Word: belted
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Whether Carter's move would have any serious effect on the Soviets remained a matter of strong debate, but it caused thunderous reverberations last week through the great grain belt of the U.S. Middle West. Grain prices plunged on the commodities markets and the politically powerful farmers protested mightily that they were being ruined. Most of Carter's rivals for the presidency denounced his embargo as unfair and ineffective, and there were some predictions that these criticisms would soon be translated into opposition votes in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 21 and in early primary elections...
...ideal spot for nurturing champagne grapes, the Midwest's long growing season, heavy spring or summer rains and rich, two-foot-deep topsoil are perfect for grain cultivation. Kansas and Oklahoma are wheat country. Just north in the hardy soil of Illinois and Iowa lie the great corn belt and vast fields of soybeans. Farther north, in the Dakotas and Minnesota, grow wheat, soybeans, sugar beets. Here is the richest farm land east of Eden, where the biblical seven years of bountiful harvests are usually followed not by famine but by seven more years of plenty...
Modern farm-belt agriculture, however, has brought with it a new manifestation of an age-old problem -soil erosion. Inadequate conservation measures combined with very heavy planting have led to excessive runoffs of soil into rivers and streams. In such Plains states as Nebraska and Kansas, where often only scattered trees break the wind, some farmers watch helplessly as their most valuable asset blows away. The Agriculture Department considers the loss of five tons of soil an acre annually to be excessive; below that, the land can renew itself fairly well. Yet Illinois farms are eroding at an average...
...decline of colonial protection has not discouraged the growth of Christianity; neither has the existence of those hostile regimes that have often replaced colonialism. The spread "is true of the entire tropical belt of Africa from east to west," says Barrett. And southward too, except that growth is slower in South Africa. There "Christianity is still associated with white Afrikanerdom...
...ports and storage areas are crammed with grain, so any embargo would not be felt for a few months. When the grain runs out, the herds would again be slaughtered to feed people. Toward the end of 1980, a meat shortage would finally develop. But that would simply mean belt-tightening for Soviet citizens -a familiar enough deprivation under Communist rule. If the embargo were sustained for a long period, more severe suffering could occur. But Carter has always been reluctant to use food as that direct a weapon. In his speech he even went out of his way, rather...