Potential Food Supply Shortages

[Zipper730]

I'm concerned about a variety of issues that are occurring around the world, which include increases in the taxes on exports of food items that are either used for imported for food use or agriculture. This could pose serious issues. Without enough food, people have an annoying way of expiring.

I don't want this to be a political matter, I'm more concerned about pragmatic solutions that minimize harm.

Argentina raise taxes on corn, wheat and soybean exports

Onion prices continue to burn a hole in common man's pocket

With Turkey putting exports on hold, onion prices may rise again

 

[Peter Gunn]

Damn! Not the Onions...

 

[tomo pauk]

With prices of fuel as they are now, there could be just the surplus of food. At any rate, the developed countries could use less food then they do now.
OTOH, the countries & people that already in danger of hunger for the best part of last 50 years will take another hit under the water line.

Onion prices don't burn the hole in the pocket of a typical Western men. Prices of housing do.

 

[swampyankee]

There are, reportedly, quite a few people in US slaughterhouses and meat processing facilities who have become sick. Government fiat has actually forced some to re-open after closing due to concerns about disease transmission between employees. Considering that many of the owners of these facilities have a long and hard-earned reputation for treating their employees only slightly better than the carcasses they process, a government action forcing them to stay open after the owners decided it was too unsafe to continue operating is an amazing shift of regulatory action.

Anyhow, agricultural laborers and workers in food processing industries are among the least well-served by (at least the US) health care system. After people in detention centers (some of which are worse than US prisons) and nursing homes, they're likely to start getting very hard hit soon.

 

[mad_max]

I've never quit having a garden and it would be wise for people to start learning food grows from seeds and Mother Nature will provide you with food, but you must work to plant, weed and harvest any.

I've had the Wuhan Flu at 63 and it wasn't much different than the regular flu; although it involved some breathing difficulties , but didn't cause me too much of alarm. If you have the issue of Comorbidity, then you need to stay inside and have your needs dropped off at your door. It's time to realize this was blown out of proportion and to let the rest get back to work.

The easiest way to control people is by FEAR.

 

[XBe02Drvr]

There are, reportedly, quite a few people in US slaughterhouses and meat processing facilities who have become sick.

Maybe it's time for a lifestyle change away from our meat-centric eating habits. My area, which used to be heavily into small scale family dairy farms, has evolved into two mega factory dairies (populated by Hispanic "slave" labor) and a patchwork of small, mostly organic, beef, pork, poultry, and mutton producers, as well as organic vegetable farms and green houses. It's amazing the volume of food produced by the vegetable farmers on not much land, compared to the meat producers, who feature "grass fed" rather than feedlots.
If we insist on continuing to populate ourselves away from the dinner table, we'll eventually all have to become vegetarians to survive.
Cheers,
Wes

 

[Crimea_River]

A good start would be to eat what we produce. FAO - News Article: Food wastage: Key facts and figures

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

We always have a huge garden every year. Like 35 tomato plants, 20 pepper plants for instance. We also grow potatoes, garlic, onion, corn, sweet peas, green beans, eggplant, hot peppers, lettuce, radishes cabbage, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, etc. (Minus this year because we just moved and are renting. So we became members of a crop sharing. We get weekly deliveries from a farm starting June 1.)

We are only a family of four, but we grow enough for way more. What we do not eat fresh, we freeze in our chest freezers.

We also buy beef, pork, chicken,etc. from local farmers, and in bulk. Such as half a cow and pig. For one we are supporting local farmers rather than the big mass slaughter companies. Secondly the animals are treated much better, and thirdly it is cheaper by the pound.

Same with eggs and milk. All come from a local farmer and delivered on Monday mornings.

We believe in being prepared for natural disasters, really anything. A good friend of mine went to the grocery store this morning for their biweekly run. Texted me saying meat was scarce. I don't have to worry about it. Could eat a nice juicy steak tonight if I wanted, and will be smoking some ribs on Saturday.

 

[Marcel]

Biggest problem we'll face is shortage of water. We see the world getting more dry because of climate change. Lately, my little wet country showed the signs of that. Rainfall has ben relatively space the last couple of years, something we never encountered before.
It's a tendency that we already spotted 15 years ago or so. One of the goals that we have is creating dry-resistant vegetables. We are working hard on that, because somewhere in the relatively near future, we won't have enough water to feed the world population.

 

[Shortround6]

A good friend of mine went to the grocery store this morning for their biweekly run. Texted me saying meat was scarce.

Same people that have 144 rolls of toilet paper. Just have the words potential shortage hit the news and you will have an actual shortages (how temporary?) in just a few days.

How many of these people actually have the freezer space to store the extra food?
Maybe I could get by with eating meat once or twice less a week, same with a lot of other people, most ot the shortage solved at least for now. But with only a few cubic ft of freezer space and no place to put a freezer in the house (live in Florida, you could put the freezer outside but the electric cost in 90-100 degree weather would be????)

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Same people that have 144 rolls of toilet paper. Just have the words potential shortage hit the news and you will have an actual shortages (how temporary?) in just a few days.

How many of these people actually have the freezer space to store the extra food?
Maybe I could get by with eating meat once or twice less a week, same with a lot of other people, most ot the shortage solved at least for now. But with only a few cubic ft of freezer space and no place to put a freezer in the house (live in Florida, you could put the freezer outside but the electric cost in 90-100 degree weather would be????)

I hear you. It's really difficult for many,

In our house we eat a very balanced diet. My wife the health nut ensures that. Lots of veggies and stuff.

I think as a whole, people could cut back on a lot of things, and it would alleviate the stress on the food supply.

 

[swampyankee]

The hardest nutrient to get in a vegan diet, according to the vegans I have known, is iron. Many adults -- especially male adults -- could probably do fine with no animal protein in their diet without the use of any supplements. Women tend to have higher iron needs than men; without meat, they'd probably need supplements.

Note that I'm not a nutritionist, but if one asks a nutritionist (they'll have letters after their names, preferably PhD) they'd probably say that meat eaten by an average First World citizen is probably ten or twenty times what's needed for health and probably high enough to actually be detrimental to health.

 

[herman1rg]

As long as there is Bacon I'll be happy.

 

[Barrett]

Judging by media reports the biggest dent in the US food supply will be pork. (I can do without pork but BACON is another matter entirely!)
Just been shopping in the Phoenix area this week, and now some meat (notably chicken) is limited purchase in most stores.

 

[swampyankee]

Same people that have 144 rolls of toilet paper. Just have the words potential shortage hit the news and you will have an actual shortages (how temporary?) in just a few days.

How many of these people actually have the freezer space to store the extra food?
Maybe I could get by with eating meat once or twice less a week, same with a lot of other people, most ot the shortage solved at least for now. But with only a few cubic ft of freezer space and no place to put a freezer in the house (live in Florida, you could put the freezer outside but the electric cost in 90-100 degree weather would be????)

There's a solution (actually several ): Sausage! See Dry-Cured Sausages: Kissed by Air, Never by Fire

 

[gumbyk]

The hardest nutrient to get in a vegan diet, according to the vegans I have known, is iron. Many adults -- especially male adults -- could probably do fine with no animal protein in their diet without the use of any supplements. Women tend to have higher iron needs than men; without meat, they'd probably need supplements.

Note that I'm not a nutritionist, but if one asks a nutritionist (they'll have letters after their names, preferably PhD) they'd probably say that meat eaten by an average First World citizen is probably ten or twenty times what's needed for health and probably high enough to actually be detrimental to health.

Non-haem iron is readily available, but not as easily absorbed so you need to consume a lot of green vegetables to get enough.
However, B12, which is not manufactured by plants is not available without supplements: Office of Dietary Supplements - Vitamin B12

 

[vikingBerserker]

If you need more iron, cooking in cast iron will help.

 

[swampyankee]

Non-haem iron is readily available, but not as easily absorbed so you need to consume a lot of green vegetables to get enough.
However, B12, which is not manufactured by plants is not available without supplements: Office of Dietary Supplements - Vitamin B12

See, I told you I wasn't a nutritionist....

 

[gumbyk]

See, I told you I wasn't a nutritionist....

Me either, but there was an advertising campaign here that was along the lines of: "you need to eat 2kg of spinach to get the same amount of iron as a 200g steak" vegos all complained about it being misleading, but once the science came out...

 

[tyrodtom]

Well, I still hunt. Got the guns, and the skills, and the tools needed to process the meat.
But I've never encountered a wild pig in my neck of the wood though. So, no bacon for me then.
Plenty of Deer, Turkeys, Squirrel, Rabbits, etc.

Got enough land for a garden, but I picked up a hatred of hoeing during childhood.
If you're going to garden, better be getting with it, before there's a shortage of seeds.