BLACK BLIZZARD LOOMS OVER CHINA

The great black blizzard of 1933 destroyed acres of farmland stretching from the Texas Panhandle all through the Great Plains and to the Canadian border.

During 1934 and 1935 the dust storms destroyed many miles of farmland and forever changed the lives of more than half a million Americans.

The Dust Bowl was a seminal event in American history. And unlike a natural disaster such as hurricane Katrina there was a long story of human error behind it.

After World War I there was a great demand for wheat. Mechanized farming also became common. Farmers tore up the sod that covered the plains and farms expanded. Production soared.

But in the 1930s a combination of drought and desiccated farmland created the epic dust storms.

The dark blizzard clouds are forming again - but this time it will be even more devastating for many more thousands of people.

Plumes of dust emanating from northern China have already hit the U.S. mainland.

With precious little vegetation remaining in portions of northern and western China, the strong winds of late winter and early spring can remove millions of tons of topsoil in a single day.

These dust storms are so strong that they can peel the paint off cars and force the closure of airports - even in places as far away as South Korea and Japan.

As with the Great Plains, northern China is dry and farmed intensely. Here the farmland is turning to desert at an alarming rate. Estimates peg the loss at more than 900 square miles per year.

Chinese farmers struggle to meet the demands of the Chinese people where meat production has grown at 8% annually since 1980. This is the biggest increase of any major meat-producing country in the world, yet it still falls a long way short of demand.

In poor countries, cereals and grains make up the vast majority of a person's diet. But in richer countries people eat more meat, as well as fruits and vegetables.

Meat is incredibly expensive to produce, because raising the necessary livestock requires large amounts of grain.

The average cow consumes 2.5-3% of its body weight in grains every day. That means that a 1,200-pound beef steer consumes about 35 pounds of feed every day.

Growing meat is also water intensive as it takes about 6,600 gallons of water to produce just 8 ounces of beef.