"April 24, 2009"
http://www.spaceweather.com/
"Daily Sun: 24 Apr 09 The sun is blank--no sunspot. Sunspot number: 0"
"Far side of the Sun: This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far
side of the sun."

The face of the Sun is without blemish:
http://www.spaceweather.com/images20...uduhvhgg v507

Please visit:
http://blog.nj.com/southjersey_impac...SolarCycle.jpg

The right panel shows the face of the Sun as it looked on a good day during
the late Modern Warm Period. Sunspots are the apparent size of craters on
the moon. The left panel shows a Sun as it appears today. Please write to Al
Gore so that Al knows that the Sun is not living up to his religious
expectations. Al Gore is a divinity school dropout. George Carlin had a
better grasp of the true nature of God's creation, than does Al Gore.

Please visit:
http://www.co-intelligence.org/newsl...es/sun-etc.jpg
which shows the relative sizes of the Sun and planets. Compared to the Sun,
Jupiter is the size of a pea, earth is the size of a grain of sand.

AGRICULTURE

"A dangerous game is now unfolding around the world"; Bill Doyle, Potash
Corp. CEO

As farmers cut back on fertilizer, the impact could reverberate far beyond
Potash Corp.'s bottom line. Will the recession spark a global food crisis?
PAUL WALDIE

April 24, 2009

Like millions of farmers around the world, David Start is slashing the
amount of potash he uses on his Ontario farm and the impact is rattling the
agricultural industry.

Mr. Start has cut his potash use by 75 per cent because the price of the
fertilizer is just too high. He hopes that by using a limited amount of
potash he'll still produce the same amount of corn, beans and wheat.

"If you can't afford the input, then you have to start to strategize," he
said from his farm near Woodstock.

Farmers across Canada, the United States and elsewhere are making similar
decisions and holding off on fertilizer purchases in the hope prices will
fall. Their collective action has sent fertilizer sales into an
unprecedented nosedive and pummelled the bottom lines of agriculture giants
like Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., POT-T Viterra Inc., Bunge Ltd. and
Terra Industries Inc.

Yesterday, Saskatoon-based Potash said its first-quarter profit fell 45 per
cent from a year earlier to $308.3-million (U.S.) because "fertilizer sales
ground to a virtual halt." Revenue dropped to $922.5-million from
$1.89-billion.

Agriculture conglomerate Bunge, based in White Plains, N.Y., lost
$262-million on its fertilizer operations in the first quarter, after making
$133-million a year ago; and Terra Industries of Sioux City, Iowa, reported
a 70-per-cent drop in first-quarter profit.

Regina-based Viterra lost $33-million (Canadian) in its first quarter mainly
because of a $28.1-million writedown of its fertilizer stockpiles.
Calgary-based Agrium Inc. has yet to report.

Fertilizer dealers have been hit even harder and a few small stores in
Canada have gone out of business.

"It's not good," said Bob McNaughton, who runs Sylvite Agri-Services Inc. in
Putnam, Ont., which has six locations. He knows several stores that are
facing financial trouble. "They're gone, or will be."

Many stores bought potash last year at close to $1,000 a tonne, he said. The
price has fallen to around $800, which many still believe is too high. Even
if a retailer can make a sale, Mr. McNaughton said the owners have to eat
the loss.

"Everybody was expecting a mind-blowing, record fall season and it was a
bust," said David MacKay, executive director of the Winnipeg-based Canadian
Association of Agri-Retailers, which represents about 1,000 fertilizer
dealers.

Farmers "are being very cautious about their fertilizer purchases and some
are putting it off as long as possible frankly," said Ian Wishart, president
of Keystone Agricultural Producers in Winnipeg. He added that fertilizer has
become the leading input cost for most farmers, surpassing freight costs.

Potash chief executive officer Bill Doyle said farmers are playing a
"dangerous game" that will have consequences.

"This level of reduction has never been seen before," he told analysts on a
conference call. "No one can state precisely what the impact will be on the
world's food supply, immediately or over the longer term. But we know with
scientific certainty that nutrient underapplication damages both crop yields
and quality."

Mr. Doyle said farmers in Brazil and Argentina are already witnessing the
fallout. They used far less fertilizer on their crops and are now seeing
production yields fall by as much as 20 per cent.

He said fertilizer sales to North American farmers have dropped as much as
86 per cent but farmers still plan to plant the same amount of corn, canola
and other crops as last year. If farmers around the world follow the same
path, global food supplies will be affected. "After two record world crops
in 2007 and 2008, the year 2009 could be a completely different story," he
said.

Mr. Doyle said the food crisis that garnered so much public attention last
year has not gone away. Yesterday, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization
warned that prices for many food stuffs are still rising, "creating further
hardship for millions of poor people already suffering from hunger and
undernourishment."

"There's just no question that we're going to come upon much higher grain
prices as we come out of this global recession," Mr. Doyle said.

POTASH CORP. (POT)

Close: $97.49, down $2.91