End Times and Current Events

General Category => Survival => Topic started by: Mark on May 10, 2011, 10:53:11 am



Title: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on May 10, 2011, 10:53:11 am
Clinton Warns of Impending Food Crisis

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is warning that unless something is done to hold down rising global food prices, the consequences will be "grave."

Clinton told those at a meeting of the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization that the combination of food shortages and rising prices could cause widespread unrest like that seen in 2007 and 2008.

"We must act now, effectively and cooperatively, to blunt the negative impact of rising food prices and protect people and communities," she said at the FAO's headquarters in Rome.

During the 2008 food crisis, the world's biggest rice producers -- Thailand, Vietnam, and India -- cut rice exports to protect domestic supply, leading to record high prices. Riots in dozens of countries took place as a result.

The United Nations estimates 44 million people have been pushed into poverty since last June because of rising food prices.

Clinton urged countries to share food production information, limit export taxes, and resist the temptation to impose export bans "no matter how attractive they may appear to be."

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2011/May/Clinton-Warns-of-Impending-Food-Crisis/


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on December 18, 2013, 08:20:04 am
Price of Ground Beef Hits All-Time High

The average price for a pound of ground beef hit its all-time in the United States in November, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
 
In January 1980, when BLS started tracking the average price of 100-percent beef  ground chuck, a pound cost $1.82. By this November, the same pound of ground beef cost $3.61 per pound. That was up from $3.49 per pound in October.

A decade ago, in November 2003, a pound of ground chuck cost $2.49. Since then, the price has gone up 45 percent.

Despite the increase in the average cost of ground beef, the Consumer Price Index remained unchanged in November, according to BLS.

“On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers was unchanged in November after decreasing 0.1 percent in October. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in November after increasing 0.1 percent in October,” the BLS states.

“The food index rose slightly in November, with the food at home index unchanged,” said the BLS. (See CPI, Nov. 2013.pdf)

The BLS calculates an overall food index of food prices and also a food at home index and a food away from home index. Ground chuck beef is included in both the "food index" and "food at home" index, according to the BLS.

- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/price-ground-beef-hits-all-time-high#sthash.lOySshr6.dpuf


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on January 23, 2014, 06:34:35 am
U.S. Cattle Herd Is At A 61 Year Low And Organic Food Shortages Are Being Reported All Over America

If the extreme drought in the western half of the country keeps going, the food supply problems that we are experiencing right now are only going to be the tip of the iceberg.  As you will see below, the size of the U.S. cattle herd has dropped to a 61 year low, and organic food shortages are being reported all over the nation.  Surprisingly cold weather and increasing demand for organic food have both been a factor, but the biggest threat to the U.S. food supply is the extraordinary drought which has had a relentless grip on the western half of the country.  If you check out the U.S. Drought Monitor, you can see that drought conditions currently stretch from California all the way to the heart of Texas.  In fact, the worst drought in the history of the state of California is happening right now.  And considering the fact that the rest of the nation is extremely dependent on produce grown in California and cattle raised in the western half of the U.S., this should be of great concern to all of us.

A local Fox News report that was featured on the Drudge Report entitled "Organic food shortage hits US" has gotten quite a bit of attention. The following is an excerpt from that article...

    Since Christmas, cucumbers supplies from Florida have almost ground to a halt and the Mexican supply is coming but it's just not ready yet.

    And as the basic theory of economics goes, less supply drives up prices.

    Take organic berries for example:

    There was a strawberry shortage a couple weeks back and prices spiked.

    Experts say the primary reasons for the shortages are weather and demand.

And without a doubt, demand for organic food has grown sharply in recent years.  More Americans than ever have become aware of how the modern American diet is slowly killing all of us, and they are seeking out alternatives.

Due to the tightness in supply and the increasing demand, prices for organic produce just continue to go up.  Just consider the following example...

    A quick check on the organic tree fruit market shows that the average price per carton for organic apples was $38 per carton in mid-January this year, up from an average of just $31 per carton last year at the same time. At least for apple marketers, the organic market is heating up.

Personally, I went to a local supermarket the other day and I started to reach for a package of organic strawberries but I stopped when I saw that they were priced at $6.99.  I couldn't justify paying 7 bucks for one package.  I still remember getting them on sale for $2.99 last year.

Unfortunately, this may only be just the beginning of the price increases.  California Governor Jerry Brown has just declared a water emergency, and reservoirs throughout the state have dropped to dangerously low levels.

Unless a miracle happens, there is simply not going to be enough water to go around for the entire agriculture industry.  The following is an excerpt from an email from an industry insider that researcher Ray Gano recently shared on his website...

    Harris farms has released a statement saying they will leave about 40,000 acres fallow this year because the FEDS have decided to only deliver 10% of the water allocation for 2014. Lettuce is predicted to reach around $5.00 a head (if you can find it). Understand the farmers in the Salinas valley are considering the same action. So much for salad this summer unless you grow it yourself.

The reason why the agriculture industry in California is so important is because it literally feeds the rest of the nation.  I shared the following statistics yesterday, but they are so critical that they bear repeating.  As you can see, without the fruits and vegetables that California grows, we would be in for a world of hurt...

    The state produces 99 percent of the artichokes grown in the US, 44 percent of asparagus, a fifth of cabbage, two-thirds of carrots, half of bell peppers, 89 percent of cauliflower, 94 percent of broccoli, and 95 percent of celery. Leafy greens? California’s got the market cornered: 90 percent of the leaf lettuce we consume, along with and 83 percent of Romaine lettuce and 83 percent of fresh spinach, come from the big state on the left side of the map. Cali also cranks a third of total fresh tomatoes consumed in the U.S.—and 95 percent of ones destined for cans and other processing purposes.

    As for fruit, I get that 86 percent of lemons and a quarter of oranges come from there; its sunny climate makes it perfect for citrus, and lemons store relatively well. Ninety percent of avocados? Fine. But 84 percent of peaches, 88 percent of fresh strawberries, and 97 percent of fresh plums?

    Come on. Surely the other 49 states can do better.

Are you starting to understand how much trouble we could be in if this drought does not end?

About now I can hear some people out there saying that they will just eat meat because they don't like vegetables anyway.

Well, unfortunately we are rapidly approaching a beef shortage as well.

On January 1st, the U.S. cattle herd hit a 61-year low of 89.3 million head of cattle.

The biggest reason for this is the 5 year drought that has absolutely crippled the cattle industry out west...

    Back in the late fall 2013 there was a freak snowstorm that killed close to 300,000+ cattle. This is a major hit to the cattle market.

    I know in Texas where they still have a 5 year drought they are dealing with, they are having to ship grass bails in from Colorado, Utah and other parts of the country just to feed the cattle. Ranchers are sending their female cattle to the slaughter houses becasue they can not afford to feed them anymore. It is the females that help re-stock the herd. SO if you are slaughtering your females, your herd does not grow. It is expected that the US will not see cattle herd growth returning until 2017, maybe even later.

This is a problem which is not going away any time soon.

According to the Washington Post, the U.S. cattle herd has gotten smaller for six years in a row, and the amount of beef produced is expected to drop to a 20 year low in 2014...

    The U.S. cattle herd contracted for six straight years to the smallest since 1952, government data show. A record drought in 2011 destroyed pastures in Texas, the top producing state, followed the next year by a surge in feed-grain prices during the worst Midwest dry spell since the 1930s. Fewer cattle will mean production in the $85 billion beef industry drops to a 20- year low in 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

It would be hard to overstate how devastating this ongoing drought has been for many ranchers out west.  For example, one 64-year-old rancher who lives in Texas says that his herd is 90 percent smaller than it was back in 2005 because of the drought...

    Texas rancher Looney, who is 64 and has been in the cattle business his whole life, said his herd is still about 90 percent below its size from 2005 because of the prolonged dry weather. It will take years for the pastures to come back, even if there is normal rainfall, he said. About 44 percent of Texas was in still in drought in the week ended Jan. 7, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

And it isn't just the U.S. that is dealing with this kind of drought.  The largest freshwater lake in China that was once about twice the size of London, England has almost entirely dried up because of the ongoing drought over there.

Meanwhile, global demand for food just continues to rise.

If this drought ends and the western half of the nation starts getting lots of rain, this could just be a temporary crisis.

However, the truth is that scientific research has shown that the 20th century was the wettest century in the western half of the country in 1000 years, and that we should expect things to return to "normal" at some point.

So is that happening now?

Over the past couple of years, I have warned that Dust Bowl conditions are starting to return to the western half of the United States.  Just see this article, this article and this article.

Now the state of California is experiencing the worst drought that it has ever gone through and "apocalyptic" dust storms are being reported in Colorado and Nevada.

Just because things seem like they have always been a certain way does not mean that they will always stay that way.

Things out west are rapidly changing, and in the end it is going to affect the lives of every man, woman and child in the United States.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/u-s-cattle-herd-is-at-a-61-year-low-and-organic-food-shortages-are-being-reported-all-over-america


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on March 25, 2014, 12:51:57 pm
Soaring Food Prices:Compare Cost Increases

You're paying as much as 69% more over the past two years for common kitchen staples, like eggs, bread, milk, chicken and more. Take a look at over 20 items to see how much prices have risen over 24 months.(Figures are based on the U.S. city average as of Jun. 30, 2008, from the Department of Labor's CPI.)

White Bread
Per Pound

Jun. 2006 Price: $1.08
Jun. 2008 Price: $1.37

Increase: 26.9%

(All figures rounded up.)

Fresh Whole Milk
Fortified, Per Gal.

Jun. 2006 Price: $3.00
Jun. 2008 Price: $3.77

Increase: 25.7%

A Dozen Eggs
Grade A, Large

Jun. 2006 Price: $1.24
Jun. 2008 Price: $1.92

Increase: 54.8%

All-Purpose Flour
White, Per Lb.

Jun. 2006 Price: $0.34
Jun. 2008 Price: $0.53

Increase: 55.9%

Peanut Butter
Creamy, Per Lb.

Jun. 2006 Price: $1.73
Jun. 2008 Price: $2.04

Increase: 17.9%

American Processed Cheese
Per Pound

Jun. 2006 Price: $3.53
Jun. 2008 Price: $3.93

Increase:11.3%


REST: http://www.dailyfinance.com/photos/soaring-food-prices/?photo=2#!slide=985302


Title: Bananageddon: deadly fungus Panama disease decimates global banana crop
Post by: Mark on April 05, 2014, 09:44:16 am
Bananageddon: Millions face hunger as deadly fungus Panama disease decimates global banana crop

Scientists have warned that the world’s banana crop, worth £26 billion and a crucial part of the diet of more than 400 million people, is facing “disaster” from virulent diseases immune to pesticides or other forms of control.

Alarm at the most potent threat – a fungus known as Panama disease tropical race 4 (TR4) – has risen dramatically after it was announced in recent weeks that it has jumped from South-east Asia, where it has already devastated export crops, to Mozambique and Jordan.

A United Nations agency told The Independent that the spread of TR4 represents an “expanded threat to global banana production”. Experts said there is a risk that the fungus, for which there is currently no effective treatment, has also already made the leap to the world’s most important banana growing areas in Latin America, where the disease threatens to destroy vast plantations of the Cavendish variety. The variety accounts for 95 per cent of the bananas shipped to export markets including the United Kingdom, in a trade worth £5.4bn.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will warn in the coming days that the presence of TR4 in the Middle East and Africa means “virtually all export banana plantations” are vulnerable unless its spread can be stopped and new resistant strains developed.

In a briefing document obtained by The Independent, the FAO warns: “In view of the challenges associated with control of the disease and the risk posed to the global banana supply, it is evident that a concerted effort is required from industry, research institutions, government and international organisations to prevent spread of the disease.”

rest: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/bananageddon-millions-face-hunger-as-deadly-fungus-decimates-global-banana-crop-9239464.html


Title: Attention Shoppers: Fruit and Vegetable Prices Are Rising
Post by: Mark on April 16, 2014, 06:22:46 am
Attention Shoppers: Fruit and Vegetable Prices Are Rising

(http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-CJ559_calipr_G_20140415104036.jpg)

Grocery shoppers may soon need more green in their wallets to afford their next salad.

The cost of fresh produce is poised to jump in the coming months as a three-year drought in California shows few signs of abating, according to an Arizona State University study set to be released Wednesday.

The study found a head of lettuce could increase in price as much as 62 cents to $2.44; avocado prices could rise 35 cents to $1.60 each; and tomatoes could cost 45 cents more at $2.84 per pound. (The run-up in produce prices is in line with other projections showing that overall food cost gains are expected to accelerate this year.)

The latest projections were compiled by Timothy Richards, an agribusiness professor at ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business. He studied the drought’s effect on farmland and consumer purchasing trends to determine the eight fresh fruits and vegetables likely to see the largest price increases this spring and summer.

And the price increases may already be happening. Grocery prices rose by 0.5% for the second-straight month in March, according to the Labor Department’s consumer-price index, released Tuesday. It was the largest two-month gain in the food-at-home category since 2011. Fruit and vegetable prices rose 0.9% last month, after a 1.1% gain in February. Meat and dairy prices are also increasing. Meanwhile, overall consumer prices rose just 0.2% last month, as broader inflation in the economy remains tepid.

California is the largest domestic producer of each of the products Mr. Richards identified, ranging from grapes to peppers. And in the case of avocados, it’s the only state with a significant crop.

The drought has wiped out between 10% and 20% of California crops for the eight items, but the size of the expected price increases varies widely. Lettuce prices could jump as much as 34% and avocado prices could rise 28%, the largest projected increases.

“People are the least price-sensitive when it comes to those items, and they’re willing to pay what it takes to get them,” Mr. Richards said. “It’s hard to make a salad without lettuce.”

In basic economic terms, the drought reduces supply, which puts upward pressure on prices. But how high the price can rise is determined by consumers’ willingness to pay more against their ability to find a substitute.

Packaged salads, for example, would increase in price by only 13%, even though many of the ingredients in them are projected to increase in cost by a greater percentage. That’s because consumers view premade salads as a “luxury” good and would readily switch to lower-cost alternative if the price gets too high, Mr. Richards said. They could chop the lettuce themselves or buy frozen vegetables.

The impact could spread beyond the produce aisle. Items such as lettuce, tomatoes and peppers are commonly used in deli sandwiches and salsas, among other products.  The drought could also cause those items to cost more.

Still, the run-up in prices is likely to be somewhat temporary, Mr. Richards said. When prices increase, farmers outside of California, including foreign suppliers, will be incentivized to ship more crops to the U.S. That will in turn put downward pressure on costs.

But with water-supply problems expected to persist for years, California farmers will have some difficult choices to make, he said. They’ll need to determine which crops should receive the limited amount of available water, and which should be allowed to fall away.

“We could be looking at future,” he said, “where California is no longer bread basket for the country.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/04/15/attention-shoppers-fruit-and-vegetable-prices-rising/?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsFifth


Title: Attention Shoppers: Fruit and Vegetable Prices Are Rising
Post by: Mark on April 16, 2014, 06:37:35 am
Why Meat Prices Are Going To Continue Soaring For The Foreseeable Future

Drought Monitor April 1The average price of USDA choice-grade beef has soared to $5.28 a pound, and the average price of a pound of bacon has skyrocketed to $5.46.  Unfortunately for those that like to eat meat, this is just the beginning of the price increases.  Due to an absolutely crippling drought that won’t let go of the western half of the country, the total size of the U.S. cattle herd has shrunk for seven years in a row, and it is now the smallest that is has been since 1951.  But back in 1951, we had less than half the number of mouths to feed.  And a devastating pig virus that has never been seen in the United States before has already killed up to 6 million pigs in this country and continues to spread like wildfire.  What all of this means is that the supply of meat is going to be tight for the foreseeable future even as demand for meat continues to go up.  This is going to result in much higher prices, and so food is going to put a much larger dent in American family budgets in the months and years to come.

(Read More.....) http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/why-meat-prices-are-going-to-continue-soaring-for-the-foreseeable-future


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on April 16, 2014, 01:56:32 pm
Bacon, Pork Prices Rise As Deadly Diarrhea Virus Wipes Out Michigan Pigs

Love your bacon, ham and baby-back ribs? Get used to forking over more dough for your pork.
 
A virus that kills piglets at an alarming rate has been found on 93 farms in Michigan, according to the state agriculture department.
 
Sam Hines, executive vice president of the Michigan Pork Producers Association, said porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) is not a human health concern, but is deadly to newborn pigs.
 
“This is not a food safety issue,” Hines told WWJ’s Marie Osborne. “Most hogs do acquire the virus but bigger animals can recover from it. Pigs that are less than a month old will have such a severe diarrhea that they dehydrate. There’s nearly 100 percent mortality with pigs less than three-weeks of age.”
 
Scientists think PED came from China, but they don’t know how it got into the U.S. or spread to more than half the country’s states since last spring. The federal government is looking into how such viruses might spread, while the pork industry has committed $1.7 million to research the virus.
 
Estimates of how many pigs have died vary. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently said the die-off has had a hand in shrinking the nation’s pig herd by 3 percent to about 63 million pigs. The virus thrives in cold weather, so the death toll in the U.S. has soared since December.
 
Hines said there’s currently no cure for PED, and scientists say it will probably get worse before we see any improvement.
 
“The researchers that are working on this tell us that this is one of the most infectious viruses that they’ve ever encountered,” he said.
 
Jennifer Holton, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said PED isn’t a disease farmers are required to report, but as of last week, agriculture officials knew of 93 farms in Michigan affected by it.
 
The effects of the virus already have driven up the price of pork, especially bacon.
 
“U.S. production is going to decline this year about seven percent and that will probably translate into 10 to 20 percent higher prices for pork,” Hines said.
 
PED has been found in 26 states outside of Michigan, where pork production pulls in a half-billion dollars a year.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/04/16/bacon-pork-prices-rise-as-diarrhea-virus-wipes-out-michigan-pigs/


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on April 16, 2014, 01:57:12 pm
Soaring Food Inflation Full Frontal: Beef, Pork And Shrimp Prices Soar To Record Highs

We previously noted that both beef and pork (courtesy of the affectionately named Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus) prices have been reaching new all time highs on an almost daily basis. It is time to update the chart. Below we show what a world in which the Fed is constantly lamenting the lack of inflation looks like for beef prices...

rst: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-04-15/soaring-food-inflation-full-frontal-beef-and-shrimp-prices-explode


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on April 18, 2014, 04:35:58 am
US orange production hit by disease, juice prices soar

 A citrus disease spread by a tiny insect has devastated Florida's orange crop, which is expected to be the worst in nearly 30 years, and sent juice prices soaring on New York markets.

The culprit? The gnat-sized Asian citrus psyllid, which is infecting citrus trees across the Sunshine State with huanglongbing, or citrus greening disease, which causes fruit to taste bitter and fall from trees too soon.

"It feels we are losing the fight," said Ellis Hunt, the head of a family-run citrus farm spread over about 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) in the central Florida town of Lake Wales.

The deadly bacteria has slashed his annual production over the past few years from one million boxes of fruit to 750,000.

Citrus greening disease has become such a problem this year that the US government has lowered its forecast for the upcoming harvest four times.

The latest figures, published earlier this month by the US Department of Agriculture, predict production of 110 million boxes of fruit, or roughly 4.95 million tons.

That is 18 percent less than last year, and the lowest since 1985, when citrus groves were hit by a deep freeze. It is also far from the record 244 million boxes collected in 1998.

The outlook surprised investors, as the USDA forecast dip was "bigger than the trade had anticipated," according to Joe Nikruto, senior market strategist for RJO Futures.

Following the release of the latest USDA figures, the price of frozen concentrated orange juice rose to its highest point on the Intercontinental Exchange in New York since late March 2012.

Juice for May delivery, the most traded, rose seven percent in three trading sessions to $1.67 a pound.

The price has also been driven by drought in Brazil, the world's top producer of orange juice, but Nikruto explained: "The USDA numbers are fueling this fire."

- Putting juice back on breakfast table -

On his Florida farm, Hunt is fighting the good fight but all the insecticide, fertilizer and extra minerals in the world don't seem to be helping.

"We spray at least every four weeks... but we are not keeping pace with the spread," he said.

Some small growers have practically abandoned their trees, as the rise in prices will not make up for their production shortfalls.

Authorities are scrambling to help the citrus industry -- which generates $9 billion a year in Florida alone and employs 76,000 people -- stay afloat.

Millions of dollars have been poured into research on ways to battle citrus greening disease.

Of course, experts are bearing in mind that spreading bacteria-fighting chemicals on 70 million trees across 530,000 acres would be no easy task.

"We will witness replanting and increases in production within the next three to five years," said Daniel Sleep, an official in the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

"With the vast array of resources that have been committed, no other outcome seems possible."

But once the immediate crisis is averted, another problem looms: how to convince American consumers to put orange juice back on their breakfast tables.

The United States remains by far the world's top consumer of the drink, but that consumption has dropped by 30 percent since 2003.

Why? Grocery store shelves are loaded with other beverage options, including diet sodas and flavored waters with lower calorie counts for weight-conscious Americans.

"Juice is often associated with breakfast and as our society changes, we rush ourselves a little bit and we have a tendency to skip it," Sleep noted.

The juice-breakfast link is however helping to keep prices from going up too much, Nikruto says, as it is difficult to "charge more for a product that people are demanding less every day."

http://news.yahoo.com/us-orange-production-hit-disease-juice-prices-soar-041824793.html;_ylt=AwrBJSANr1BT3iIA.x7QtDMD


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on April 19, 2014, 05:54:56 am
Are You Ready For The Price Of Food To More Than Double By The End Of This Decade?

Do you think that the price of food is high now?  Just wait.  If current trends continue, many of the most common food items that Americans buy will cost more than twice as much by the end of this decade.  Global demand for food continues to rise steadily as crippling droughts ravage key agricultural regions all over the planet.  You see, it isn't just the multi-year California drought that is affecting food prices.  Down in Brazil (one of the leading exporters of food in the world), the drought has gotten so bad that 142 cities were rationing water at one point earlier this year.  And outbreaks of disease are also having a significant impact on our food supply.  A devastating pig virus that has never been seen in the U.S. before has already killed up to 6 million pigs.  Even if nothing else bad happens (and that is a very questionable assumption to make), our food prices are going to be moving aggressively upward for the foreseeable future.  But what if something does happen?  In recent years, global food reserves have dipped to extremely low levels, and a single major global event (war, pandemic, terror attack, planetary natural disaster, etc.) could create an unprecedented global food crisis very rapidly.

A professor at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University named Timothy Richards has calculated what the drought in California is going to do to produce prices at our supermarkets in the near future.  His projections are quite sobering...

    Avocados likely to go up 17  to 35 cents to as much as $1.60 each.
    Berries likely to rise 21 to 43 cents to as much as $3.46 per clamshell container.
    Broccoli likely to go up 20 to 40 cents to a possible $2.18 per pound.
    Grapes likely to rise 26 to 50 cents to a possible $2.93 per pound.
    Lettuce likely to rise 31 to 62 cents to as much as $2.44 per head.
    Packaged salad likely to go up 17 to 34 cents to a possible $3.03 per bag.
    Peppers likely to go up 18 to 35 cents to a possible $2.48 per pound.
    Tomatoes likely to rise 22 to 45 cents to a possible $2.84 per pound.

So what happens if the drought does not end any time soon?

Scientist Lynn Ingram, who has studied the climate history of the state of California extensively, told CBS News that we could potentially be facing "a century-long megadrought" in California.  If that does indeed turn out to be the case, we could be facing huge price increases for produce year after year.

And it isn't just crops that are grown in the United States that we need to be concerned about.  As NBC News recently reported, the price of cocoa is absolutely soaring and that is going to mean much higher prices for chocolate...

    As cocoa prices surge to near-record highs on demand for emerging markets, chocoholics brace for a hike in price – and maybe even a different taste, as chocolate makers hunt out cheaper ingredients.

    Cocoa futures are up 10 percent so far this year, hitting almost £1,900 on ($3,195) a ton in March. Last year prices rose 20 percent.

In fact, experts are now warning that chocolate may soon become a "high-end luxury item" because it is becoming so expensive.

Meat prices are also starting to spiral out of control.

A virus known as porcine epidemic diarrhea has pushed pork prices up to new all-time record highs.  It has already spread to 27 states, and as I mentioned above, it has already killed up to 6 million pigs.  It is being projected that U.S. pork production will decline by about 7 percent this year as a result, and Americans could end up paying up to 20 percent more for pork by the end of the year.

The price of beef has also soared to a brand new all-time record high.  Due to the drought that never seems to let up in the western half of the country, the total size of the U.S. cattle herd has been declining for seven years in a row, and it is now the smallest that is has been since 1951.

If the overall price of food in this country increases by just an average of a little more than 12 percent a year, it will double by the end of this decade.

What would you do if you suddenly walked into the grocery store and everything was twice as much?

That is a frightening thing to think about.

Meanwhile, all of our other bills just keep going up as well.  For example, we just learned that the price of electricity hit a brand new all-time record high for the month of March.

If our incomes were keeping up with all of these price increases, that would be one thing.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.  As I wrote about earlier this week, the quality of our jobs continues to go down and more Americans fall out of the middle class every single day.

According to CNBC, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans with college degrees that are working for minimum wage right now...

    While a college degree might help get a job, it doesn't necessarily mean a good salary. According to a report released last month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, some 260,000 workers with bachelor's degrees and 200,000 workers with associate's degrees are making the minimum wage.

    The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and the minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13 an hour. Some cities and states have recently raised their minimum wage, but the BLS report defines only those making $7.25 an hour or less as "minimum wage workers."

And according to the U.S. Census Bureau, median household income in the United States has dropped for five years in a row.

This is why so many families are financially stressed these days.  The cost of living is going up at a steady pace, but for the most part our paychecks are not keeping up.  Average Americans are having to stretch their money farther than ever, and many families have reached the breaking point.

So what is going on in your neck of the woods?  Are you starting to see prices rise at the grocery stores where you live?  Please feel free to join the discussion by leaving a comment below...

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/are-you-ready-for-the-price-of-food-to-more-than-double-by-the-end-of-this-decade


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on April 19, 2014, 06:32:19 am
USAID Top Scientist: "For the first time food production will be limited on a global scale"

The U.S. Agency for International Development is a government body in charge of distributing taxpayer dollars to foreign projects that will theoretically bring humanitarian aid to struggling regions.  No matter what one might think about the nobility of such a mission, the agency has been much maligned for its decades-long mismanagement and outright theft of those funds (see here, here, and here among many sources), as well as being in a direct or indirect position to enable the use of food as a weapon.

Nevertheless - and perhaps because of such activities - USAID is well aware of the economic trends they need to address and/or manage. So, when their top science advisor speaks, it is essential to hear what he is saying. Disregarding any overarching agenda, let's see what is in store for the global food supply, according to Dr. Fred Davies, advisor for the bureau of food security and a Texas A&M AgriLife Regents Professor of Horticultural Sciences.


Most people are already aware that major droughts in California and Brazil are taking a dramatic toll on the price of food. Based on this alone, and the threat that these droughts could morph into mega droughts, food prices are expected to double in the next decade. Add in a pig virus in the U.S. and it's looking to be a rocky road ahead. In fact, even being strictly vegan - usually a surefire way to keep a grocery bill as low as possible - will still be challenging. From a recent article by Michael Snyder, we see the following:

    A professor at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University named Timothy Richards has calculated what the drought in California is going to do to produce prices at our supermarkets in the near future. His projections are quite sobering...

    Avocados likely to go up 17 to 35 cents to as much as $1.60 each.
    Berries likely to rise 21 to 43 cents to as much as $3.46 per clamshell container.
    Broccoli likely to go up 20 to 40 cents to a possible $2.18 per pound.
    Grapes likely to rise 26 to 50 cents to a possible $2.93 per pound.
    Lettuce likely to rise 31 to 62 cents to as much as $2.44 per head.
    Packaged salad likely to go up 17 to 34 cents to a possible $3.03 per bag.
    Peppers likely to go up 18 to 35 cents to a possible $2.48 per pound.
    Tomatoes likely to rise 22 to 45 cents to a possible $2.84 per pound. (Source)

This hasn't just dropped in out of the blue either. Holly Deyo discussed the comprehensive problems which were manifesting in 2010 as a global grain reserve crisis. As she stated succinctly:

    If the root cause were a single issue, it might be absorbable or at least less damaging. However, multiple factors are hiking food prices and they are only expected to climb.

And they certainly have, with the Ukraine crisis making matters even worse. Beyond the price increases, however, Dr. Fred Davies is cautioning about the ability to produce enough food for a rising population at any price. He sees the consequences as manifesting in earnest within 40 years:

    "For the first time in human history, food production will be limited on a global scale by the availability of land, water and energy,"

    [...]

    "Food issues could become as politically destabilizing by 2050 as energy issues are today."

Davies goes on to project that a 70 percent increase in food production will be required to meet rising demand and population.

Naturally, being an advisor to a government agency, Davies urges better intercommunication among seemingly disparate groups in order to presumably find better solutions for his agency to employ.

    He also made the connection between the consumption of fruits and vegetables and chronic disease prevention and pointed to research centers in the U.S. that are making links between farmers, biologists and chemists, grocers, health care practitioners and consumers. That connection, he suggested, also will be vital in the push to grow enough food to feed people in coming years.

As is very often the case, government agencies are great at pointing out problems - and much of what Davies mentions is spot-on. The following, for example, is contextually accurate:

    "The U.S. agricultural productivity has averaged less than 1.2 percent per year between 1990 and 2007," he said. "More efficient technologies and crops will need to be developed -- and equally important, better ways for applying these technologies locally for farmers -- to address this challenge." Davies said when new technologies are developed, they often do not reach the small-scale farmer worldwide.

    "A greater emphasis is needed in high-value horticultural crops," he said. "Those create jobs and economic opportunities for rural communities and enable more profitable, intense farming." Horticultural crops, Davies noted, are 50 percent of the farm-gate value of all crops produced in the U.S.&

    [...]

    "Agricultural productivity, food security, food safety, the environment, health, nutrition and obesity -- they are all interconnected," Davies said. One in eight people worldwide, he added, already suffers from chronic undernourishment, and 75 percent of the world's chronically poor are in the mid-income nations such as China, India, Brazil and the Philippines.

    "The perfect storm for horticulture and agriculture is also an opportunity," Davies said. "Consumer trends such as views on quality, nutrition, production origin and safety impact what foods we consume. Also, urban agriculture favors horticulture." For example, he said, the fastest growing segment of new farmers in California, are female, non-Anglos who are "intensively growing horticultural crops on small acreages," he said.

Ironically, his statements would seem to promote local community initiatives. However, USAID and other agencies responsible for food management and safety have been restrictive for so long that it can be argued that we are in the position we are in right now because of their management practices. It is without debate, for example, that in the U.S. many areas have begun eradicating any possibility of urban farming, front or backyard gardens, or any attempt at community self-sufficiency. Luckily, people are learning where the lines in the sand really are and have been heavily pushing back against rising bureaucracy. When it comes to feeding one's family, there can be no compromise; it's a human right.

Regardless of the debate over government intrusion and mismanagement, we are indeed facing food shortages and it is going to get much worse. With this in mind, and given that we are being offered a timeline of what is about to transpire right from the top of the pyramid, it would behoove us to take immediate action and break as much of our reliance on whatever managed food systems are offered as a solution. In fact, the statements of Dr. Davies could be seen as a tacit admission that their systems will simply never be sufficient, so we cannot count on receiving "aid."

For a quick, but comprehensive guide to surviving the coming age of food austerity, please review the following list of articles and share with your friends and family. Now that everyone is talking about food prices, we have a perfect opportunity to go beyond trying to convince people of what is coming and help one another attain food freedom right now. There are also some very exciting open-source, hi-tech solutions being offered, which are also part of this list.

http://www.naturalblaze.com/2014/04/usaid-top-scientist-for-first-time-food.html


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on April 24, 2014, 05:47:19 am
Why Meat Prices Are Going To Continue Soaring For The Foreseeable Future

The average price of USDA choice-grade beef has soared to $5.28 a pound, and the average price of a pound of bacon has skyrocketed to $5.46.  Unfortunately for those that like to eat meat, this is just the beginning of the price increases.  Due to an absolutely crippling drought that won’t let go of the western half of the country, the total size of the U.S. cattle herd has shrunk for seven years in a row, and it is now the smallest that is has been since 1951.  But back in 1951, we had less than half the number of mouths to feed.  And a devastating pig virus that has never been seen in the United States before has already killed up to 6 million pigs in this country and continues to spread like wildfire.  What all of this means is that the supply of meat is going to be tight for the foreseeable future even as demand for meat continues to go up.  This is going to result in much higher prices, and so food is going to put a much larger dent in American family budgets in the months and years to come.

One year ago, the average price of USDA choice-grade beef was $4.91.  Now it is up to $5.28, and the Los Angeles Times says that we should not expect prices to come down “any time soon”…

    Come grilling season, expect your sirloin steak to come with a hearty side of sticker shock.

    Beef prices have reached all-time highs in the U.S. and aren’t expected to come down any time soon.

    Extreme weather has thinned the nation’s beef cattle herds to levels last seen in 1951, when there were about half as many mouths to feed in America.

    “We’ve seen strong prices before but nothing this extreme,” said Dennis Smith, a commodities broker for Archer Financial Services in Chicago. “This is really new territory.“

The outlook for pork is even worse.  The price of bacon is 13 percent higher than it was a year ago, and porcine epidemic diarrhea is absolutely devastating the U.S. pig population…

    A virus never before seen in the U.S. has killed millions of baby pigs in less than a year, and with little known about how it spreads or how to stop it, it’s threatening pork production and pushing up prices by 10 percent or more.

    Scientists think porcine epidemic diarrhea, which does not infect humans or other animals, came from China, but they don’t know how it got into the country or spread to 27 states since last May.

It is estimated that up to 6 million pigs may have died already, and it is being projected that U.S. pork production could be down by 7 percent this year.  That would be the largest decline in more than 30 years.

But even if someone brought an end to this pig virus tomorrow, we would still be facing a very serious food crisis in this nation.

The reason for this is the multi-year drought which is crippling farming and ranching in much of the western half of the country.

As you can see from the latest U.S. Drought Monitor update, the drought shows no signs of letting up…

(http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/why-meat-prices-are-going-to-continue-soaring-for-the-foreseeable-future/drought-monitor-april-1)

Hopefully this drought will end soon.

But I wouldn’t count on it.

In fact, CBS News recently interviewed one scientist that says that the state of California could potentially be facing “a century-long megadrought“…

    Scientist Lynn Ingram, author of “The West without Water: What Past Floods, Droughts, and Other Climatic Clues Tell Us about Tomorrow,” uses sediment cores inside tubes to study the history of drought in the West.

    “We’ve taken this record back about 3,000 years,” Ingram says.

    That record shows California is in one of its driest periods since 1580.

    While a three-to-five-year drought is often thought of as being a long drought, Ingram says history shows they can be much longer.

    “If we go back several thousand years, we’ve seen that droughts can last over a decade, and in some cases, they can last over a century,” she says.

So what will we do if this drought just keeps going and going and going?

As the article quoted above noted, last century was far wetter than usual.  During that time, we built teeming cities in the desert and we farmed vast areas that are usually bone dry…

    Scientists say their research shows the 20th century was one of the wettest centuries in the past 1,300 years. During that time, we built massive dams and rerouted rivers. We used abundant water to build major cities and create a $45 billion agriculture industry in a place that used to be a desert.

So what happens if the western half of the country returns to “normal”?

What will we do then?

Meanwhile, drought is devastating many other very important agricultural areas around the world as well.  For example, the horrible drought in Brazil could soon send the price of coffee through the roof…

    Coffee futures prices are up more than 75 percent this year due to a lack of appreciable rain in the coffee growing region of eastern Brazil during January and February, which are critical months for plant development, according to the International Coffee Organization, a London-based trade group.

At this point, 142 Brazilian cities are rationing water, and it wouldn’t just be coffee that would be affected by this drought.  As a recent RT article explained, Brazil is one of the leading exporters in a number of key agricultural categories…

    Over 140 Brazilian cities have been pushed to ration water during the worst drought on record, according to a survey conducted by the country’s leading newspaper. Some neighborhoods only receive water once every three days.

    Water is being rationed to nearly 6 million people living in a total of 142 cities across 11 states in Brazil, the world’s leading exporter of soybeans, coffee, orange juice, sugar and beef. Water supply companies told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that the country’s reservoirs, rivers and streams are the driest they have been in 20 years. A record heat wave could raise energy prices and damage crops.

    Some neighborhoods in the city of Itu in Sao Paulo state (which accounts for one-quarter of Brazil’s population and one-third of its GDP), only receive water once every three days, for a total of 13 hours.

Most people just assume that we will always have massive quantities of cheap, affordable food in our supermarkets.

But just because that has been the case for as long as most of us can remember, that does not mean that it will always be true.

Times are changing, and food prices are already starting to move upward aggressively.

Yes, let us hope for the best, but let us also prepare for the worst.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/why-meat-prices-are-going-to-continue-soaring-for-the-foreseeable-future


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on April 25, 2014, 05:52:56 am
An Unprecedented Plague Has Hit Oranges And Another Has Hit Bananas

What is causing all of these plagues to hit our food supply?  Have you heard of citrus greening disease?  Probably not, but it has already gotten so bad that it is being projected that Florida’s orange harvest will be the smallest in 30 years.  Have you heard of TR4?  Probably not, but it has become such a nightmare that some analysts believe that it could eventually wipe out the entire global supply of the type of bananas that Americans eat.  In addition, another major plague is killing millions of our pigs, and a crippling drought that never seems to end is absolutely devastating agricultural production in the state of California.   Are we just having bad luck, or is there something else to all of this?

Citrus greening disease has been a steadily growing problem that has reached epidemic levels this year.  Because of this disease, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is projecting that orange production in the U.S. this year will be down 18 percent compared to last year.  Here is more on this horrible plague from Yahoo News…

    A citrus disease spread by a tiny insect has devastated Florida’s orange crop, which is expected to be the worst in nearly 30 years, and sent juice prices soaring on New York markets.

    The culprit? The gnat-sized Asian citrus psyllid, which is infecting citrus trees across the Sunshine State with huanglongbing, or citrus greening disease, which causes fruit to taste bitter and fall from trees too soon.

    “It feels we are losing the fight,” said Ellis Hunt, the head of a family-run citrus farm spread over about 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) in the central Florida town of Lake Wales.

Another horrifying disease is threatening the global supply of bananas.  In fact, according to a recent CNBC article, the kind of bananas that we eat today could eventually be totally eliminated by the TR4 fungus…

    Banana lovers take note: The world’s supply of the fruit is under attack from a fungus strain that could wipe out the popular variety that Americans eat.

    “It’s a very serious situation,” said Randy Ploetz, a professor of plant pathology at the University of Florida who in 1989 originally discovered a strain of Panama disease, called TR4, that may be growing into a serious threat to U.S. supplies of the fruit and Latin American producers.

    “There’s nothing at this point that really keeps the fungus from spreading,” he said in an interview with CNBC.

    While there are nearly 1,000 varieties of bananas, the most popular is the Cavendish, which accounts for 45 percent of the fruit’s global crop—and the one Americans mostly find in their supermarkets.

Another plague that is affecting our food supply is a virus known as porcine epidemic diarrhea.  It has already spread to 27 different U.S. states and has already killed up to 6 million pigs since first being spotted in the U.S. last May.

As a result of this virus, pork production is going to be down substantially this year, and it is being estimated that Americans could pay up to 20 percent more for pork by the end of the year.

And of course perhaps the worst plague of all that we are experiencing at the moment is the nightmarish drought in California that never seems to end.  Conditions are so dry that it is being estimated that California farmers may leave up to 800,000 acres fallow this year.  In other words, they are not going to grow anything at all.

Needless to say, this is going to result in much smaller overall harvests.  Just check out these numbers from the New York Times…

    A recent report on prospective planting from the federal Department of Agriculture forecast a 20 percent decline in California’s rice crop and a 35 percent decline in cotton this year from last year’s crop.

And it isn’t just rice and cotton that we need to be concerned about.  In a previous article, I included the following information which shows how dependent the rest of the U.S. is on fruits and vegetables grown in the state of California…

    The state produces 99 percent of the artichokes grown in the US, 44 percent of asparagus, a fifth of cabbage, two-thirds of carrots, half of bell peppers, 89 percent of cauliflower, 94 percent of broccoli, and 95 percent of celery. Leafy greens? California’s got the market cornered: 90 percent of the leaf lettuce we consume, along with and 83 percent of Romaine lettuce and 83 percent of fresh spinach, come from the big state on the left side of the map. Cali also cranks a third of total fresh tomatoes consumed in the U.S.—and 95 percent of ones destined for cans and other processing purposes.

    As for fruit, I get that 86 percent of lemons and a quarter of oranges come from there; its sunny climate makes it perfect for citrus, and lemons store relatively well. Ninety percent of avocados? Fine. But 84 percent of peaches, 88 percent of fresh strawberries, and 97 percent of fresh plums?

    Come on. Surely the other 49 states can do better.

The lack of fresh produce is already being felt in California.  Usually, fresh produce accounts for about half of the food handed out at food banks in the state, but these days fresh produce is in short supply…

    The effects of California’s drought could soon hit the state’s food banks, which serve 2 million of its poorest residents.

    Fresh produce accounts for more than half the handouts at Bay Area food banks, but with an estimated minimum of 500,000 acres to be fallowed in California, growers will have fewer fruits and vegetables to donate.

    With less local supply, food prices will spike, increasing as much as 34 percent for a head of lettuce and 18 percent for tomatoes, according to an Arizona State University study released last week. With fewer fields planted, there could be as many as 20,000 unemployed agricultural workers who will need more food handouts, especially in the Central Valley.

By themselves, each one of these plagues is very serious.

Taken together, they represent an emerging “perfect storm” which could have a dramatic impact on our food supply.

So why is all of this happening?

Why is our food supply being hit with so many plagues?

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/an-unprecedented-plague-has-hit-oranges-and-another-has-hit-bananas


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on April 25, 2014, 09:45:15 am
James 5:4  Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Jas 5:5  Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
Jas 5:6  Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
Jas 5:8  Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on April 27, 2014, 02:25:38 pm
Killer virus spreads unchecked through U.S. hog belt, pushing pork to record

John Goihl, a hog nutritionist in Shakopee, Minnesota, knows a farmer in his state who lost 7,500 piglets just after they were born. In Sampson County, North Carolina, 12,000 of Henry Moore's piglets died in three weeks. Some 30,000 piglets perished at John Prestage's Oklahoma operation in the fall of 2013.

The killer stalking U.S. hog farms is known as PEDv, a malady that in less than a year has wiped out more than 10 percent of the nation's pig population and helped send retail pork prices to record highs. The highly contagious Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus is puzzling scientists searching for its origins and its cure and leaving farmers devastated in ways that go beyond financial losses.

"It's a real morale killer in a barn. People have to shovel pigs out instead of nursing them along," Goihl said.

Since June 2013 as many as 7 million pigs have died in the United States due to the virus, said Steve Meyer, president of Iowa-based Paragon Economics and consultant to the National Pork Board said. United States Department of Agriculture data showed the nation's hog herd at about 63 million as of March 1, 2014.

PEDv was first diagnosed in Ohio last May and has spread within a year to 30 states with no reliable cure in sight. U.S. packing plants may produce almost 2 percent less pork in 2014, according to Ken Mathews, USDA agricultural economist.

Last week the USDA responded to calls for more reliable data and classified PEDv as a reportable disease, a step that requires the pork industry to track its spread.

"It's a positive step that I wish they had taken last summer when it became obvious this was spreading rapidly," said Meyer.

Most farmers and researchers believe PEDv is transmitted from pig to pig by contact with pig manure.

"Something like a tablespoon of PEDv infected manure is roughly enough to infect the entire U.S. hog herd," said Rodney "Butch" Baker, swine biosecurity specialist at Iowa State University.

The National Pork Board has spent about $1.7 million researching the virus, which is nearly always fatal in pigs younger than 21 days. With pork prices at an all-time high of $3.83 a pound, the loss of baby pigs cuts into profits for hog farmers.

"If you have four weeks of mortality in a PEDv break, that's pretty devastating to the financial wellbeing of that operation," said Greg Boerboom, a Minnesota hog farmer.

"I think most producers are scared," Boerboom said. "They stay up at night."

PEDv does not pose a risk to human health and is not a food safety issue, the USDA says.

ORIGIN MYSTERY

Months of forensic research so far have turned up no clear evidence of how the disease entered the United States.

The virus is nearly identical to one that infected pigs in China's Anhui province, according to a report published in the American Society of Microbiology journal mBio. Researchers also are exploring whether the widespread use of pig-blood byproducts in hog feed might have introduced the disease.

There have been outbreaks in recent years in Europe, Japan, Mexico and parts of South America, though in milder forms than seen in the U.S. and China.

The disease has taken root in Canada, too, where the pork industry is deeply integrated with U.S. pork production.

LIKE A LAWN MOWER

PEDv thrives in cold, damp environments, and after slowing last summer its spread accelerated during the past winter. In mid-December, there were over 1,500 cases but by mid-April, that had more than tripled to 5,790, according to USDA data.

Altogether, of nearly 15,000 samples tested for PEDv about 32 percent have been positive.

The virus "acts like a lawn mower" on the villi in a pig's intestines, which are the tiny projections that aid digestion, said Tony Forshey, chief of animal health at the Ohio Department of Agriculture. With their villi gone, the piglets cannot absorb nutrients from food or water, contract diarrhea and die from dehydration.

So far, no vaccine has been able to completely protect pigs from the disease. An Iowa company, Harrisvaccines Inc., has made some progress, while pharmaceutical giants Merck Animal Health and Zoetis Inc have joined with universities to begin vaccine development.

"There is no silver bullet for PEDv," said Justin Ellis, marketing manager at Alltech, which developed a feed additive designed to reduce risk of the disease.

STRINGENT MEASURES

The disease is spreading even as farmers and truckers impose stricter cleanliness measures across the so-called Hog Belt, which stretches across most of the U.S. Midwest and Plains States and extends south to North Carolina, the nation's No. 2 hog producer. Iowa ranks first.

"It's a complete lifestyle change," said Iowa State's Baker. "In the past the truckers haven't thought of biosecurity much."

Some hog farmers prohibit outside visitors. Others require workers to change clothes when entering and leaving barns. Truck drivers wipe down the step into their cabs, disinfect their steering wheels and change boots or wear disposable booties before entering farm yards.

The industry wants truck washes to use fresh water instead of recycled, since PEDv can live in room temperature water for up to 13 days, a University of Minnesota study said.

"The only truck I regularly allow on site is the feed truck and last November I told the driver not to get out of the truck," said Bill Tentinger, an Iowa farmer who so far has kept PEDv at bay.

The extra washing, drying and disinfecting can consume at least two hours and cost up to $500 per load, industry sources said.

DEATH TOLLS

Bright yellow signs marked "PED" are popping up outside North Carolina farms warning the virus is present. One-third of North Carolina's 3,000 hog farms have been struck by PEDv since the first diagnosed case there in June 2013, the state says.

So many piglets have died that Tom Butler, a farmer who fattens hogs for market in southeastern Harnett County, is having difficulty finding animals. His herd is down 25 percent to 6,000 pigs, costing him more than $100,000.

"We were spiraling downhill for a while but I think we've leveled off," Butler said. "The industry is learning to cope."

http://news.yahoo.com/killer-virus-spreads-unchecked-u-hog-belt-pushing-180045876--finance.html;_ylt=AwrTWfwiSF1TLkcA_ArQtDMD


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on May 06, 2014, 05:01:28 am
Wheat Prices Jump to 13-Month High Amid Drought
Hot, Dry Weather Expected to Continue This Week


Wheat prices jumped to a one-year high as hot, dry weather imperiled the U.S. crop and unrest in Ukraine fueled worries about grain exports in Eastern Europe.

A U.S. winter-wheat crop already battered by drought faced new burdens as temperatures soared above 90 degrees in parts of Kansas and Oklahoma and little rain fell during the weekend. The hot weather continued Monday and is expected to further affect wheat-growing regions in the U.S. Great Plains before moderating later this week, according to private forecaster Commodity Weather Group LLC.

"The heat is further stressing an already stressed crop," said Austin Damiani, an analyst with Minneapolis-based brokerage Frontier Futures.

On Monday, wheat for May delivery rose 13.5 cents, or 1.9%, to $7.2125 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the highest settlement price for a front-month contract since April 30, 2013.

Meanwhile, wheat prices also were buoyed by intensified fighting over the weekend in Ukraine, a major wheat exporter. Violence has spilled into the Black Sea port city of Odessa, from which much of the country's grain is exported, leading to concerns that tensions with Russia will cause Ukraine to produce and ship less grain. That could prompt wheat buyers to purchase more supplies from the U.S.

Participants on a wheat tour in Kansas last week measured winter-wheat yields in the state at 33.2 bushels an acre, the lowest in seven years, while a separate group projected Oklahoma production at 66.5 million bushels, which would be the lowest since 1957. Winter wheat, used to make bread, is planted in autumn and harvested in late spring and early summer.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday said in a weekly report on crop conditions that 31% of the winter-wheat crop is rated good or excellent, down from 33% last week.

At the same time that crop estimates are shrinking for winter wheat, analysts said, wet weather further north in places such as North Dakota is stalling the planting of the spring-wheat variety.

The turmoil in Ukraine also helped push U.S. corn prices higher, as the Eastern European country is a significant player in that market, too, analysts said. May corn on the Chicago Board of Trade advanced 9.25 cents, or 1.9%, to $5.0325 a bushel.

http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303417104579543720100655360-lMyQjAxMTA0MDAwNTEwNDUyWj


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on May 16, 2014, 06:59:26 am
The Meat Crisis Is Here: Price Of Shrimp Up 61% – 7 Million Pigs Dead – Beef At All-Time High

As the price of meat continues to skyrocket, will it soon be considered a "luxury item" for most American families?  This week we learned that the price of meat in the United States rose at the fastest pace in more than 10 years last month.  Leading the way is the price of shrimp.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price of shrimp has jumped an astounding 61 percent compared to a year ago.  The price of pork is also moving upward aggressively thanks to a disease which has already killed about 10 percent of all of the pigs in the entire country.  And the endless drought in the western half of the country has caused the size of the U.S. cattle herd to shrink to a 63 year low and has pushed the price of beef to an all-time high.  This is really bad news if you like to eat meat.  The truth is that the coming "meat crisis" is already here, and it looks like it is going to get a lot worse in the months ahead.

A devastating bacterial disease called "early mortality syndrome" is crippling the shrimping industry all over Asia right now.  According to Bloomberg, this has pushed the price of shrimp up 61 percent over the past 12 months...

    In March, shrimp prices jumped 61 percent from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The climb is mainly due to a bacterial disease known as early mortality syndrome. While the ailment has no effect on humans, it’s wreaking havoc on young shrimp farmed in Southeast Asia, shrinking supplies.

This disease has an extremely high mortality rate.  In fact, according to the article that I just quoted, it kills approximately nine out of every ten shrimp that it infects...

    Cases of early mortality syndrome, which destroys the digestive systems of young shrimp, were first reported in China in 2009, said Donald Lightner, a professor of animal and comparative biomedical sciences at University of Arizona in Tucson.

    The disease, which kills about 90 percent of the shrimp it infects, traveled from China to Vietnam to Malaysia and then to Thailand, he said. Cases also were reported in Mexico last year, Lightner said.

A different disease is driving up the price of pork in the United States.  It is known as the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, and in less than a year it has spread to 30 states and has killed approximately 7 million pigs.

The price of bacon is already up 13.1 percent over the past year, but this is just the beginning.

It is being projected that U.S. pork production could be down by as much as 10 percent this year, and Americans could end up paying up to 20 percent more for pork by the end of 2014.

The price of beef has also moved to unprecedented heights.  Thanks to the crippling drought that never seems to end in the western half of the nation, the size of the U.S. cattle herd has been declining for seven years in a row, and it is now the smallest that is has been since 1951.

Over the past year, the price of ground chuck beef is up 5.9 percent.  It would have been worse, but ranchers have been slaughtering lots of cattle in order to thin their herds in a desperate attempt to get through this drought.  If this drought does not end soon, the price of beef is going to go much, much higher.

As prices for shrimp, pork and beef have risen, many consumers have been eating more chicken.  But the price of chicken is rising rapidly as well.

In fact, the price of chicken breast is up 12.4 percent over the past 12 months.

Unfortunately, this could just be the very beginning of this meat crisis.  As I wrote about recently, some scientists are warning that we could potentially be facing "a century-long megadrought".

And right now, there are no signs that the drought out west is letting up.  Just check out the map posted below.  It comes from the U.S. Drought Monitor, and it shows how the drought in California has significantly intensified since the beginning of the year...

California Drought 2014
(http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/California-Drought-2014-425x280.png)

And considering how much the rest of the nation relies on the agricultural production coming out of California, it is very alarming to see that the drought is getting even worse.

Right now, things are so bone dry in most of the state that it is easy for wildfires to get out of control.  In fact, Governor Jerry Brown has just declared a state of emergency in San Diego County because of the vicious wildfires that are raging there...

    Officials ordered another round of evacuations early Thursday north of San Diego as gusty winds and near 100-degree temperatures offer little relief from at least nine fires that have consumed a 14-square mile area of Southern California.

    Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for San Diego County, which frees up special resources and funding for the firefight.

    The fires, coming earlier than normal in the wildfire season, are being fed by brush and trees left brittle by prolonged drought. They are also being whipped by a Santa Ana wind system that reverses the normal flow of wind from the Pacific Ocean and creates tinderbox fire conditions.

    For the first time in its 14-year-history, the U.S. Drought Monitor, a federal website that tracks drought, designated the entire state of California as in a severe (or worse) drought.

If you do not live out west, you may have no idea how very serious this all really is.

For years, I have been warning about the potential for dust bowl conditions to return to the western half of the country.

Now it is actually starting to happen.

And we already have tens of millions of people in this country that are struggling to feed themselves.  If you doubt this, please see my previous article entitled "Epidemic Of Hunger: New Report Says 49 Million Americans Are Dealing With Food Insecurity".

So what happens if drought, diseases and plagues continue to cause food production in this country to plummet?

Those that have studied these things tell us that there is a clear correlation between food prices and civil unrest.  For example, the following is a short excerpt from a recent Scientific American article...

    Since the beginning of 2014, riots have occurred in countries including Thailand and Venezuela. Although they’re different cultures on different continents, these mass protests movements may all have one commonality; increasing food prices may have contributed to their occurrence. The cost of food has been steadily increasing in both Thailand and Venezuela; last month demonstrators in Caracas took to the streets marching with empty pots to protest food shortages. According to Dr. Yaneer Bar-Yam and fellow researchers at the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI), events such as these may be anticipated by a mathematical model that examines rising food costs.

    The events of 2014 aren’t without precedent; the price of food has provoked (and placated) throughout history, beginning in Imperial Rome when Augustus introduced grain subsidies. In recent years, the Middle East has been particularly affected by the cost of grain. Centuries after Egypt developed bread as we recognize it, the nation experienced a bread intifada – the country rioted for two days in January 1977 following Anwar Sadat’s decision to drastically decrease food subsidies. More recently, under the rule of Hosni Mubarak, the price of grain rose 30 percent between 2010 and 2011. Then, on January 25, 2011 a new revolution began in Egypt.

Could rapidly rising food prices cause civil unrest in the United States eventually?

It won't happen today, and it won't happen tomorrow, but some day it might.

Meanwhile, you might want to start carving out a significantly larger portion of the family budget for food for the foreseeable future.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-meat-crisis-is-here-price-of-shrimp-up-61-7-million-pigs-dead-beef-at-all-time-high


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on May 19, 2014, 11:20:43 am
Could you soon be paying 'extraordinarily high prices for your morning coffee?' Fungus has caused $1BILLION worth of damage to beans

    Coffee rust, or roya, has ravaged coffee harvests across Central America
    Especially hard hit is the arabica coffee plant, used in high-end coffees
    Prices for arabica coffee jumped to a two-year high in the futures market
    Washington estimates that production may drop up to 40% in coming years



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2632495/Could-soon-paying-extraordinarily-high-prices-morning-coffee-Fungus-caused-1BILLION-worth-damage-beans.html#ixzz32BAYxWg4



Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on May 23, 2014, 01:48:29 pm
USDA warns of sticker shock on U.S. beef as grilling season starts

The Department of Agriculture has warned of sticker shock facing home chefs on the eve of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, the unofficial start of the U.S. summer grilling season.

The agency said conditions in California could have "large and lasting effects on U.S. fruit, vegetable, dairy and egg prices," as the most populous U.S. state struggles through what officials are calling a catastrophic drought.

The consumer price index (CPI) for U.S. beef and veal is up almost 10 percent so far in 2014, reflecting the fastest increase in retail beef prices since the end of 2003. Prices, even after adjusting for inflation, are at record highs.

"The drought in Texas and Oklahoma has worsened somewhat in the last month, providing further complications to the beef production industry," USDA said.

Beef and veal prices for the whole of 2014 are now forecast to increase by 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent, a sharp advance from last month's forecast for a 3 to 4 percent rise. Pork prices are set to rise by 3 percent to 4 percent, up from a 2 to 3 percent advance expected a month ago.

The USDA said overall U.S. food price inflation for 2014, including food bought at grocery stores and food bought at restaurants, would rise by 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent in 2014.

That is up from 2013, when retail food prices were almost flat, but in line with historical norms and unchanged from April's forecast.

"The food-at-home CPI has already increased more in the first four months of 2014 then it did in all of 2013," USDA noted. At-home spending accounts for about 60 percent of the U.S. food CPI.

A major factor for rising pork prices is the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv), responsible for more than 7 million U.S. piglet deaths in the past year.

Egg prices are also climbing - up 15 percent in April alone - and are expected to rise by 5 to 6 percent on the year, and higher milk prices are feeding through to other products in the dairy case, particularly cheese.

Sweet lovers and caffeine addicts will see some relief, however, since global prices for sugar and coffee remain low, USDA said.

The agency forecast prices of sugar and sweets to rise by 1 percent to 2 percent in 2014 and prices for non-alcoholic beverages to rise by 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent. Both forecasts were lowered this month.

"It appears supermarkets are maintaining minimal price inflation on packaged food products, possibly in an effort to keep prices competitive in light of rising cost pressures for most perishable items," USDA said.

So far the severe California drought has not had a discernible impact on national fruits or vegetable prices, USDA said, while warning that the effects are still to come.

http://news.yahoo.com/u-faces-higher-food-price-inflation-2014-led-141513395--business.html;_ylt=AwrBJR.oaX9TjhMAxynQtDMD


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on June 01, 2014, 03:56:45 am
World Bank warns of food riots as rising food prices push world populations toward revolt

A new report issued by the World Bank (1) warns that food prices are skyrocketing globally, with wheat up 18 percent and corn up 12 percent this quarter. Ukraine, one of the largest wheat exporters in the world, has suffered a 73 percent increase in domestic wheat costs. Argentina has seen wheat prices skyrocket 70 percent.

According to the World Bank, these price increases have been caused primarily by three factors: 1) Sharply higher demand for food in China, 2) U.S. drought conditions that hammered wheat production, and 3) unrest in Ukraine due to the near state of war with Russia.

Rising food prices lead to food riots
According to the World Bank, rising food prices have caused 51 food riots in 37 countries since 2007. These include Tunisia, South Africa, Cameroon and India, among other nations.

"Food price shocks can both spark and exacerbate conflict and political instability," warns the report.

A World Bank blog entry by Senior Economist Jose Cuesta entitled "No Food, No Peace" (2) warns that "It is quite likely that we will experience more food riots in the foreseeable future... food price shocks have repeatedly led to spontaneous -- typically urban -- sociopolitical instability."

The following chart shows from the World Bank shows the sharp trend toward increased food prices worldwide:

Hunger leads to revolution
What the World Bank is leading to (but not quite saying) is that hunger leads to revolution. When the People are starving in the streets, there is political unrest that can easily turn violent. Because this is a fundamental human reaction, it is just as true in the United States, UK and other first-world nations as it is in Cameroon or India.

American investigative journalist Alfred Henry Lewis (1855-1914) famously said, "There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy." He went on to explain, "It may be taken as axiomatic that a starving man is never a good citizen."

What he means is that hunger dispels the illusions of a polite society and unleashes the desperate animal-like nature that lurks inside all human beings. A starving man trying to feed his starving children will at some point abandon all law and order, doing anything necessary to keep himself and his children alive, including engaging in robbery, assault and murder.

Stated another way, the only reason most people obey laws and agree to live in a socially polite manner is because their bellies are full. Take away the food and all illusions of social friendliness vanish in about nine meals (three days). No local police force can hope to control the actions of the starving masses, regardless of how obedient the population once was when food was abundant.

The coming food collapse is now inevitable
Many are now warning about the coming collapse in the food supply. These warnings include all the following factors:

* EBT CARDS are the federal government's "food stamp" system that distributes money to over 47 million Americans who use that money on debit cards to buy food. The EBT system depends entirely on the financial solvency of the federal government, an empire steeped in over $17 trillion in debt and constantly on the verge of a financial wipeout. When the day comes that the feds stop funding the EBT cards, food riots are imminent. EBT cardholders have already ransacked a Wal-Mart store, even in good times! (Once the EBT entitlements are cut off, EBT card holders will simply ransack the same stores they used to visit as customers. Once those stores run out of food, U.S. cities will devolve into all-out street warfare.)

* HYDROLOGIC CYCLE SCIENTISTS are warning that much of the food production taking place in the world today -- across the USA, India, China, etc. -- depends entirely on fossil water extraction from underground aquifers. Those aquifers are being rapidly depleted, some dropping more than a foot each year. Once this fossil water is used up, it's gone for hundreds or thousands of years. Entire breadbasket regions of the world (such as the U.S. Midwest) will be turned into agricultural deserts. Already, much of Texas and Oklahoma is returning to Dust Bowl conditions.

* ENVIRONMENTALISTS warn that climate change will cause radical weather patterns (droughts, floods, freezes) that devastate the food supply. It is undeniable that radical weather has already caused unprecedented destruction of U.S. food production over the last 18 months. (The underlying causes of such weather patterns, however, remain hotly debated.)

* GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS are genetically vulnerable to disease because they are mono-culture crops with little genetic diversity. Nearly all corn grown in the USA, for example, is genetically modified corn with a near-identical genetic makeup. The situation is obviously ripe for precisely the kind of disease wipeout we're already witnessing with global banana crops.

* ECONOMISTS are warning that the global money supply is on the verge of collapse. Once it collapses, banking would go down with it, destroying the infrastructure that people use to buy food. If grocery stores can't conduct financial transactions, they can't buy inventory to retail to the public, for starters. To stay informed on this subject, read up at www.TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com or www.SHTFplan.com or www.SteveQuayle.com

* PERMACULTURE advocates are warning that the global seed supply has been deliberately collapsed by biotech companies which routinely buy up small seed companies and shut them down. The intention is to create seed monopolies and eliminate competing alternatives to patented, corporate-controlled seeds. The answer to all this, by the way, is found in the wisdom of people like Geoff Lawton who teaches decentralized, abundant food production based on permaculture design science. (Really, Geoff's wisdom can save our world if embraced as a replacement for corporate agriculture...)

Temporary illusions of cheap food will soon be shattered
In other words, there are economic, hydrologic and genetic reasons why today's abundant food supply will come to an abrupt end. The cheap, easy food you buy at the grocery store right now is a temporary illusion of cheap food based on unsustainable agricultural practices that use up fossil water, destroy topsoil and poison the environment.

Even the U.S. government's subsidizing of food through its runaway food stamp program is a temporary artifact of a nation headed for an inevitable debt collapse. Learn more from www.TrendsResearch.com

It is therefore a mathematical and physical certainty that this illusion of cheap, plentiful food will soon be shattered. And in its wake, we will be left with a starving, desperate population with nothing to lose by marching in the streets or staging a violent revolt.

America has abandoned food security in favor of corporate monopolies
Everywhere that this happens will see cities turned into death traps. Because of the centralized corporate farming model that now dominates first-world economies, food production (and even farm land) is controlled by very small number of corporate operations. This is the opposite of food security.

A nation practicing food security would encourage home gardens and support decentralized food production that includes urban food production. Interestingly, nations like Cuba and Russia have encouraged precisely these practices, which is why they are more resistant to a food supply collapse.

In the United States, however, home gardeners have been threatened with arrest. People who produce real food are often raided at gunpoint by government authorities. Farmers who try to produce clean, non-GMO crops are sued by companies like Monsanto whose seeds pollute their farm land.

Government and corporate entities have colluded in the United States to monopolize food production, thereby centralizing it in a way that compromises food security. The day of Americans being told to "plant Victory Gardens" during World War II are long gone. Today, we're told to obediently line up and eat genetically modified soybeans or drink hormone-contaminated cow's milk. Government now demands our food obedience and actively works against individuals who try to produce their own food at the local level.

Why the food supply is America's tactical vulnerability
This makes America wildly vulnerable to disruptions in the food supply. While many nations can manage to get by thanks to home gardens and decentralize food production, the United States of America has allowed government and corporations to structure the national food supply system into a precarious, non-fault-tolerant configuration that's practically begging for collapse.

Just one disruption in the system -- a failed power grid, failed fuel refineries or a failed financial transaction infrastructure -- would collapse food availability nationwide, sending the population into a near-immediate state of desperate starvation. Martial Law would no doubt quickly follow, after which Americans would be ordered to starve to death at the hands of FEMA instead of starving to death on their own.

On March 16, 2012, Obama declared federal control over all farms, food, livestock and seeds
The federal government already knows everything I'm telling you here. That's why on march 16, 2012, President Obama issued an executive order entitled, "NATIONAL DEFENSE RESOURCES PREPAREDNESS."

You can read the official White House press release admitting this right here.

This executive order states that the President alone has the authority to take over all resources in the nation (labor, food, industry, etc.) as long as it is done "to promote the national defense."

The proclamation gives the Secretary of Agriculture full authority to seize all "food resources, food resource facilities, livestock resources, veterinary resources, plant health resources, and the domestic distribution of farm equipment and commercial fertilizer."

The Secretary of Defense is given control over all "water resources," and the Secretary of Commerce is given control over "all other materials, services, and facilities, including construction materials."

The federal government sees what's coming, in other words, and has already laid claim to all YOUR food, farm land, livestock, fertilizer and farm equipment, among other food-related assets.

If, after reading this, you aren't double-checking your secret storable food stockpiles, you're crazy. As a small plug if you want to help support Natural News, we offer the world's only certified organic long-term storable non-GMO freeze-dried fruits (plus some FD organic veggies) at the Natural News Store.

Sources for this article include:

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/045369_World_Bank_food_riots_emergency_preparedness.html##ixzz33NNl7jOX


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on July 23, 2014, 07:21:35 am
Price of Beef and Bacon Reach All-Time High

The price of beef and bacon hit its all-time high in the United States in June, according to data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In January 1980, when BLS started tracking the price of these commodities, ground chuck cost $1.82 per pound and bacon cost $1.45 per pound. By this June 2014, ground chuck cost $3.91 per pound and bacon cost $6.11 per pound.

A decade ago, in June 2004, a pound of ground chuck cost $2.49, which means that the commodity has increased by 57 percent since then. Bacon has increased by 78.7 percent from the $3.42 it cost in June 2004 to the $6.11 it costs now.

In one month, beef increased from $3.85 in May 2014 to $3.91 in June 2014. Bacon increased from $6.05 in May 2014 to $6.11 in June 2014.

Each month, the BLS employs data collectors to visit thousands of retail stores all over the United States to obtain information on the prices of thousands of items to measure changes for the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI is simply the average change over time in prices paid by consumers for a market basket of goods and services.

The BLS found that there was a 0.1 percent change in the food index in June, which tracks foods like meats, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy, as well as many others. “The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs increased in June, though its 0.2 percent increase was its smallest since December,” stated BLS.

“The index for food at home has increased 2.4 percent over the past year, with the index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs up 7.5 percent,” BLS stated.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/price-beef-and-bacon-reach-all-time-high


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on August 22, 2014, 02:21:22 pm
More Than A Thousand Stood Under Heat & Sun For Free Food In Miami

More than a thousand locals lined up Friday morning for several hours under the scorching sun and heat in Miami  for a box full of food.

The event located at the Central Shopping Plaza at 3825 NW 7th Street started at 9:00 a.m.

Participants got a box of free vegetables, meats and bread worth $100 until 12:00 p.m. or until supplies lasted.

Those who didn’t want to stand in line could wait in their car for the drive-thru portion of the event.

Brittany Payne, a mother of three, stood in line for hours with her baby boy.

“It’s something I have to do to feed my kids,” said Payne.

Payne joined Miami residents lined up under the scorching sun and heat.

“It’s a blessing because if it wasn’t for them I couldn’t eat today,” said Payne.

Farm Share partnered up with Commissioner Francis Suarez for the massive food giveaway in a neighborhood in need.

“We are a city of tales; the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots.’ The city is growing tremendously but we also have a very poor city. The need is far greater than the supply that we have,” said Suarez.

In the parking lot tents were set up and dozens of volunteers were on hand to help the residents fill their boxes with vegetables, chicken, juice and gift card to Winn Dixie.

Many of those lined up were elderly. One man was so overcome by heat, he had to be treated and transported.Others tried cooling themselves off with paper fans that were given out and their own umbrellas.

For all the others who managed to tough it out they said it’s something they had to do.

“Did you ever think you would be doing this,” asked CBS4’s Marybel Rodríguez to Julio Exposito who was waiting in line. “Not in my wildest dreams” said Exposito.

Damien Cabrera who was also standing in line, showed what he had received.

“So far I have vegetables, juices, chicken and a gift card,” said Cabrera.

Those who were able to get food, will be taking it to a home where a box full of food makes a huge difference.

“If it wasn’t for this would you have food in your refrigerator,” asked Rodriguez.

“No, not right now,” said Payne.

The distribution was on a first come first serve basis. By 11:15 a.m. the food had run out.

For those who were still in line Commissioner Suarez spoke with them promising another giveaway soon.

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/08/22/locals-line-up-for-free-food-distribution-in-miami/


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on September 09, 2014, 05:15:27 am
Milk Costs Most Ever to Signal Higher Prices for Pizza

Milk futures rose to a record as exports by the U.S. climbed amid shrinking inventories of cheese and butter, signaling higher costs for pizza and pastries.

The U.S. shipped a record 17 percent of milk production in the first half, according to Alan Levitt, a spokesman at the U.S. Dairy Export Council. Cheese stockpiles in July dropped 8 percent from a year earlier, and butter supplies tumbled 42 percent, the Department of Agriculture said last month. U.S. dairy costs are higher than world prices, signaling imports will increase, said Jon Spainhour, a partner at Rice Dairy LLC.

“Usually, we use the first six months of the year to build the inventory we’re going to sell in the last six months,” Spainhour said in a telephone interview from Chicago. “People are saying that ‘I know those imports are coming in, but in the meantime, I’ve got to make sure I’ve got enough to get on the supermarket shelf.’ ”

Milk futures for September settlement rose 0.7 percent to close at $24.45 per 100 pounds at 1:11 p.m. on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, the class III variety, used as a cheese benchmark, reached a record $24.47. The price has jumped 26 percent this year.

Dairy consumption increases in the North American autumn as U.S. football fans boost pizza orders and bakers need more butter for holiday cakes and pastries, Spainhour said.

U.S. cheese consumption will rise to a record 4.88 million metric tons in 2014, USDA data shows. Milk use will climb to an all-time high of 93.4 million tons.

“We just didn’t build the stocks we needed to, and domestic cheese buyers are still scrambling to build that inventory,” Spainhour said.

In July, retail whole milk was $3.65 a gallon, the most for the month since 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-08/milk-costs-most-ever-to-signal-higher-prices-for-pizza.html


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on October 24, 2014, 02:44:35 pm
Low Inflation? The Price Of Ground Beef Has Risen 17 Percent Over The Past Year

Thanks to the Federal Reserve, the middle class is slowly being suffocated by rising food prices.  Every single dollar in your wallet is constantly becoming less valuable because of the inflation the Fed systematically creates.  And if you try to build wealth by saving money and earning interest on it, you still lose because thanks to the Federal Reserve's near zero interest rate policies banks pay next to nothing on savings accounts.  The Federal Reserve wants you to either spend your money or to put it in the giant casino that we call the stock market.  But when Americans spend their paychecks they are finding that they don't stretch as far as they once did.  The cost of living continues to rise at a much faster pace than wages are rising, and this is especially true when it comes to the price of food.

(Read More....) http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/low-inflation-the-price-of-ground-beef-has-risen-17-percent-over-the-past-year


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on November 16, 2014, 04:50:53 am
Turkey production down, wholesale prices up

Turkey production is at its lowest level in nearly three decades and wholesale prices are at an all-time high, but Thanksgiving cooks probably won't see much difference in the price they pay at the stores for their frozen birds.

This year's anticipated stock is 235 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service — the lowest since 1986, when U.S. farmers produced roughly 207 million birds.

While the estimated 2014 number doesn't indicate a shortage of turkeys, which can remain in cold storage for a year or longer, it does reflect a pullback in recent years by poultry producers who were forced to reduce their flocks to remain afloat.

"Last year was a bloodbath. It was bad," said John Zimmerman, a farmer in Northfield, Minnesota, who produces about 300,000 turkeys a year. He said scaled back his numbers in recent years because higher feed and transportation prices, among other things, cut into his bottom line. Even the price of soybean meal — which accounts for about 30 percent of turkey feed — is at a historical high, he said.

All areas of livestock production — poultry included — were drastically cut after the widespread 2012 drought in an attempt to stifle losses, says Corinne Alexander, a Purdue University agricultural economist. Plus, many farmers are using feed that they bought in the wake of the drought, which cost more than the current market price.

"What's happening in the turkey sector is a mini-story of what is happening in other sectors, where the impact has been really dramatic," Alexander said. "If you look at beef cattle, we have the smallest beef cattle herd since 1951, and prices for beef are up 17 percent this year."

October wholesale prices for live turkeys jumped 12 percent from 2013, from 72 cents per pound to 81 cents, NASS commodities statistician Michael Klamm said. And frozen turkey wholesale prices were expected to be between $1.12 and $1.16 per pound in the fourth quarter — up from $1.05 per pound at this time last year, the USDA said.

But consumers won't necessarily see that reflected in the price of their Thanksgiving meal centerpiece.

"There's really no correlation between what grocery store chains are paying and what they're selling them at," USDA agriculture economist David Harvey said.

Turkey numbers peaked in 1996, with nearly 303 million birds.

Alexander doesn't expect the paltry poultry numbers to stick around, because, compared with other livestock, it doesn't take as long to rebuild the flock — about three to five months to raise a turkey to market size. Plus, this year's record corn harvest will help the process, she said, as current projections indicate corn prices are about half of what they were in September 2012.

Zimmerman doubts corn prices will fall much more because of demand for ethanol and exports, and because farmers are rebuilding cattle and swine herds, too, cutting further into the nation's abundant corn supply.

"It takes a while to recover, once you have a shock to the system, because premium stock gets liquidated and it takes time to raise it back up," he said of the nation's turkey supply. "There's not going to be a quick change of price, but there should be a moderate change in the next six months."

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6236ae06bf9b476680bcaf48a9d4b14b/turkey-production-down-wholesale-prices


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on March 27, 2015, 06:55:09 am
The Price Of Ground Beef Has DOUBLED Since The Last Financial Crisis

Since the depths of the last recession, the price of ground beef in the United States has doubled.  Has your paycheck doubled since then?  Even though the Federal Reserve insists that we are in a “low inflation” environment, the government’s own numbers show that the price of ground beef has been on an unprecedented run over the past six years.  In early 2009, the average price of a pound of ground beef was hovering near 2 dollars.  In February, it hit a brand new all-time record high of $4.238 per pound.  Even just 12 months ago, the price of ground beef was sitting at $3.555 per pound.  So we are talking about a huge increase.  And this hits American families where they really live.  Each year, the average American consumes approximately 270 pounds of meat.  The only nation in the world that eats more meat than we do is Luxembourg.  If the paychecks of American workers were going up fast enough to deal with this increase, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.  But of course that is not happening.  In an article just last week, I showed that real median household income is a couple thousand dollars lower now than it was during the depths of the last recession.  The middle class is being squeezed, and we are rapidly getting to the point where burgers are going to be considered a “luxury” item.

The following chart was posted by the Economic Policy Journal on Wednesday, and it incorporates the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  When I first saw it, I was rather stunned.  I knew that the price of ground beef had become rather outrageous in my local grocery stores, but I had no idea just how much damage had been done over the past six years…

(http://endoftheamericandream.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Beef-Price-Economic-Policy-Journal.jpg)

The biggest reason why the price of ground beef has been going up is the fact that the U.S. cattle herd has been shrinking.  It shrunk seven years in a row, and on January 1st, 2014 it was the smallest that it had been since 1951.

The good news is that the decline appears to have stopped, at least for the moment.  According to the Wall Street Journal, the size of the U.S. cattle herd actually increased by 1 percent last year…

    The U.S. cattle herd expanded in 2014 for the first time in eight years, offering hope to consumers that beef prices could start to subside after soaring to a series of records.

    The nation’s cattle supply increased 1% in the year through Jan. 1 to 89.8 million head, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Agriculture Department, reversing a steady decline fueled by prolonged drought in the southern U.S. Great Plains and industry consolidation that encouraged many ranchers to thin herds.

But an increase of 1 percent is just barely going to keep up with the official population growth rate.  If you factor in illegal immigration, we are still losing ground.

And if we have another major drought in cattle country this summer, the cattle herd is going to start shrinking again.

In addition, the price of food overall has been steadily rising for years.  Here is a chart that I shared the other day…

(http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Presentation-Food-Inflation1-425x282.png)

It boggles the mind that the Federal Reserve can claim that we are in a “low inflation” environment.  Anyone that goes grocery shopping feels the pain of these rising prices every time that they go to the store.

In the list that I put together yesterday, I included the following statistic…

    Almost half of all Americans (47 percent) do not put a single penny out of their paychecks into savings.

One of the primary reasons why so many Americans are not saving any money is because many families simply cannot save any money.  Their paychecks are stagnant while the cost of living just keeps going up and up.

There simply are not enough “good jobs” out there anymore.  Our economy continues to bleed middle class jobs and the competition for the jobs that remain is quite intense.

Do you know what the two most common occupations in America today are?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they are “retail sales clerk” and “cashier”.

And of course neither of those “occupations” pays even close to what is required to support a middle class family.

On average, a retail sales clerk makes $24,020 a year, and a cashier makes $20,670 a year.

Because the quality of our jobs has declined so much, there are millions of American families today in which both the mother and the father are working multiple jobs in a desperate attempt to make ends meet each month.

But don’t worry, the Federal Reserve says that we are nearly at “full employment“, and Barack Obama says that everything is going to be just fine.

Actually, the truth is that things are about to get a lot worse.  At this point, we are even getting pessimistic numbers out of the Federal Reserve.  Just this week we learned that the Fed is now projecting that economic growth for the first quarter of 2015 will be barely above zero…

    From almost 2.5% GDP growth expectations in February, The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model has now collapsed its estimates of Q1 GDP growth to just 0.2% – plunging from +1.4% just 2 weeks ago. The reality of plunging capex and no decoupling is starting to rear its ugly head in the hard data and as the sun warms things up, weather will start to lose its ability to sway sentiment.

We are at a turning point.  The bubble of false stability that we have been living in is rapidly coming to an end, and when people start to realize that another great economic crisis is coming there is going to be a lot of panic.

And as far as food prices go, they are just going to keep taking a bigger chunk out of all of our wallets.

As high as prices are already, the truth is that your food dollars are never going to go farther than they do right now.

So let us hope for the best, but let us also get prepared for the worst.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-price-of-ground-beef-has-doubled-since-the-last-financial-crisis


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on April 05, 2015, 04:44:07 am
Feds likely to shut down sardine fishing on West Coast

West Coast fisheries managers will likely shut down sardine fishing this year as numbers decline, echoing a previous collapse that decimated a thriving industry and increasing worries that other species might be withheld from the commercial market.

Fishermen are resigned to not being able to get sardines, but they hope the Pacific Fishery Management Council will not be so concerned that it sets the level for incidental catch of sardines at zero, shutting down other fisheries, such as mackerel, anchovies and market squid, which often swim with sardines.

Sardines were a thriving fishery on the West Coast from World War I through World War II, and the cannery-lined waterfront in Monterey, California, became the backdrop for John Steinbeck's 1945 novel, "Cannery Row." The fishery industry crashed in the 1940s, and riding the book's popularity, Cannery Row became a tourist destination, with restaurants and hotels replacing the canneries.

The industry revived in the 1990s, when fisheries developed in Oregon and Washington waters. Today, there are about 100 boats with permits to fish for sardines on the West Coast, about half the number during the heyday. Much of the catch, landed from Mexico to British Columbia, is exported to Asia and Europe, where some is canned, and the rest goes for bait. West Coast landings have risen from a value of $1.4 million in 1991 to a peak of $21 million in 2012, but are again declining.

"The industry survives fishing on a complex," of species, said Diane Pleschner-Steele, director of the California Wetfish Producers Association, which represents 63 California-based fishing boats. "Sardines, up until this point, have been one very important leg of a three- or four-legged stool.... Now we don't have sardines. Our fleet is scrambling."

The latest estimates of how many Pacific sardines are schooling off Oregon, California and Washington have fallen below the mandatory cutoff line. The council cut harvests by two-thirds last year, and meets April 12 in Rohnert Park, California, to set the latest sardine harvest.

The conservation group Oceana is urging the council to immediately shut down sardine fishing, and not wait until the new season starts July 1. The group wants incidental catch limits set at zero, leaving as much food as possible in the ocean for sea lions and other wildlife, and speeding the rebuilding process for sardines.

Ben Enticknap of Oceana acknowledged that sardines naturally go through large population swings, but he argued that fishing since 2007 has exceeded their reproduction rate, exacerbating the numbers collapse.

"Previous stock assessments were way too optimistic and weren't matching up with what was observed on the water," Enticknap said. "The sea lions and sea birds have been starving since 2013, pelicans since 2010. Everyone knew something was going on because there wasn't enough food to eat for these predators. Now this stock assessment comes out saying that the sardine population is much lower than they had previously expected."

David Crabbe, a squid fishing boat owner and council member, said he would expect the council to allow incidental catch to reduce the impact on the fleet.

The latest stock assessments vary between 133,000 metric tons, and 97,000 metric tons, both below the 150,000 metric tons cutoff, and less than 10 percent of the 2006 peak of 1.4 million metric tons.

The stock assessment is conducted by boat. As the research boats cruise the water, an acoustic signal is emitted, which bounces back with information on what kinds and how many fish are nearby. Stock assessors also estimate how many sardine eggs are floating in the water, and how many sardines are spawning off California, said Kerry Griffin, a staff officer for the council.

Fishermen are unhappy with the stock assessments, Pleschner-Steele said. They say the acoustic gear is too deep in the water and misses fish on the surface, where they feed.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Feds-likely-to-shut-down-sardine-fishing-on-West-Coast-298674491.html?m=y&smobile=y&clmob=y&c=n


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on April 07, 2015, 06:51:30 am
Food prices to rise as California water restrictions cause farmer cutbacks

As California’s multi-year drought rages on, consumers in the rest of the United States may soon be feeling the pinch at the grocery store as farmers around California reduce water and plant fewer crops.

California, sometimes called the ‘nation’s salad bowl’, is the country’s largest producer of grapes, kiwis, olives, avocados, broccoli, tomatoes, spinach, tree nuts and dairy. Now in the fourth year of a massive drought ‒ and facing only a year’s worth of water remaining in the state ‒ food prices in the US and agricultural unemployment in California are set to climb as farmers do what they can to conserve water and protect their investments.

“Farms and agriculture are prospering and they could go out of business next year,” Joe De Bosque, a farmer in California’s Central Valley, told RT. “How many businesses do you know that are prospering and profitable that go out of business? None! It’s going to happen in California, I guarantee you! If we have no water next year it’s gonna happen! Successful farms are gonna go out of business!”

De Bosque has employed new irrigation techniques in an effort to save water, as 3 million acres of land go unplanted.

“Since we've changed to drip irrigation we actually produce 30 percent more crop with 30 percent less water,” he said. “It’s not necessarily how much can we make per acre, it’s how much can we make with an acre-foot of water.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qfagc2-BA1Y

 Cannon Michael, a farmer in the Central Valley, left more than 1,000 acres of land unplanted this season to try and conserve water, he told Ensia. The fallow fields amount to about 10 percent of the 10,500 irrigated acres that make up his farm, Bowles Farming Company.

In the spring of 2014, Michael and some of his neighbors on the west side of the valley who still had some water implemented conservation measures and fallowed land early in last year’s season. Their actions allowed them to make 13,500 acre-feet (4.4 billion gallons) of water, from a reservoir known as Millerton Lake, available to east-side farmers who had been cut off. And they did so at an affordable price ‒ $250 an acre-foot ‒ rather than the $1,000 to $2,000 per acre-foot that water was trading for on the open market.

“We saw an opportunity to transfer some water to our neighbors who were struggling,” Michael said.

Yet Big Agriculture was largely spared from the mandatory water restrictions that California Governor Jerry Brown (d) issued on Wednesday, the first in the state’s history. While cities and towns are required to cut water usage by 25 percent, the agriculture industry merely has to report more information about their use of water.

But even a significant drop in residential water use will not move the consumption needle nearly as much as even a small reduction by farmers, the LA Times reported. Of all the surface water consumed in the state, roughly 80 percent is earmarked for the agricultural sector.

“The big question is agriculture, and there are difficult trade-offs that need to be made,” said Katrina Jessoe, assistant professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of California, Davis

Farmers aren’t the only people affected by the water restrictions.

Tractor dealer Steve Malanca is struggling because, right now, no one wants a five-year, $300,000 loan to buy a tractor, he told RT.

“All of us are being affected,” he said. “There’s an irrigation company that supplies irrigation equipment, there are tractor dealerships, there’s car dealerships selling cars to the farmers. Everybody is affected without exception... when the farmer is making money.”

Mayor Robert Silva of Mendota, in the heart of the agricultural Central Valley, told the LA Times that unemployment among farmworkers had soared as the soil turned to crust and farmers left half or more of their fields fallow. Many people are traveling 60 or 70 miles to look for work, Silva said, and families are increasingly relying on food donations.

“You can’t pay the bills with free food,” he said. “Give me some water, and I know I can go to work, that’s the bottom line.”

Some people suggest that farmers switch from animal agriculture to crops.

“Animal agriculture uses more water for drinking and growing food for feed than even the thirstiest vegetable crops. California would realize gargantuan water savings if more crops were fed directly to people instead of being wastefully diverted to the production of meat, dairy and eggs,” Deborah W. Elliott wrote in a letter to the editor of the LA Times. “All we have to do is alter our habits and incentivize the growing of vegetable and fruit crops.”

Farmers like De Bosque, however, propose a temporary increase in pumping when rains come, so farmers can put the rain in the bank and use it in the hot summer instead of turning to other methods.

http://rt.com/usa/247289-california-drought-restrictions-affect-agriculture/


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on April 21, 2015, 08:53:11 am
Canadian Beef Prices Up 18% In Past Year, And No Relief In Sight

Canada’s core inflation rate jumped 2.2 per cent in March, according to Statistics Canada, but that number obscures an ugly reality for many shoppers: Meat prices are soaring.

Beef prices were up 18 per cent in March compared to the same month a year earlier, StatsCan data shows, while pork prices are nearly 12 per cent higher than they were a year ago, thanks to a virus that has killed millions of piglets in recent years.

Chicken prices were up a comparably tame 5 per cent, but that’s still higher than the overall rise in food costs, of 3.8 per cent over the past year.

But the worst is yet to come, at least for beef, say industry analysts. Cattle populations are low, demand has held up surprisingly well despite the price hikes, and North American beef prices are higher for Canadians thanks to a low loonie, according to industry website Grainews.

It notes that Canadian beef production is 2 per cent lower than it was a year ago, though U.S. production is at similar levels to or higher than last year. Industry analysts had expected a decline, largely due to the fact that ranchers have been culling cattle in recent years, thanks to high feed prices.

Food industry analyst Kevin Grier told the Globe and Mail that for these reasons Canadians can expect to see prices keep rising.

“You can expect more of the same, only worse,” he said.

Grier noted the departure of Target Canada has taken some pressure off food retailers and there are fewer price wars taking place.

But the good news is that some of what Canadian consumers have lost to food prices has been recouped through lower energy bills.

Gas prices were down by 19.2 per cent in March from a year earlier, and analysts don’t see them rising much in the near future.

According to a Canadian Automobile Association spokesperson, Canadians could see the lowest gas prices since 2010 this summer.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/04/20/beef-meat-prices-canada-inflation_n_7101174.html


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on April 22, 2015, 08:52:37 am
Is The U.S. Food Supply Cursed?

yep

Why are so many catastrophes hitting U.S. food production?  This week, we have learned that more than 7 million turkeys and chickens have already been killed as the result of a devastating bird flu outbreak here in the United States.  This particular strain of the bird flu has already spread to the states of Minnesota, Iowa, California, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin, and scientists are mystified as to why it is moving so rapidly.  But what we do know is that this flu has the potential to kill an entire flock of chickens or turkeys in just 48 hours.  This pandemic is quickly becoming a major national crisis all by itself, but when you combine this with all of the other disasters hitting our food supply, a very troubling picture emerges.  Could it be possible that the U.S. food supply is cursed?

Before we talk about the bird flu some more, let’s first review some of the other ways that our food supply is under assault.

-Due to the worst drought in the recorded history of the state, much of California is turning back into a desert.  And considering the fact that California produces nearly half of all the fresh produce grown in the entire nation, that is a very frightening thing.  Prices for many fruits and vegetables have already gone up substantially in our grocery stores.

-The multi-year drought in the southwest United States has also had a crippling impact on many ranchers.  At this point, the size of the U.S. cattle herd is the smallest that it has been since the 1950s, and the price of beef has doubled since the last recession.

-Over the past couple of years, porcine epidemic diarrhea wiped out approximately 10 percent of the entire pig population in the United States.  This particular plague seems to have subsided at least for now, but scientists tell us that it could come back strong at any moment.

-As my friend Mac Slavo wrote about the other day, the sardine population off the west coast has declined by 91 percent since 2007.  This is having a devastating affect on the food chain in the Pacific Ocean.

-Speaking of the Pacific, a whole host of other sea creatures appear to be dying off in large numbers as well.  For much more on this, please see this article.

-Down in Florida, citrus greening disease has hit the citrus industry extremely hard.  The price of Florida oranges has approximately doubled over the past 12 years, and crops keep getting even smaller every year…

    The big squeeze is on in citrus industry, and it isn’t expected to lessen anytime soon.

    Florida growers have yielded far fewer oranges over the past decade due to citrus greening, resulting in less juice in the market and fewer dollars in their pockets.

    “Everything starts and ends with citrus greening,” said Fritz Roka, a University of Florida agricultural economist at the Southwest Florida Research & Education Center in Immokalee. “For the next several years, citrus greening will still be the focus of attention.”

-A plague known as the TR4 fungus has hit global banana production in a big way.  According to CNBC, this nightmare fungus may eventually completely wipe out the variety of bananas that we commonly eat today…

    Banana lovers take note: The world’s supply of the fruit is under attack from a fungus strain that could wipe out the popular variety that Americans eat.

    “It’s a very serious situation,” said Randy Ploetz, a professor of plant pathology at the University of Florida who in 1989 originally discovered a strain of Panama disease, called TR4, that may be growing into a serious threat to U.S. supplies of the fruit and Latin American producers.

    “There’s nothing at this point that really keeps the fungus from spreading,” he said in an interview with CNBC.

On top of all that, now we have a major bird flu outbreak to deal with.

According to USA Today, 3.8 million hens will be destroyed at one farm in Iowa alone in an attempt to keep this flu from spreading even more…

    Poultry producers in several states are bracing for more losses as a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza forced producers to kill millions of chickens and turkeys in the USA in recent weeks.

    The fast-moving H5N2 virus was confirmed on Monday at a chicken laying facility in Osceola County, Iowa. Some 3.8 million layer hens at the farm affiliated with Sonstegard Foods Company will be euthanized to try to prevent the spread of the disease, according to the company.

If this bird flu continues to spread in states such as Iowa, we could have a nightmare scenario on our hands.  Most people don’t realize this, but almost one out of every five eggs that we eat comes from that state…

    Because of avian influenza, the state’s $2 billion commercial egg-laying industry has been on high alert this spring. Iowa, the nation’s largest egg producer, has about 50 million hens and supplies nearly 1 in every 5 eggs consumed in the United States.

    “Anybody that has a poultry operation — whether large or small, whether you’ve got hundreds of birds or one bird — this should be a wake-up call,” said Randy Olson, executive director of the Iowa Poultry Association.

Unfortunately, this new outbreak is extremely puzzling to our scientists.  At this point, they really don’t know why it is spreading so fast…

    The deadly flu virus that has wiped out nearly 5 percent of Minnesota’s turkey industry is a part of a global disease outbreak, but scientists still don’t understand it.

    After emerging in Asia, the avian flu spread to poultry farms in the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Germany.

    Its quick arrival in North America has alarmed scientists who are trying to unravel the mystery of how these deadly bugs have infected so many turkey farms in such a short period of time.

    “It’s been really troubling to understand how in the world this can possibly be happening,” said Carol Cardona, a professor of avian medicine at the University of Minnesota.

Have we ever seen a time when so many major catastrophes have hit our food production all at once?

It appears that this is a “perfect storm” of sorts, and we all get to feel the pain of this onslaught when we visit our local grocery stores.

So are we witnessing a convergence of unrelated coincidences, or could it be possible that there is another explanation?

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/is-the-u-s-food-supply-cursed


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on April 22, 2015, 10:23:39 am
Goat plague hits poor farmers in Africa, Asia, wider vaccination needed

Goat plague, a fast spreading virus, impoverishes millions of small farmers across Africa and Asia, but a campaign to eradicate it has drawn far less support than halting mad cow disease or Ebola, a U.N. veterinary official said on Wednesday.

'Peste des petits ruminants' (PPR) or goat plague, attacks sheep and goats - crucial to the livelihood of more than 300 million herders in the developing world - and costs those who can least afford it some $2 billion a year, the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported.

Despite an effective vaccine which can protect animals, PPR has spread rapidly in the past 15 years into more than 60 countries, it said.

"We have the tools to eradicate this at its source," FAO Chief Veterinary Officer Juan Lubroth told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Wednesday. "But we don't have the political will or the resources because it's affecting poor countries."

A plan to eliminate the virus by 2030 through vaccinations and other means is expected to cost between $4 billion and $7 billion, he said.

UN agencies have yet to issue a formal call for donations and the bulk of the money for eradication efforts is expected to come from national governments in affected countries.

In its current form, the virus cannot be passed to humans. But other diseases, including Ebola, MERS and anthrax eventually made the jump from animals to people.

The disease is still affecting people by depriving farmers of their livelihoods and stopping children in poor countries from getting the protein they need, Lubroth added.

Demand for meat and milk from goats and sheep in Africa is expected to rise by 137 percent from 2000 to 2030, and by even more in Asia, according to the FAO.

Goat plague is set to hit the supply of these foodstuffs, pushing up prices and making it harder for the poor to buy them.

Eighty percent of the world's 2.1 billion sheep and goats live in regions affected by goat plague, the FAO said.

http://www.trust.org/item/20150422145809-4iqnw/?source=search


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on May 06, 2015, 05:36:50 am
U.S. bird flu outbreak may mean no turkey for Thanksgiving

The largest-ever U.S. outbreak of avian influenza, which has devastated Midwestern poultry and egg producers in recent weeks, could be felt at Thanksgiving tables across the nation come November, farmers and some trade groups say.

The virulent H5N2 strain has already spread to 14 states and led to the deaths or scheduled euthanizations of more than 21 million birds, including 3.3 million turkeys in Minnesota, the nation’s top turkey producer.

And now, with Thanksgiving just seven months away, farmers say they may be running out of time to raise enough turkeys –the traditional centerpiece of holiday feasts – to meet the demand.

Once a farm has been infected, flocks must be culled, composted in barns, then disposed of. Buildings must then be thoroughly disinfected. The whole process can take up to three months before a new flock of turkey poults can be brought in, said Steve Olson, executive director of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association.

After chicks are re-introduced to the barns, farmers say, it typically takes about four months to produce a full-sized hen – the type of turkey most Americans prefer for their holiday feasts.

If breeder farms that supply the young birds have also been infected – as some in Minnesota have – simply acquiring the chicks could prove challenging.

And in Minnesota, there’s still no sign of an end to the outbreak, despite tight biosecurity measures and quarantines. Already, at least one turkey processing plant has cut back on workers’ shifts because of a lack of birds to slaughter.

“We’re going to have fewer turkeys coming out because of this,” Olson said.

“The question we can’t answer is how much this is going to impact our total system, because this isn’t over yet,” he added.

Of the nearly 240 million turkeys raised last year in the United States, nearly one in five came from Minnesota farms. About 30 per cent of the Minnesota birds are sold as whole turkeys at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The remaining 70 per cent are sold year-round for deli meat, frozen meals, ground turkey and other products, according to industry data.

“There’s a sense of pride in farmers, in what they do,” Olson said, in a state where farms have often been in the same family for generations. “This is challenging their belief in their ability to raise turkeys, because they have not been able to stop the disease, despite them doing everything they can do from a biosecurity standpoint.”

As the reach of the virus continues to expand, companies up and down the turkey supply chain are watching closely.

Tyson Foods Inc said on Monday that the avian influenza has affected some of its turkey contract farms in neighboring Iowa, where farmers have had to euthanize birds.

While that loss could affect production levels at its turkey plant sometime this summer, Tyson does not produce the whole turkeys typically used at Thanksgiving dinners. Its turkey division is a small part of the company’s overall business, and Tyson does not expect the loss to have a material financial impact.

Food retailers are also monitoring the spread of the virus.

Boston Market Corp. said it has been assured by Butterball LLC, one of its main turkey suppliers, that the company’s birds are being raised in areas not affected by the flu outbreak.

But Boston Market Chief Financial Officer Greg Uhing said the company is watching the situation. Butterball declined to discuss specific supply-chain arrangements it has in place with its customers.

Meanwhile, some help for holiday feasts could come from cold storage, where stocks of whole turkey hens were at 98.7 million pounds as of the end of March, a 24 per cent jump over February and up 16 per cent over the same period a year earlier, according to federal Agriculture Department data.

Raising birds for Thanksgiving and Christmas meals begins early in the year, with turkeys slaughtered and stored in cold storage to meet the demand at year’s end, say industry officials.

Some producers are confident that supplies will largely keep pace with demand.

“There is some wiggle room” for the holidays, said Darrell Glaser, who raises 600,000 turkeys a year for Cargill Inc at his family’s Bar G Ranch in Rogers, Texas.

“You may see a small impact,” said Glaser, who raises the variety of turkeys sold for Thanksgiving. “Unless this outbreak gets a lot worse, I don’t see it having a huge impact on our overall supply.”

Still, Glaser’s not taking any chances. He has increased biosecurity measures on his farm and told staff not to get close to any wild birds. Visits to nearby farms have stopped, and any trips to the Midwest have been put on hold

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/bird-flu-outbreak-may-mean-no-turkey-for-thanksgiving/article24252548/


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on May 12, 2015, 12:38:24 pm
Egg, turkey meat prices begin to rise as bird flu spreads

Prices for eggs and turkey meat are rising as an outbreak of bird flu in the Midwest claims an increasing number of chickens and turkeys. Market experts say grocery stores and wholesalers are trying to stock up on eggs, but there's no need to worry about having enough turkeys for Thanksgiving.

The cost of a carton of large eggs in the Midwest has jumped nearly 17 percent to $1.39 a dozen from $1.19 since mid-April when the virus began appearing in Iowa's chicken flocks and farmers culled their flocks to contain any spread.

A much bigger increase has emerged in the eggs used as ingredients in processed products like cake mix and mayonnaise, which account for the majority of what Iowa produces. Those eggs have jumped 63 percent to $1.03 a dozen from 63 cents in the last three weeks, said Rick Brown, senior vice president of Urner Barry, a commodity market analysis firm.

Turkey prices, which had been expected to fall this year, are up slightly as the bird flu claimed about 5.6 million turkeys nationwide so far. About 238 million turkeys were raised in the U.S. last year.

The price of fresh boneless and skinless tom breast meat primarily used for deli meat has risen 10 percent since mid-April to $3.37 a pound, a USDA report said Friday. Frozen hens in the 8- to 16-pound range, those often used for home roasting, were up about 3 percent to $1.06 a pound.

Egg supplies are falling short of demand, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has indicated, and Brown said egg buyers such as grocery stores and wholesalers are trying to stock up for fear that another large farm with millions of chickens will be stricken - causing prices to spike higher.

"We're starting to see a little bit of that demand increase, and the sellers are reluctant to give clients too much more than they normally have because they know what's going on and they don't want to be caught short either," he said.

The number of Iowa chickens lost exceeds 26 million, the vast majority of which lay eggs for food use. That's about 41 percent of the leading egg state's layers and about 8 percent of the nation's laying hens. That many chickens would lay more than 500 million table eggs a month. For comparison, Iowa chickens laid 1.4 billion table eggs in March, before the disease struck. U.S. egg production for March stood at 7.42 billion table eggs.

Some companies are beginning to notice the impact of fewer eggs. Cereal maker Post Holdings Inc., which bought egg products supplier Michael Foods last year, said in its May 7 quarterly earnings report that about 14 percent of its egg supply has been affected by the bird flu outbreak. Post estimated the impact at about $20 million through the end of September.

Michael Foods primarily supplies extended shelf-life liquid and precooked egg products and eggs used in food ingredients.

The poultry industry can replenish the supply of chickens more quickly than beef or pork industries can rebound, but it still takes time to rebuild a flock.

"They're going to have to phase in replacing those flocks so they can get them get back into a laying schedule that results in a more even flow of eggs, and that's going to take six to nine months," said Tom Elam, an agricultural economist and poultry industry consultant.

It takes about four months for a hatched chick to be old enough to begin laying eggs, and it will typically be productive for about two years, Elam said. Many of the hens dying from the disease are younger and no pullets had been planned to replace them yet, Elam said. More than 350,000 pullets have been lost to bird flu - a very small portion of the 50 million egg-type chicks hatched in March, but it compounds the replenishment problem.

While new bird flu outbreaks are occurring in the turkey market - Minnesota, the nation's leading turkey producer, has 4 million confirmed dead birds so far - Elam said cold storage stocks and the number of hens still on farms suggest turkeys will be available for Thanksgiving.

"Anybody who wants a Thanksgiving turkey is going to be able to get one," he said. "They may have to pay a little more for it but we're not going to have national stock-outs for Thanksgiving turkeys, yet."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BIRD_FLU_PRICES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-12-12-11-19


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on May 13, 2015, 04:16:55 pm
How the worst avian flu outbreak in U.S. history is costing you money

The outbreak of avian flu that some experts are calling the worst in U.S. history has claimed more than 32 million birds in 16 states. And it’s beginning to take its toll at the grocery store as well.

The cost of a carton of large eggs in the Midwest, where the disease has had the biggest impact, jumped 17 percent in the past month, the Associated Press reported. Meanwhile turkey prices, which were expected to fall this year, have risen between 3 and 10 percent, depending on the cut of meat.

But shoppers are most likely to feel the flu’s effects when buying processed products that include eggs as ingredients, like cake mix and mayonnaise. In Iowa, where most eggs go to these types of products, more than 40 percent of the state’s roughly 60 million egg-laying chickens have been killed by the disease or authorities working to prevent it from spreading.

The price of those eggs has jumped 63 percent in the past 3 weeks, commodity market analyst Rick Brown told the AP.

The rapidly worsening outbreak has killed more birds than any other incidence of avian flu, researchers at the University of Illinois reported last week. First detected among a tiny backyard flock in southern Oregon, it reached the Midwest in early March and has since devastated the region’s poultry industry. Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin have all declared states of emergency in response to the outbreak. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that Nebraska had become the 16th state hit by the virus — a flock of 1.7 million chickens is the first to be infected in the state.

According to the USDA, the virus is being spread by wild geese and ducks, which carry the disease without appearing sick. Though two strains of the virus are currently circulating among wild and domestic flocks, the vast majority of deaths have been caused by a strain called H5N2, the USDA reported. This “highly pathogenic” form of the disease can wipe out huge flocks in a matter of days, but poses little risk to humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Still, the agency urged people to avoid contact with sick or dead birds and noted the slim chance that the disease could jump into humans.

The number of confirmed cases represents a fraction of the 8.7 billion birds slaughtered in the U.S. each year, the University of Illinois researchers pointed out. Even among the country’s 360 million-bird laying population, which has been hit the hardest, only about 1 in 20 hens has been infected — a significant portion, but not enough to drastically affect the nation’s egg supply.

The outbreak has raised alarms in countries that import U.S. poultry. China, South Korea and Angola — three of the top 10 markets for American poultry — have imposed total bans on imports from the U.S., Reuters reported last month.

But the biggest impact has been on affected farmers, who have had to cull their entire flocks in an effort to prevent the virus from spreading. Once a flock has been destroyed, the farm must be quarantined, scrubbed and disinfected before it can be repopulated with birds, according to the Sioux City Journal.

“The stress level is very high among all my farmers at this point,” Gretta Irwin, executive director of the Iowa Turkey Federation, told the Journal. “Whether you have the virus and have to deal with the emotional grief of losing your flock of turkeys, or if you don’t have the virus and you’re worrying about those who do and what happens next.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/13/how-the-worst-avian-flu-outbreak-in-u-s-history-is-costing-you-money/


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on May 17, 2015, 07:54:19 am
Sysco sees U.S. bird flu hurting egg supply up to 18 months

 Food distributor Sysco Corp said on Friday that a record U.S. outbreak of avian flu would limit its supply of eggs and chickens that lay them for nine to 18 months, based on information provided to the company by its suppliers.

Sysco is the biggest U.S. food distributor, whose clients include restaurants, hotels and hospitals. The company is discussing options with its customers, including creating alternative menu items during the period, a Sysco spokesman said in an email.

It is too soon to tell whether the supply squeeze will have a material impact on financial results, spokesman Charley Wilson said. Eggs represent a small portion of the company's dairy products segment, which accounted for 11 percent of revenue in 2014.

The U.S. poultry and egg industry is grappling with the country's biggest outbreak on record of avian influenza, which has proven highly infectious and deadly for poultry. Governors in Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa have declared a state of emergency, and the outbreak has shown few signs of waning.

Earlier this week, Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] said it has implemented increased biosecurity measures at its facilities receiving liquid egg tankers and shell eggs from impacted states and that it is working with egg suppliers to ensure they are employing measures to prevent spread of the flu.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Post Holdings Inc, calling the flu a "force majeure event," said it now estimates that 25 percent of its egg supply has been affected. Sysco is a major customer for Post's Michael Foods business, which sells egg products, according to filings.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher Growe expects Post's previous estimate of a $20 million financial impact in 2015 to at least double, according to a research note.

Growe said that Post's contracts require the company to go to the open market and to third parties to replace the lost supply at high prices. "We believe that by declaring force majeure, the company will be able to either pass higher prices onto customers or be relieved from the mandatory supply requirements," he wrote.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/exclusive-sysco-sees-u-bird-flu-hurting-egg-031251016--finance.html


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on June 02, 2015, 05:20:15 am
A national egg shortage is threatening fast food breakfast

Fast food chain Whataburger is scaling back on breakfast. 

Because of a national egg shortage, the San Antonio-based fast food chain says it will now only be serving breakfast from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. on weekdays. The brand previously served breakfast until 11 a.m.

The national egg shortage is a result of bird flu, which NBC News reports has sickened more than 44 million chickens.

Whataburger stressed that the egg shortage is a supply issue and that consumers' food is safe.

It's unclear whether other fast food chains will be forced to follow suit.

rest: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/national-egg-shortage-threatening-fast-212849747.html


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on June 04, 2015, 09:41:17 am
Egg Shortage In America As Bird Flu Has Already Killed 45 MILLION Chickens And Turkeys

Did you know that 25 percent of all egg production in the United States has already been taken offline due to the bird flu crisis?  You aren’t hearing much about this in the mainstream media, but at this point bird flu has claimed the lives of 45 million chickens and turkeys in America.  When I wrote about this a month ago, the number of dead birds was sitting at about 20 million.  In just 30 days, the death toll has risen by an astounding 20 million.  This is a major crisis and it is already causing egg shortages around the country, and yet very few people seem alarmed about this?  Why is that?

And it isn’t just one strain of the bird flu virus that we are talking about.  Right now, there are two strains which are spreading like wildfire.

So far, the H5N2 strain has hit the states of Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Arkansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Idaho, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin.  It has also been identified in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and British Columbia.

The H5N8 strain has not been doing quite as much damage yet, but it has been killing birds in California, Idaho, Indiana, Oregon and Washington.

In addition, Canadian officials have discovered that the H5N1 strain is spreading in British Columbia.

This is the worst bird flu outbreak in the history of North America, and it continues to spiral out of control.  Things have already gotten so bad that some manufacturers are considering switching to “eggless eggs”…

    America is facing a major egg crisis due to bird flu, experts have warned.

    They say 25 percent of the country’s egg production is already offline due to the virus, with more producers expecting to be hit.

    To replace eggs, manufacturers are increasingly turning a hi-tech San Francisco firm that makes an ‘eggless egg’ using a secret blend of plants.

With egg production down 25 percent at this point, and the worst probably still to come, some fast food chains are already cutting back.  For instance, Whataburger has announced that it is going to be limiting the number of hours that it serves breakfast…

    Whataburger says it is limiting its breakfast-serving hours, citing egg shortages due to the Midwest bird flu crisis.

    The fast-food chain will serve breakfast 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. weekdays, and 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. on weekends. It previously was available 12 hours a day. Whataburger says in a statement that the changes will allow it to supply all of its locations.

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture says confirmed outbreaks in the Midwest have cost chicken and turkey producers more than 44 million birds. Egg prices have soared.

    Major chains such as Taco Bell, Dunkin’ Donuts and IHOP say they’re monitoring the situation but haven’t yet been affected.

I hope that people start waking up and taking this more seriously, because this is a really big deal.

But of course of even greater concern is what would happen if the bird flu started spreading among the human population.

At this point, the CDC says that there are no human cases, but they are urging caution…

    “While these recently identified HPAI H5 viruses are not known to have caused disease in humans, their appearance in North American birds may increase the likelihood of human infection in the United States,” the CDC said.

In fact, the CDC has issued a special alert to medical professionals instructing them to watch for any signs that this virus has crossed over…

    “Clinicians should consider the possibility of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 virus infection in persons showing signs or symptoms of respiratory illness who have relevant exposure history,” the CDC said in a health alert issued to doctors.

    “This includes persons who have had contact with potentially infected birds (e.g., handling, slaughtering, defeathering, butchering, culling, preparation for consumption); direct contact with surfaces contaminated with feces or parts (carcasses, internal organs, etc.) of potentially-infected birds; and persons who have had prolonged exposure to potentially-infected birds in a confined space.”

I know that we have had some false alarms with swine flu and ebola in the past few years.

But without a doubt, a major pandemic is one of the greatest potential threats that we face.  Throughout history, there have been massive pandemics that have killed millions upon millions of people, and scientists assure us that it is only a matter of time before the next one strikes.

Just the other day, Bill Gates spoke about his belief that a future pandemic could come along at any time and kill tens of millions of us…

    One of the world’s richest men, who spoke in 2010 about how vaccines (which he heavily pushes throughout the world) are helping to cull the world’s population, is now predicting that as many as 33 million people could soon die from a modern-day pandemic similar to the 1918-1919 Spanish flu.

    Microsoft founder Bill Gates hasn’t said how such an event will culminate, but he’s sure it will, and he’s actually spent a pretty penny working on predictive models to show what sort of event will kill the most people in the near future. It won’t be a big volcanic explosion, a gigantic earthquake, an asteroid, or even impending world war, according to Gates — at least not in his lifetime. Instead, it will be an outbreak of some horrific disease like Ebola.

Of course for many in the scientific community, a major pandemic like that would be a perfect solution to the “overpopulation problem” that they believe the world is facing.  For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled “46 Population Control Quotes That Show How Badly The Elite Want To Wipe Us All Out“.

Most Americans seem to believe that there could never possibly be major food shortages in this country.  But in my new book, my co-author and I discuss how incredibly fragile our food chain really is.  We live at a time when the entire planet is becoming increasingly unstable, and we need to realize that it is not wise to be dependent on the “system” because the “system” is failing.

In the months ahead, we are likely to see significant shortages of eggs, chicken and turkey.  And certainly prices for all of those items will never be lower than they are right now.

So now is the time to stock up and to add to your food storage supplies.  Because once the general public starts freaking out about all of this, it will be far too late to do anything about it then.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/egg-shortage-in-america-as-bird-flu-has-already-killed-45-million-chickens-and-turkeys


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on June 18, 2015, 05:24:15 am
Meat sale sparks near riot in Tesco

An ugly scene broke out in a Tesco store in Northampton as customers milled around staff merchandising reduced price meat.

Filmed and put on Youtube by a concerned shopper, customers were repeatedly asked to give the staff space and allow them to move out of the way. Once the staff had finished stocking the reduced price area, customers then piled in, grabbing meat products and pushing each other out of the way.

There were no reports of any injuries in the incident.

A Tesco spokesperson said: “The safety of our customers and colleagues is of paramount importance to us. The manager of the store has conducted a thorough investigation and will take steps to prevent a similar situation happening again. We are continually trying to improve the way we deal with surplus food, this includes making better reductions earlier in the day to make it easier for customers and colleagues in the evening." 

- See more at: http://www.meatinfo.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/18339/Meat_sale_sparks_near_riot_in_Tesco.html#sthash.GcdVejtT.dpuf


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on August 12, 2015, 09:55:39 am
Bacon Prices At All-Time High: Is A Shortage Or The Dreaded ‘Baconpocalypse’ On The Horizon?

Bacon-mania may be sweeping the food industry, but how much longer can that continue with the price of the popular pork product soaring? The Huffington Post reported the price of bacon is at an all-time high, statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate. In June, a pound of bacon rose 6 cents, upping the cost to $6.11 per pound in American cities.

While 6 cents won't break anyone's piggy bank, this recent price hike comes as the latest in a dramatic rise over the past two years. Bacon today costs 14 percent more than it did this time last year and 41 percent more than June 2012, when there was an impending “Baconpocalypse.”

In fact, the Huffington Post noted the price of bacon today is 21 percent higher than its peak price in 1982 after adjusting for inflation.

Less than two years ago the National Pig Association said a global bacon shortage was “unavoidable” because of shrinking pig herds. The British trade group said the effects of the shortage were “mirrored around the world” thanks to poor harvests globally.

“A world shortage of pork and bacon next year is now unavoidable,” the association said in a statement. “New data shows the European Union pig herd is declining at a significant rate, and this is a trend that is being mirrored around the world. Pig farmers have been plunged into loss by high pig-feed costs caused by the global failure of maize and soya harvests. All main European pig-producing countries report shrinking sow herds.”

The group said prices of bacon would double, which is close to the 41 percent increase predicted since 2012 when the association released its report.

And not much has changed since the grim outlook nearly two years ago. Pork prices across the board have jumped in the past year, an April report indicated, because of a virus killing millions of American piglets. Porcine epidemic diarrhea -- which causes severe dehydration, though not contagious to humans or other animals -- is said to have decreased the pig population and resulted in a 7 percent drop in U.S. pork production so far this year. Bacon comes from the belly of a pig.

And it’s not just in America. Bloomberg News reported the price of bacon in Canada shot up 9.3 percent month-over-month, or 20.5 percent year-over-year.

Demand for bacon over the years has gone up, making this possible shortage devastating to the food industry. “Bacon mania,” as it has been called in America and Canada, has reached an all-time high, CNN Money reported.

Square, a mobile payments company, reported last month bacon was the most popular topping in five major cities. The research also indicated customers are 145 percent more likely to choose bacon over sausage as a topping on food items and 38 percent more likely to want bacon instead of tomato.

Or as Maxim put it: “Bacon isn’t going anywhere.”

http://www.ibtimes.com/bacon-prices-all-time-high-shortage-or-dreaded-baconpocalypse-horizon-1648236


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on July 10, 2016, 05:21:14 pm
What Are You Prepared to Do When Your Family Is Hungry?

What Are You Prepared to Do When Your Family Is Hungry?
Food is one thing that virtually everyone can agree you need to have because we have all, to some extent in our lives, known the feeling of being hungry. Yes, the seriousness of the actual hunger is probably very relative and for the overwhelming majority, this hunger, however severe it felt to us at the time, was probably nowhere near as drastic as we envisioned. Most of us have never been without food for more than a single day much less a week or more, but the gut tightening response is strong enough to elicit some realization that we never would want to go without for very long anyway.

After the pain of hunger, we can easily grasp the body’s need for food. Simply put,without food, we die. Sure, the time it would take varies by situation but it is generally accepted that if you don’t eat food for three weeks you aren’t going to be contributing to society any more. Nobody wants that to happen.

But for many preppers, and I would presume most of the unprepared out there, the question comes up relative to how much food you have stored; what would you do if the food ran out? What if something happened and you were unable to acquire any more food through traditional means and your family was hungry? What would you be forced to do in order to live? Have you thought about what you are prepared to do to feed your family when their lives are on the line?

Recently, a FEMA contractor predicted that due to potential shortages and weather related events in the future, there could be a spike in food prices of 395%. If that happens, would you be able to feed your family?

Where does your food come from?

I started thinking about this topic the other day during a very routine act that happens every day in the spc-160x600-0002world and has been happening since the dawn of time. This Spring, we purchased about a dozen chickens as our older flock had really decreased their egg production and we had given them away to friends who own a farm. Some of the new chickens we purchased were sexed, meaning their color determined what sex they were so you were pretty much assured to be getting hens. Hens are all we wanted because they lay eggs.

But I also got about 8 Rhode Island Red chicks and with those you really don’t know what you are getting until they mature. As ours matured, it became pretty obvious that we had a few roosters in the bunch. Roosters, as I told my daughter sarcastically, don’t lay eggs. On top of that, roosters are not allowed in our city and ours had started practicing their crowing in the mid-morning. Each day I would cringe when I heard their call knowing that any day one of my neighbors could (but probably never would) call the authorities and they would be well within their rights. I know I wouldn’t want Roosters crowing that weren’t mine beside my home. It was time to get rid of the roosters in my flock.

To be perfectly honest, I had not in my life ever harvested any of our chickens. We have had chickens for over three years, but missed my first opportunity when some friends harvested theirs but I wasn’t able to go. I did put it off because we were still getting eggs even though the output was more sporadic. I had harvested deer several times so this wasn’t anything I was really upset about or dreading. It was just another chore but taking a live animal out and going through the necessary processes to obtain a meal are a little different.

Can you kill your dinner?

After a little research just to make sure I had all the bases covered, I set up a table, prepared hot water and got bowls, knives and trashcans situated. I then went in to get the roosters. As it turns out, we lost the chicken lottery this time around and out of 8 chicks, 5 of them were roosters. I had hoped for a lot more egg production, but instead I was getting meat.

I caught the first rooster and hung it upside down by the feet while my dog watched with curiosity. Once the chicken settled down, I brought it over to the stump I had in my yard. I had pounded two nails into the stump to loosely hold the chicken’s head so I could stretch it out slightly for a clean shot at the neck. I have heard some people just wring the chicken’s neck but I wanted to be a little quicker and cleaner so I got out my trusty hatchet. After hesitating a good long 3 seconds, which seemed longer in my mind, I brought the hatchet down.

Unfortunately, I misjudged where the chicken’s neck was due to the feathers so the first shot was not as clean as I hoped, but I quickly made another chop that finished him off. (Note to self: on the next one, feel where the neck is first).

You have probably heard if you haven’t experienced this for yourself that chickens will run around the yard with their heads off and this I can affirm is true. The saying, “running around like a chicken with their head cut off” is based in fact and my first rooster didn’t really run so much as flop and flap and cover a good bit of ground even though its head still remained on my makeshift chopping block. After he was dead, I dunked him into a hot pot of water until the feathers started pulling out easily, plucked him clean (which isn’t as easy or as quick as I thought it would be) and harvested him for the meat. I did that to 3 roosters that day.

My family got into the act the next day and harvested the other two. My children participated by catching the roosters, cleaning and harvesting. My wife was the hatchet woman for the other two and I was very proud of them for stepping up and felt a little more confident in their abilities should something bad happen and our nice refrigerated, clean plastic packages of food were no longer available.

RELATED : 15 Long-Forgotten Pioneer Recipes

What could you face in SHTF when it comes to food?

Now many of you might be saying that of course you would kill a chicken if you were starving, but I do know that there are so many other people who would not have the stomach to do this. They would rather starve than do what is necessary to feed their family. Others would say that they would simply eat vegetables because killing another living thing is mean. I disagree on the latter part. We raised our chickens in our yard; they were treated very well and fed daily. When it was time for them to go, we killed them quickly and humanely. They were serving their purpose in the grand scheme of things.

Still others will find themselves forced out of desperation to steal or kill to feed their family and that is not what I think any of us should be planning for. It is one thing to kill an animal (that I raised) to feed my family, it is an entirely different thing to plan to kill other humans to feed your children.

But for those who would hesitate at doing something similar, what could you be faced with? I assume that a majority do not have any livestock of their own so that leaves you with less options. Many will say they will just go hunting and I think for most people that is simply not going to be an option. First, you would need to be near animals, second, you would need to be lucky enough to shoot or trap one and third you would be competing with everyone else who had the same idea. You may not even be able to hunt because all the game has been harvested already. What then?

RELATED : HARDTACK: A SIMPLE DIY SURVIVAL FOOD FROM HISTORY

What you should be doing now?

I maintain that if you want to be sure your family has food on the table you should not be looking at what you will do when you are desperate. You shouldn’t be contemplating killing your neighbor or anyone for that matter for the last can of beans or joining up with a gang to break into the local distribution center. You should be preparing now by stocking up on food yourself and investing the time it takes to produce your own food.

You can take steps now to build up your own food storage so that you won’t need to worry about going hungry for a very long time. You can begin a garden to supplement what you have stored with fresh vegetables. You can and should start preserving food and learning methods to keep foods fresh if you don’t have the benefit of refrigeration.

You should also look closely at your own abilities and motivations now. If you know you might not be able to swing that hatchet down, that is even more reason to stock up ahead of time in anticipation of future troubles.  Don’t plan on doing “what it takes” later because you didn’t do what it takes now to feed your family. Act now so that you don’t have to get desperate.(source)

http://www.prepperfortress.com/prepared-family-hungry/


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on March 19, 2018, 07:08:30 pm
The Unprepared Will Die. Period. Food Shortages Across The Country As Intel Employees Are Preparing For Catastrophe


By Susan Duclos - All News PipeLine

I found two seemingly unrelated links over at Steve Quayle's website this morning, but when looked at together the picture that emerges is devastating because it shows that when a national catastrophic disaster hits, whether it is a natural disaster, a terrorist attack, an EMP, or a economic and societal collapse, the millions of Americans that are unprepared will die in the aftermath. Period.

U.S. INTEL AGENCY EMPLOYEES ARE PREPARING FOR DOOMSDAY

The first link is to an article titled "Official Washington flocking to Doomsday Camps." The article isn't talking about politicians or their employees, or the "Elite," it is referencing members of some of the top U.S. intelligence agencies, such as the FBI, CIA and DIA.

National security officials are joining Fortitude Ranch, who are building "doomsday camps" across the country, which promises protection and a year's supply of food when the "inevitable"  catastrophic event occurs, with one member telling he reporter that he and others had joined after "waking up" to the potential of a national crisis, stating "For most of us, something rattled our cages and woke us up."

The list of those potential scenarios addressed in the article includes an attack or even a weather-related electromagnetic pulse shutdown of the electric grid, which the Fortitude founder, a retired Air Force colonel and intelligence officer, called "inevitable"; Financial meltdown or political violence; Nuclear war, and; a possible virus attack.

    Each camp is expected to house 50-500 in a crisis and Miller said they will have lodges, underground bunkers and guard towers. In the event of a social meltdown, members will be responsible for manning those towers. Each camp has a shooting range.

FOOD SHORTAGES COMING TO A STORE NEAR YOU

The next link that caught my attention was a Bloomberg piece detailing how supermarkets and grocery store bankruptcies are starting to pile up, such as Southeastern Grocers, owner of the Winn-Dixie and Bi-Lo supermarket chains and Tops Friendly Markets. Southeastern Grocers will be shuttering 94 of their nearly 700 locations to start with and Tops Friendly Markets has about 170 stores where their future is uncertain. Even the bigger chains like Kroger and Walmart are reporting a combined loss of over $30 billion this year alone.

Previously reported stories shows that after Amazon bought the Whole Food chain, they started seeing an increase in food shortages, with some reports stating "Entire aisles are empty."

    "It has for weeks had empty shelves, and I shop there twice a week," one customer told Business Insider. "The prepared-food section is not refreshed, and food looks stale."


The Business Insider article blames these food shortages on  a "newly implemented inventory-management system called order-to-shelf, or OTS," but the point is that the store is constantly running out of items and do not have the stocks to refill the aisles.

The website Eater details other factors contributing to the food shortages since the Amazon purchase. Such as Amazon's decision to discontinue Whole Foods' local sourcing program:

    For years, Whole Foods employed staffers called foragers who went out into their neighborhoods in search of local artisans at farmers markets or state fairs. There, they found home-made jams and mustards and dressings that they’d buy in bulk.

    For mom and pop preservers and picklers, selling their wares at Whole Foods was a boon, and over the past decade, thousands of small brands — many of which still put each label on each jar or package by hand — have come to depend on Whole Foods for the bulk of their business. As part of each store’s local sourcing program, the maker was responsible for stocking their items on Whole Foods’ shelves and could pick a few weekends to set up a table and offer customers a sample. Makers said they were far more likely to sell their items when they were present in the store, answering questions about a product and forging a personal connection while making that sale.

    “Whole Foods was always an advocate for the small business. They always wanted to support local artisans,” says Erika Kerekes, founder and owner of Not Ketchup condiments. Not Ketchup was sold at Whole Foods locations in Southern California, near where Kerekes lives, for several years, up until six months ago. (Now it’s sold via its website and on Amazon.)


They announced the discontinuation of the local food sourcing program one month after Amazon acquired Whole Foods. According to WSJ, Whole Foods "will no longer allow ‘brand advocates’ in stores, a potential blow to local sellers, because most do not have the budget to fly to Austin to present their products.

THE UNPREPARED WILL DIE

Looking at these two unrelated stories, along with what is already happening at Whole Foods, and remembering what happens when a massive snow storm hits parts of the country, how unprepared masses start rushing into stores and panic shopping, emptying stocks with hours, and you begin to see what would happen when the "inevitable" national disaster hits. Rather than being geographically specific, imagine this type of panic hitting country wide during a grid down scenario, or a societal collapse or any other number of potential catastrophic events.

The same type of people that emptied the shelves within hours simply because a snowstorm was approaching in 2016, might not even be able to obtain basic items at all, with no possibility of the stores being restocked.

While obtaining numbers on how many preppers and survivalists there are in America is difficult, the last estimate came from 2013, which was approximately 3 million, so even if we doubled or tripled that amount for the sake of argument, in a nation that has 325.7 million (2017 numbers), we are talking hundreds of millions of people that most likely have no more than a week or two of food, and in many cases much less, probably three days of food.

These are people that assume if a catastrophic, nation-wide event occurs, the "government" will be able to rush right in to save them. In the event of an EMP, or an attack on the electrical grid or even a devastating solar event, no one would be there to help, perhaps for weeks or months.

Food isn't the only issue as most preppers are aware, water, medical supplies, just basics would run out in a very short amount of time. The fact is, many millions would die.

BOTTOM LINE

When the "elite" start buying bunkers, or land in areas with their own air-fields, scared the poor will rise up against them, that could be waved away by some as paranoia or fear, but when members of our own intelligence agencies start paying out $1,000 a year, for each person in their family, because they "woke up," and are "rattled," enough to purchase space in a "doomsday camp," then the obvious question has to be, what do they know that we don't know? What exactly rattled them?

Add that together with supermarkets and grocery stores showing signs of failure, stores closing and shelves already empty in some areas, with nothing in stock to refill the shelves, without any type of disaster, the obvious conclusion is that there are going to be whole segments of the country that are not going to be able obtain even the basics to survive.

Note - No one is suggesting that anyone take their last dime and rush out to buy everything in sight, but steadily getting a little extra here and there on each shopping trip to stock up on basic survival needs, will at least give one a better chance to survive disaster than those totally unprepared.

Readers are encouraged to share prepping tips, links, videos, in the comment section to help others.

http://allnewspipeline.com/Unprepared_Will_Die_Empty_Shelves.php


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on March 19, 2018, 07:11:20 pm
Supermarket Bankruptcies Are Beginning to Pile Up--' 'Yes and there will be more'inventory supply issues' and more and more shelves will be bare and they will blame it on inventory systems for the shortages' SQ-FOOD CONTROL IS PEOPLE CONTROL!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-19/supermarket-casualties-begin-to-pile-up-in-amazon-fueled-battle


Official Washington flocking to Doomsday Camps

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/official-washington-flocking-to-doomsday-camps-1


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on April 30, 2022, 11:14:02 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VI9hmj7HU8


Title: Re: Impending Food Crisis
Post by: Mark on May 28, 2022, 09:46:47 am
Dwindling wheat supply may kick off global famine, expert warns

A food insecurity expert warned that there’s only 10 weeks of wheat supplies left in the world as Russian invasion disrupts production. This was reported by Harrison Smith during the May 23 episode of “The American Journal.”

https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-05-27-dwindling-wheat-supply-may-kick-off-famine.html


Bhutan faces food shortage; spike in domestic prices


Rising fuel import costs and global grain shortages have led to a spike in domestic prices, posing a risk of food scarcity for people in Bhutan, especially in the rural areas, economic affairs minister Loknath Sharma told Reuters on Thursday.

https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/world/story/bhutan-faces-food-shortage-spike-in-domestic-prices-335301-2022-05-26