ClaimsJeremy Grantham

“we will drown, not in rain, but in grain”

Jeremy Grantham, GMO co-founder, letter author April 2011 GMO Quarterly Letter April 2011: Time to Wake Up (GMO) archived copy

Prediction Economics and markets

If weather is friendly in the next year, grain will be in glut because farmers are planting every tillable acre.

Unresolvable The public record could not settle it.

Prediction: Statements about events outside the person's control, checked once they fell due: did they come true?

Said for an organisation they lead or work for; it counts on both records.

What would count as true or false

Conditional prediction made in April 2011: if growing weather over the next year (roughly the 2011-12 crop seasons) was favourable, there would be a grain glut ('drown in grain') because farmers were planting every tillable acre. First decide whether the condition held, meaning whether weather in the major grain-producing regions (US, South America, Black Sea, etc.) was broadly favourable. If it held: True = a glut, meaning large harvests, rising stocks and sharp falls in grain prices by 2012. Mostly true = big harvests and clearly falling prices, but short of a glut. Mixed = harvests up in some grains only. Mostly false = only slight easing. False = no glut, and prices stayed high or rose despite good weather. If the evidence shows that weather was clearly not favourable in major producing regions (for example a major drought), the condition failed and the prediction was not tested. In that case the claim should be treated as unresolvable rather than true or false.

Set before the research began.

Evidence (2)

  1. E1 GMO's Jeremy Grantham warns about impending food crisis Top1000funds.com · 3 October 2012

    “Recent US drought-driven spikes in grain prices Grantham predicts are just a foretaste of things to come and particularly concerning, given the widespread plantings undertaken after 2008 shortages led to food-price riots in some developing countries.”
  2. E2 GMO's Jeremy Grantham warns about impending food crisis Top1000funds.com · 3 October 2012

    “The droughts afflicting farmers in the US and the subsequent spike in food commodity prices are just forerunners to the climate-change fallout that will see many food-importing developing countries struggle to feed their populations, according to Grantham.”

Reasoning

This was a conditional prediction: a grain glut would follow only if growing weather was favourable. An independent report from 2012 describes droughts hitting US farmers and the spikes in grain and food commodity prices that followed [E1][E2]. That means growing weather was clearly not favourable in a major producing region. The resolution criteria say the prediction was then not tested, so the claim is treated as unresolvable rather than true or false.

Cite this claim

Jeremy Grantham, “If weather is friendly in the next year, grain will be in glut because farmers are planting every tillable acre.” (said April 2011). Verdict: unresolvable. Reliability API, claim c_1ec9d4d44beb, method 0.1.0+28da144b, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_1ec9d4d44beb

This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.

Reply to this claim

For Jeremy Grantham, or someone speaking for them: a correction or counter-evidence. Replies are read before anything is shown; an approved reply shows your name, role, date, statement and link. Your email address is never shown and is deleted 30 days after the decision (privacy).

More prediction claims by Jeremy Grantham

  1. Resolved false Prediction January 2023
    “we can conclude that the final low for this market might be well into 2024.”

    The final low of this bear market might come well into 2024.

  2. Mixed Prediction January 2023
    “near certainty it was a year ago, is much more likely than not.”

    A continued market decline of at least substantial proportions is much more likely than not.

  3. Mostly false Prediction January 2023
    “after a bloodbath is not unusual and may very well not outlive January.”

    The January 2023 rally may well not outlive January.

  4. Mostly true Prediction January 2023
    “may help to support the market for a few more months.”

    The Presidential Cycle's positive influence may help support the market for a few more months.

  5. Resolved true Prediction 31 August 2022
    “Each cycle is different and unique—but every historical parallel suggests that the worst is yet to come.”

    Grantham says historical parallels suggest the worst of the current market downturn is still to come.

All of them

Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts are made.