Any concerns about food shortages?

[Tony617]

I was just wondering if anyone has any concerns about a food shortage? I know with a of the flooding in the Midwest that a lot of farmers gave up on planting this year.

Illinois farmers give up on planting after floods, throw party instead

I am not sure how dependent we are on corn or other crops for from the Midwest but would expect higher prices since millions of acres of corn were not planted. I am thinking about stocking up on some canned goods and other items now.

I am not sure if MSM has posted anything yet either but I expect food prices to rise in the future.

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[Tarawa86]

It would be interesting to find out how much of that crop was corn meant for ethanol production.

 

[Tony617]

It would be interesting to find out how much of that crop was corn meant for ethanol production.

The Farce of Biofuels

 

[Tarawa86]

The Farce of Biofuels

Agreed. I'm no fan of ethanol. Just glad we can still buy clear gas, even if it's kind of a pain.

 

[Camelfilter]

Quickie glean of article, I noted it stated ~6% yield loss (overall corn market).

Yah, absolutely pretty bad for those directly affected!

Not so much for the market overall, and likely just a minor blip for the end consumers. Speculation will have more affect on the market, vs the actual yield loss. IMO.

 

[cigars]

I was just wondering if anyone has any concerns about a food shortage? I know with a of the flooding in the Midwest that a lot of farmers gave up on planting this year.

Illinois farmers give up on planting after floods, throw party instead

I am not sure how dependent we are on corn or other crops for from the Midwest but would expect higher prices since millions of acres of corn were not planted. I am thinking about stocking up on some canned goods and other items now.

I am not sure if MSM has posted anything yet either but I expect food prices to rise in the future.

Well if there's a shortage of corn syrup then I won't complain. It just means that they will have to learn how to make food without it again.

 

[The Heretic]

It will have some knock-on effects. A lot of animal feed has corn in it - especially pork - which is in huge demand in CHina who in turn is having huge problems with swine flu.

Overall, here in the PNW, we are fairly self-sufficient when it comes to agriculture, at least until winter.

My concern is for the farmers in general, who are already getting hit hard by the tariffs.

 

[Tony617]

Well if there's a shortage of corn syrup then I won't complain. It just means that they will have to learn how to make food without it again.

Yes I try to buy most products without HFC if I can. Even ketchup can found made with sugar instead of HFC. More expensive but a bottle lasts for a long time in our home. We tend to use mustard but I like ketchup on burgers and hash browns.

 

[The Heretic]

I buy canned fruit that is canned in the fruit syrup instead of 'heavy' or 'lite' corn syrup.

I don't buy fruit juice concentrate that is anything except 100% fruit juice.

Beyond that, I don't care too much.

 

[coyoteman5]

I have also heard that due to weather they are only going to get only one crop in instead of two. Plus more than corn is grown in the Midwest. We are starting into a grand solar minimum which happens some many decades some are worse than others. If you want to investigate more, a great Channel is GSM grand solar minimum obviously it's based off the suns activity as in sunspots coronal mass holes etc. and they can look back and see how it affected the earth weather.

one of many videos they produced and no I'm not a paid or nonpaid spokesman for them.

 

[cigars]

Yes I try to buy most products without HFC if I can. Even ketchup can found made with sugar instead of HFC. More expensive but a bottle lasts for a long time in our home. We tend to use mustard but I like ketchup on burgers and hash browns.

I buy Hunt's and other brands that don't use the corn syrup. Gefen ketchup (in the kosher aisle) is also a very well kept secret as far as excellent ketchups go. A little more expensive but really good.

 

[Rickenbacher39]

Am I concerned about food shortages?
No.
I am more worried about people panic buying when they hear
someone suggesting there may be a food shortage.

 

[CountryGent]

Did some looking around on this and not seeing a ton of news on it. (I did see Taco Bell has a shortage of tortillas, but it appears to be a problem with their supplier, not the staples used to make them. Hopefully that stays that way, because we go through a lot of tortillas. One of my daughter's nickname is "quesadilla head" because she's always asking for the cheesy snack.)

Beyond that, we keep a good supply of canned and dried goods on hand at all times and cycle through much of it. It is a good idea in general, but times when we were snowed in, or whatever, there was no problem feeding the family. For longer disruptions, it would be even more important. Our plan if there is a larger scale / longer duration disaster, going through all the frozen and refrigerated foods first because we can run on backup power on as long as we have fuels (propane and gasoline). Then switch to canned and dried.

 

[308]

We have 100s thousands of acres around here that was feed corn last year. Now it is almost all potatoes, onions and wheat this year. Perhaps its just the normal rotation.

 

[bbbass]

I just solved my food shortage... I ate lunch. That's about it for my worrying about such things. If the store doesn't have something, I'll buy something else.

I keep stocks of beans, rice, flour, and bran. Period.

What, me worry????

 

[MannyGlocks]

You live in cooba?

Or benezuela? (yeah, lots of Spanish speakers prononuce v's as b's.

Or some other third world toilet?

You're in the U.S. - you're not going to have worry about the crops or if they'll be enough food for you and your loved ones....sheesh!

 

[Member 34319]

What's that saying.

Folks would starve to death standing in a field of wheat ...

Something like that.

I drive by fields and fields of food everyday living in Oregon.

Not to mention no one knows or understands the reasons behind grain silos. If they even know what they look like.

 

[bbbass]

What's that saying.

Folks would starve to death standing in a field of wheat ...

Something like that.

I drive by fields and fields of food everyday living in Oregon.

Not to mention no one knows or understands the reasons behind grain silos. If they even know what they look like.

Dang city boys don't know nothin...

Cue music: "Country boys can survive!!"

Growers here are not using grain silos much... too problematic. Now the wheat goes up a conveyor and is dropped onto a pile. The pile builds up in a cone shape until it reaches the limits. Piles are covered with tarps for rain, and leftovers are covered for the winter.

 

[cigars]

The reality is that this is a matter of a first world myopic viewpoint. While many places around the planet have to scratch everyday to get by, we have plenty. If you were to ask them what they do to prepare for hard times they would look at you and say, everyday is hard times.
In our world, some people do actively think about what happens when we don't have plenty anymore while others just assume that we will always have plenty. We may very well go from first world to third world in a blink of an eye. It would be prudent to be somewhat prepared.
Just my skewed two cents.

 

[slimmer13]

I'm not worried about this one incident (dont even know anything about it really), but I do know that supply chains get interrupted, disasters occur, etc to where a prudent man looks to the ant and won't starve tomorrow if the truck doesnt show up to the supermarket, or if you can't get there.