crop cast , a maryland -based weather forecasting service that is used by many us commodity trading houses , says that while el nino has already affected south american soyabeans , south african maize and australian wheat , it is hoping to be able to predict potentially damaging crop effects in the us by looking at the coincidence of the el nino with two other climatological events , last year 's eruption of mount pinatubo in the phillippines and the combination of lunar and solar cycles .