Open Thread - Thurs 07 Apr 2022 - The Coming Food Crisis?
A few weeks ago journalist Matt Stoller was on Breaking Points to discuss the possible upcoming food crisis due to the Ukraine War and a lot of other stuff.
Stoller has been doing a piece about every other week for Breaking Points. At first he was pretty awkward before the camera, but he's getting better. And, it doesn't really matter. The things he has to say are important, his framing and delivery are sincere and I've come to like the pieces he does as much as I like and appreciate his writing. Even when I don't always agree with it.
Anyway, here's the video he did. I think there's a ton of important things to learn in it.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orwcJIgtR1Y]
He starts with discussing the Arab Spring, and how that started when global food prices increased by a third in one year (2010). There were droughts, fires and more causing the rise in food costs. Riots, rebellions, starvation, etc were all a consequence. With the Ukrainian War, we may be in the same circumstances.
He talks about wheat production and fertilizer production around the world. He gives a lot of numbers, most of them very sobering. The rising prices of food are due to the war, and other things like droughts and fire and so on. But there is also a monopolistic aspect, especially in farming - the manufacture and delivery of farming supplies, buying and delivery of farming produce (food), and more. Farmers are surrounded by monopolies. And more and more family farms are disappearing. They do not get a return from the higher prices of food to help ameliorate the higher costs of producing that food. The middle men get the return, and don't pay the higher costs.
He also discusses shipping, and what's going on there. Why the container shipping problem? In part because there are only 3 shipping lines doing 80% of the shipping around the world, and 95% of the shipping between China and North America. 95%? What the heck! We need smaller shipping lines, no monopolies, more ports, more cargo container companies... We need to go back to the Supply Management aspect of the New Deal in the 1930s-1970s.
Stoller mentions that the USDA is asking for input on farm supply, management, monopolies, etc. He asks that we fill out the online form to offer comment. Anyone can do it, not just farmers. Here's the link: USDA Seeks Public Comment to Identify Anti-Competitive Market Structures and Practices in Fertilizer, Seed and Agricultural Inputs, and Retail Markets. Please respond if you can. As a now retired owner of a very, very small family farm, I'd really like to see things change. I've experienced some of these problems and have a few stories about being ground under the thumb of big ag and its government support. So this really matters to me.
So, thanks for reading and here's the open thread - and remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough!
Comments
Hello!
I want to apologize because I had to 'bug out' last week for a bit. Family duties got overwhelming (Mom had to have an operation, it was all hands on deck, and now she is doing great!). Hope everyone is doing well this week! We are going to have our hottest day of the year so far tomorrow. Golf weather. Might make it to 70! Then it's back into the 40s with a cold streak. Sounds about normal. I'm going to offer a picture as a tribute to my dear, dear Rose. This is the last picture of her I took a few days ago. She passed away the day after, of old age. She was 11-12 years old! An old hen indeed. So in this pic she's marching towards me, as she usually did, so she can ask for a treat and a pet.
Rose was the last of our very first chickens. She gave great eggs, lots of them, and taught all the younger chickens how to be one of ours. I am going to miss her.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Thanks for the link to the survey!
I will follow up with that, as I am in agreement with your view of the issues.
We are lucky to have many small farm producers in our area, which we support
whole heartedly.
Love the photo of your hen
Thanks for the OT!
Thanks for following up
I'm hoping against hope that the survey will make a difference. If not, maybe starvation will
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good Morning...
Food is going to be a big issue as we move forward. If you can't have a garden, get to know your local producers and build a relationship now....or better yet do both.
https://www.localharvest.org/organic-farms/
http://www.eatwild.com/products/
Your hen did you proud. Sorry it was her time to move on to elsewhere, but part of life. Hope your garden is doing well. My small tomatoes and peppers are ready to up pot. Headed to the 30's this weekend....what we call 'dogwood winter'.
Thanks for the OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I totally agree
Getting to know one's local farmers, and supporting them as one can, is very important. Heh, I think our farm is still on localharvest, although we've retired... kinda. Also growing a garden is a good thing. Even if it's small! My first garden was in pots on the deck of my second floor apartment in Philly. I even grew corn!
We are ready to pot up our toms and peppers too. We grow them inside a hoop house, because the season isn't really long enough here to get a good harvest otherwise. The toms are ready for 8 inch pots. The peppers, for four inch!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Food Shortages
Every time I go to the local Dollar Store they are out of things. A lot of empty shelves, especially in the freezer cases. Stuff like Milk and Margarine. Also, toilet paper and medicine. Stock up on everything because it looks like it's only going to get worse.
I remember back in the 60's being told that how great it was to live in a capitalist system instead of a communist one. In Communist countries they had empty shelves and bread lines. You should see the food giveaway lines. Sometimes it's a good 2 hour wait or more. Yeah Capitalism!
Food Shortages...
They are going to happen, and as you say, are happening. Even here in the good ol' USA. It's not going to be as bad here as it might be in say, Africa, but it's happening. What I've noticed is less choices, and sometimes empty shelves. I'm lucky to be in a semi-rural area quite close to Seattle, so the shortages aren't as frequent as they are in the rural areas.
I remember that communism versus capitalism claptrap as well. Bleh. Now it's former communism versus capitalism, I guess. Gag.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
So sorry about losing the Rose and am glad Mom is doing well
Yes monopolies/greed/profits are the reason for all of these shortages. Our govt is
working hand in hand with the corporations, WEF, CIA, MIC, SV to see the that worlds population is being culled.
A "Survivor Garden" should now be considered appropriate.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Suvivor Garden
I like that term. Gardens aren't that difficult, but they do take time and effort. I remember my first taste of the food grown in my own garden. Store bought can't even get to the starting line, never mind compete!
As for monopolies/greed/profit. I so agree! And yet, it's hard to get others to see this. They moan and cry about current circumstances, but can't see how it's been set up the last 40 to 50 years by their heroes, like Biden, Clinton and so on.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Well,
She was a Rose by any other name, fer shure, Sima. Hope you continue with a garden. Food shortages have already begun.
Lots of empty shelves in all stores. Prices for everything are rising sharply. I just bought ink cartridges for my printers. What cost $70 a few months ago, now costs $120 per cartridge. I have had to increase my rates just to stay with the price hikes.
An attorney pal and I are trying to settle a case, and we had a discussion about abrupt, horrifying costs to remain in business, yet both of us are worried about retiring, only to find we can't afford any kind of decent standard of living. We can't imagine how much it will cost to eat down the road. He did say, he will have a difficult time affording feed and hay for his cattle, and he is leaning toward selling them off. Another cattleman friend of mine recently went bankrupt due to price increases at the beginning of the pandemic. Imagine what he is enduring now. Good grief, we need to stop the trade sanctions, put some regulatory control on these price gouges.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Retiring is very...
scary right now. And yet, if one has stocks, one is doing relatively well. I understand about not being able to keep livestock when retiring. The cost of feed and hay is insane. Bought hay last month, 24$ a bale. That's like, 7 or 8$ a bale more than it was in 2019. Bought the same hay again this month. 25$ a bale! What the heck? And yet we have to buy it, until the pastures are both green enough, and dry enough, to put out our herd of goats.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
“The left must continue to avoid the Ukraine trap”
https://www.unz.com/trall/the-left-must-continue-to-avoid-the-ukraine-trap/
The photo of the laying hen who gave loving service to her human family for so many years brought back sad feelings in me regarding our pet chicken. Wounded by a mongoose (already by the 1950s a nasty invasive species on O‘ahu) and bled to death.
That’s excellent and on point
Boy he nailed it didn’t he? Sadly I’m seeing few people calling for peace anymore, but even doing that upsets those who have chosen a side. Great trap.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Yes, he nails it
I guess I'm a warmonger, because I want peace. I want the US out of all the damned wars, I want our military castrated (there I said it) in terms of money. I want new military development dollars to go to electric buses, trains, food for the hungry, housing for all... Pipe dreams, I know.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Great article
I think your quote and snoopydawg's, are totally correct, about the left.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good morning sima. Glad that your mom is doing well.
You never need to apologize for having a life. Hosting an OT should never be your number one priority unless you are saddled with a ton more downtime than most of us.
Food security has always been an issue for a great many, what is happening now is tht it is spreading to a lot more people in a lot of new categories and locales. It behooves all of us to learn or relearn how to deal with it, assuming that we don't already.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I think I need to learn how to...
deal without flour. Wheat flour. Hmmm. That's gonna be hard.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Even before the Ukraine war -
Food commodity prices were already at highs.
China, caught short in 2020 by various supply problems has been stockpiling food, in particular grain, at unprecedented levels.
As of late 2021, China held almost 70% of maize, over 60% of rice and just over 50% of wheat *global* reserves.
FWIW - wheat and barley are surprisingly easy to grow in most temperate climates - keeping down losses to birds and other critters and processing the stuff a bit more challenging, but there are a lot of potential pancakes and/or chicken feed in the area of a typical suburban yard.
A rush of people trying to cash in on wheat shortages (in part because it was easy to grow) in WW I was actually a significant contributor to creation of the Dust Bowl in the 1920's-30's - detailed in The Worst Hard Times by Timothy Egan
Rice growing...
Might be possible to do here. Wheat too, if I use an old variety. And maize/corn can grow here, once again, needs to be a heritage variety. Maybe I should come out from retirement and grow this stuff... my husband is already learning how to process wheat as part of his bread-making journey.
And your points about food commodity prices are spot on. Thank you!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Buckwheat, technically a grass, shouldn't be too hard to grow.
I see various cultivars growing wild all over, from the mojave and yuha deserts to the sierras right up to the Pacific Crest Trail as far north as Latitude: 39° 56' 6.59" N
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Of Course!
I should have thought of that. I used to use buckwheat in a mixture of other seeds as a cover crop. Doh. Winter wheat too. Never thought about letting them grow long enough to seed... Sheez. Thanks for making me remember!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Buckwheat, etc...
Haven't tried buckwheat although I understand it's pretty easy to grow and does well even in poor soil. Not knowing how I would process it put me off trying to grow it for the 'grain'. Had the same issues with the couple varieties of barley that I grew - they were both hulled variety which seems to require a polishing/grinding process to remove the outer hull before you can use it for direct human consumption - which I hadn't acquired the equipment or knowledge to do.
That said, if you were to use barley for chicken feed none of that would necessarily be an issue - I have seen accounts of people leaving the seed heads on the stalks and giving them to chickens in that form after soaking them in water for a day or two first.
Also, if you have Japanese beetles in your area, those are high quality (high in protein) chicken (or guinea fowl, or pond fish) food - quite a few videos on Youtube about trapping beetles and using them as feed.
BTW - are you familiar with the site Backyard Chickens? Great resource - can get absorbed in the huge variety of home made chicken coops and trailers alone...
One of the many Japanese beetles/chickens videos on (evil but often useful) YT:
Backyard Chickens
I haven't visited that site in a while, I have to admit. We let our chickens roam free during the way, anywhere they want. I have a feeling they have helped reduce beetles and other things. Hadn't thought about using barley for their feed. That's a great idea, thanks!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so