland To Plunge “20% Or More” As Returns Sink To Lowest Level Since 1992

 

Last August we questioned whether California farmland was overvalued by $70 billion (see our aptly named post: “Is California Farmland Overvalued By $70 Billion?“).  Our reasoning was fairly simple, as we argued such a draconian outcome was the inevitable result of large institutional buyers scooping up 1,000s of acres of Cali farmland and massively overplanting almonds because, at least at the time, it was the hottest crop earning the highest returns…and that’s what NYC hot money likes. 

TV: Nuclear waste overflowing into Pacific Ocean at Fukushima — Officials: Impossible to stop the spill anytime soon — Torrential rainfall from approaching typhoon already too much for plant to handle

 

NHK, Jul. 16, 2015 (emphasis added): Radioactive water from Fukushima plant escapes — The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has found that radioactive water has overflowed from a drainage channel, spilling into the sea. This is due to heavy rain… samples taken from the channel about 2 hours later contained 830 becquerels per liter of radioactive cesium [and] 1,100 becquerels of beta-ray emitting radioactive substances. An approaching typhoon has been bringing intermittent heavy rain around the plant. The utility suspects that the rain has washed away mud and soil that also contains radioactive materials. It also presumes the amount of rainwater has exceeded the pump’s capacity. The leak was continuing as of 5 PM. But the firm says it cannot stop the spill anytime soon…

U.S. scientists expect traces of ocean radiation from Fukushima soon

Scientists have crowdsourced a network of volunteers taking water samples at beaches along the U.S. West Coast in hopes of capturing a detailed look at low levels of radiation drifting across the ocean since the 2011 tsunami that devastated a nuclear power plant in Japan.

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Federal agencies are not sampling at the beach. The state of Oregon is sampling, but looking for higher radiation levels closer to federal health standards, said state health physicist Daryl Leon. Washington stopped looking after early testing turned up nothing, said Washington Department of Health spokesman Donn Moyer.