Alarms Sound over World Food Supply

[Clone]

Oh, you lucky folks who garden and preserve your own food! I've been stocking up on canned veggies and fruits at sales, but we're limited by lack of space.
We are going to purchase a big bag of brown rice and a big bag of dried beans, even if they have to be stored in 55 gallon drums in the living room. We'll make lamp stands out of 'em or sumpin'.
I'm not preaching panic hoarding, but if you catch a deal, you might want to stock up a bit; never hurts. Cartwright's has already raised their daily deals from $2.99 per pound to $3.49 per pound. That's a big jump.

==================================



A historic Midwest drought prompted the US government on Friday to slash supply estimates for nearly everything in the US cornucopia, including corn, soybeans, and sorghum – a move that caused commodity prices to jump and concerns about the state of the global food cupboard to rise.

US corn and soybeans are crucial to global food supply because they are used for food, feed, cooking oil, and even motor fuel. Reduced supply and higher prices mean that poorer, import-reliant nations may not be able to replenish their food stocks.

"This is shocking,” Dan Basse, president of Ag Resources, said during a conference call on Thursday, ahead of the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report from the US Department of Agriculture. “This is getting people at the United Nations very concerned. The poor in the world are going to see tremendous pressure on their budgetary expenditure for calories. This has become a very scary situation, particularly for those in the world who are impoverished."

With the release of the global supply and demand report Friday morning, prices on the commodities exchange in Chicago rose to all-time highs for corn and soybeans, the hardest-hit crops so far. The estimate for the US corn crop is at the lowest level since 1995-96, when many fewer acres were planted.

The report piggy-backed on the release Thursday of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index, which showed global food prices rising by 6 percent, largely because of the US drought. Untimely rains in sugar-producing Brazil and dry conditions in Russia's wheat belt, too, have taken a toll.

The hottest July on record in the Lower 48 and scant rainfall have created the widest US drought since 1956, wiping out much of the corn and soybean crops, which are used globally and domestically for food, feed, and ethanol production. In the US, which is the world’s top exporter of corn, more than half the crop is now considered in “poor” condition. The Agriculture Department on Friday slashed yield estimates by 12 percent, from 146 bushels per acre to 123 bushels per acre.
American farmers had planted the largest corn crop ever this year, in response to high commodity prices and high global demand. The US was supposed to be “swimming” in corn this fall. Instead, the harvest will be a “train wreck,” Kelly Wiesbrock, a fund manager for Harvest Capital Strategies, tells the Reuters news service.

Higher commodity prices mean poorer countries will import much less, putting millions of people on the lower rungs of the global food chain in jeopardy, and potentially creating a situation similar to the world food crisis of 2007-08. In all, estimates for this year's global grain supply are down by 180 million metric tons – enough to fill about 360 supertankers to the brim.

Rest of article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0810/A...-Corn-Belt

[Tiamat]

Oh, you lucky folks who garden and preserve your own food! I've been stocking up on canned veggies and fruits at sales, but we're limited by lack of space.
We are going to purchase a big bag of brown rice and a big bag of dried beans, even if they have to be stored in 55 gallon drums in the living room. We'll make lamp stands out of 'em or sumpin'.
I'm not preaching panic hoarding, but if you catch a deal, you might want to stock up a bit; never hurts. Cartwright's has already raised their daily deals from $2.99 per pound to $3.49 per pound. That's a big jump.

==================================



A historic Midwest drought prompted the US government on Friday to slash supply estimates for nearly everything in the US cornucopia, including corn, soybeans, and sorghum – a move that caused commodity prices to jump and concerns about the state of the global food cupboard to rise.

US corn and soybeans are crucial to global food supply because they are used for food, feed, cooking oil, and even motor fuel. Reduced supply and higher prices mean that poorer, import-reliant nations may not be able to replenish their food stocks.

"This is shocking,” Dan Basse, president of Ag Resources, said during a conference call on Thursday, ahead of the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report from the US Department of Agriculture. “This is getting people at the United Nations very concerned. The poor in the world are going to see tremendous pressure on their budgetary expenditure for calories. This has become a very scary situation, particularly for those in the world who are impoverished."

With the release of the global supply and demand report Friday morning, prices on the commodities exchange in Chicago rose to all-time highs for corn and soybeans, the hardest-hit crops so far. The estimate for the US corn crop is at the lowest level since 1995-96, when many fewer acres were planted.

The report piggy-backed on the release Thursday of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index, which showed global food prices rising by 6 percent, largely because of the US drought. Untimely rains in sugar-producing Brazil and dry conditions in Russia's wheat belt, too, have taken a toll.

The hottest July on record in the Lower 48 and scant rainfall have created the widest US drought since 1956, wiping out much of the corn and soybean crops, which are used globally and domestically for food, feed, and ethanol production. In the US, which is the world’s top exporter of corn, more than half the crop is now considered in “poor” condition. The Agriculture Department on Friday slashed yield estimates by 12 percent, from 146 bushels per acre to 123 bushels per acre.
American farmers had planted the largest corn crop ever this year, in response to high commodity prices and high global demand. The US was supposed to be “swimming” in corn this fall. Instead, the harvest will be a “train wreck,” Kelly Wiesbrock, a fund manager for Harvest Capital Strategies, tells the Reuters news service.

Higher commodity prices mean poorer countries will import much less, putting millions of people on the lower rungs of the global food chain in jeopardy, and potentially creating a situation similar to the world food crisis of 2007-08. In all, estimates for this year's global grain supply are down by 180 million metric tons – enough to fill about 360 supertankers to the brim.

Rest of article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0810/A...-Corn-Belt

See if you can't find a way to freeze that rice for a couple of days to prevent weevils. Shame to lose an entire bag of rice. Lopaka, who advocated food storing used to talk about making tables and whatnot out of canned foods and putting table cloths over them. Problem with that, for me, is that I would never want to take anything away, for fear of unevening my table.

[PonderThis]

My adventist friends stock grain in 5 gallon buckets and before they put the lids on, they put a chunk of dry ice in. After the lid is sealed the dry ice evaporates, raising the Co2 content to the point insects can't live. Every fast food restaurant sells used food grade 5 gallon buckets with lids cheaply.

[Clone]

I was looking at Costco's website; I had no idea you could buy par-boiled pinto beans!

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.asp...InCategory

[Clone]

But, seriously folks, this is truly happening.
A world-wide 6% increase in food prices is extraordinary.
Serious stuff.
If this is somehow combined with a fuel shortage we're basically in a crisis situation.
Stock up NOW.

[Simon Peter]

My adventist friends stock grain in 5 gallon buckets and before they put the lids on, they put a chunk of dry ice in. After the lid is sealed the dry ice evaporates, raising the Co2 content to the point insects can't live. Every fast food restaurant sells used food grade 5 gallon buckets with lids cheaply.

You can use dry ice, but it can blow your air tight lids off and the pressure can fluctuate depending on the temp. Use an oxygen absorber and an air tight lid and the insects can't get in anyways.
Ponder, you are ill informed and give bad information. Since I have been here, I can only laugh at the info you spout. Have fun in your moldy house.

[Tiamat]

My adventist friends stock grain in 5 gallon buckets and before they put the lids on, they put a chunk of dry ice in. After the lid is sealed the dry ice evaporates, raising the Co2 content to the point insects can't live. Every fast food restaurant sells used food grade 5 gallon buckets with lids cheaply.

You can use dry ice, but it can blow your air tight lids off and the pressure can fluctuate depending on the temp. Use an oxygen absorber and an air tight lid and the insects can't get in anyways.
Ponder, you are ill informed and give bad information. Since I have been here, I can only laugh at the info you spout. Have fun in your moldy house.

The bugs are already there. Locking them out won't prevent them. Freezing them kills them.

Meat prices are supposed to go up with this, good thing I'm fairly ambivalent about meat.

[Simon Peter]

My adventist friends stock grain in 5 gallon buckets and before they put the lids on, they put a chunk of dry ice in. After the lid is sealed the dry ice evaporates, raising the Co2 content to the point insects can't live. Every fast food restaurant sells used food grade 5 gallon buckets with lids cheaply.

You can use dry ice, but it can blow your air tight lids off and the pressure can fluctuate depending on the temp. Use an oxygen absorber and an air tight lid and the insects can't get in anyways.
Ponder, you are ill informed and give bad information. Since I have been here, I can only laugh at the info you spout. Have fun in your moldy house.

The bugs are already there. Locking them out won't prevent them. Freezing them kills them.

Meat prices are supposed to go up with this, good thing I'm fairly ambivalent about meat.

I usually don't add any bugs to my food and they really have a hard time surviving without O2. But you can throw some dry ice in there if it makes you feel better.
BTW, a chunk of dry ice ain't gonna freeze em' smarty pants.

[chuck white]

When you cook the rice, you'll kill the weevils. I ate a half a plate of rice before I realized that it wasn't brown rice mixed into the white rice. Since I had already eaten half of it and wasn't bothered by any bad taste, I finished it. So don't throw the rice away if it gets weevils. It's just extra protein.

[Wonky]

When you cook the rice, you'll kill the weevils. I ate a half a plate of rice before I realized that it wasn't brown rice mixed into the white rice. Since I had already eaten half of it and wasn't bothered by any bad taste, I finished it. So don't throw the rice away if it gets weevils. It's just extra protein.

It's not the weevils you need be concerned about. It's the weevil poop that will make you sick.

I ain't gonna worry about it. I'll get a gun bigger than Larry's and I'll go to his place and steal his elk steaks.

You can bet that if some bad ass knuckle dragger knows you have food he (or she) will come for yours. They won't ask.

Best bet: Hoard money. Easy to hide and very powerful stuff unless ALL food is gone. Then, you are shit outta luck anyway. Smoke your last fatty and drink the kool-Aid.

Pray if you think it will help.

It won't.

[PonderThis]

God wants you to have other peoples food anyway if he doesn't whisk you away first. He always looks after his own.

[Clone]

Geebus; all I was trying to communicate was that if you perhaps stored up some provisions, the rise in prices wouldn't affect you quite as much.

If you have the rice, beans, pasta, sugar and flour stored properly, you might be able to afford an occasional pint of ice cream or a fresh orange.

This is going to be a reality for those of us on fixed incomes. It must be nice to not have to worry about your grocery budget.

[Wonky]

Geebus; all I was trying to communicate was that if you perhaps stored up some provisions, the rise in prices wouldn't affect you quite as much.

If you have the rice, beans, pasta, sugar and flour stored properly, you might be able to afford an occasional pint of ice cream or a fresh orange.

This is going to be a reality for those of us on fixed incomes. It must be nice to not have to worry about your grocery budget.

It is.
But then, I missed a lot of live entertainment.

[Clone]

It is.
But then, I missed a lot of live entertainment.

Touche'
At least when I'm reduced to rice and beans with some canned peaches for dessert I'll have the memories and photos of my live entertainment adventures. Camping on the Russian River and hearing some good jazz.
I'm a lucky gal.

[PonderThis]

My adventist friends stock grain in 5 gallon buckets and before they put the lids on, they put a chunk of dry ice in. After the lid is sealed the dry ice evaporates, raising the Co2 content to the point insects can't live. Every fast food restaurant sells used food grade 5 gallon buckets with lids cheaply.

You can use dry ice, but it can blow your air tight lids off and the pressure can fluctuate depending on the temp. Use an oxygen absorber and an air tight lid and the insects can't get in anyways.
Ponder, you are ill informed and give bad information. Since I have been here, I can only laugh at the info you spout. Have fun in your moldy house.

My adventists friends grain has lasted so well, for so many years, a bear got into his stockpile and made a mess of things. I suppose that didn't happen either.

Utility bills less than $20 a month so far. No mold so far. Life is good.

(But if the walls do mold, it would be a simple matter to reframe the walls in a conventional manner, since it's a post and beam house anyway, and walls themselves add very little expense to a home.)

[Wonky]

It is.
But then, I missed a lot of live entertainment.

Touche'
At least when I'm reduced to rice and beans with some canned peaches for dessert I'll have the memories and photos of my live entertainment adventures. Camping on the Russian River and hearing some good jazz.
I'm a lucky gal.

And you are as right as rain!
Experiences are perhaps the most important bang for our buck. To live watching every penny and not having the joy of impetuous good experiences is to waste life. Or so it seems to me.
The is a balance however.
I'm blessed that I never went a week without a pay check, and while I never made "big" money I satisfied my obligations as well as splurging on wonderful experiences from time to time.
I don't have to worry about my food budget. In that regard I'm lucky, but planning and good decisions also played a part.
I worked hard, and I worked as smart as my abilities would allow.

Now. I share your concern, and your suggestions are good and reasonable. Those of us "little people" will be the first to suffer. The 1% will do okay.

[Tiamat]

My adventist friends stock grain in 5 gallon buckets and before they put the lids on, they put a chunk of dry ice in. After the lid is sealed the dry ice evaporates, raising the Co2 content to the point insects can't live. Every fast food restaurant sells used food grade 5 gallon buckets with lids cheaply.

You can use dry ice, but it can blow your air tight lids off and the pressure can fluctuate depending on the temp. Use an oxygen absorber and an air tight lid and the insects can't get in anyways.
Ponder, you are ill informed and give bad information. Since I have been here, I can only laugh at the info you spout. Have fun in your moldy house.

The bugs are already there. Locking them out won't prevent them. Freezing them kills them.

Meat prices are supposed to go up with this, good thing I'm fairly ambivalent about meat.

I usually don't add any bugs to my food and they really have a hard time surviving without O2. But you can throw some dry ice in there if it makes you feel better.
BTW, a chunk of dry ice ain't gonna freeze em' smarty pants.

Mr. Pants, I'm not gonna throw any dry ice in my stores if it's all the same to you. I don't buy by the bucket, so I have the luxury of freezing bags in the old house freezer and storing them in an old popcorn tin. Old school.

[Tiamat]

Geebus; all I was trying to communicate was that if you perhaps stored up some provisions, the rise in prices wouldn't affect you quite as much.

If you have the rice, beans, pasta, sugar and flour stored properly, you might be able to afford an occasional pint of ice cream or a fresh orange.

This is going to be a reality for those of us on fixed incomes. It must be nice to not have to worry about your grocery budget.

Well, Clone, I think I heard you fine. I don't do too well with anything past about 3 months worth of storage. That's because I have a swiss cheese brain. If I store long term stuff I'm rotten at rotation. What does that mean? Well, it means exploding cans and long gone expiration dates. I'm just not good at that. I think because I don't use a lot of the food they say to store, such as canned goods and wheat. So, I buy my rice, my beans, my salt, sugar, fats, freeze up produce and buy canned goods on special and do my best. Your message is a good one in a relevant time.

[chuck white]

stock up on multivitamins.
When there is no food you can survive a while longer.

[Wonky]

stock up on multivitamins.
When there is no food you can survive a while longer.

It's all relative (as I told my cousin while removing her bra)

In my case, I figure I need only stock about two weeks of stuff. Should I live longer, I'll hike to Clete's and live on his garden stuff.