Heatwave Will Bring 20% - 40-% Shortfall In EU Vegetable Crops - Reuters

[hatrack]

EDIT

The unusually high temperatures and lack of water leaves the processed vegetables market facing massive shortages of main produce such as peas, cauliflower, spinach, beans, broad beans, baby carrots, broccoli, and onions.

According to OEITFL there has been a substantial reduction in principal producer countries such as Belgium, France, Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, where pea crops are down some 20 percent. The scenario is the same for spinach with anticipated shortages of up to 20 percent, and with cauliflower crops down by up to 30 percent.

Meyer said her organisation is particularly concerned about the situation in Eastern Europe. "In Poland, for some vegetables like beans, the crop is even expected down by 40 percent, and in Hungary zucchini volumes are also down some 40 percent," Meyer said.

While the current weather had already taken its toll, the outlook for the autumn also is grim. "Long-range outlook weather forecasts do nothing to encourage hope but further worsen an already dramatic situation," Meyer said.


EDIT/END

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/37403/story.htm

[phantom power]

1. I, for one, welcome our new Dark Age of famine.

We'll all die looking so thin.

[NNadir]

2. I think wide spread famine is a very real possibility.

A lot of people think "It can't happen here," but just six years ago I thought a lot of things that are happening couldn't happen.

[phantom power]

4. For real? I'm frightened. No disaster seems impossible anymore.

I have a very real fear I might live to see my daughter look like this:
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/photos/letters/cover-image-Famine%20Cover%20A+.jpg

I'm not sure what to do about that. If the water dries up, no quantity of organic farming manuals I might memorize is going to help.

So instead, I make jokes, and pretend it's funny.

[NNadir]

5. I know what you're feeling. I am very depressed by the realization

that I can do no more to protect my children than an Iraqi father can do to protect his.

[Dead_Parrot]

7. Making jokes is probably the best way to go

Well, that and getting as drunk as possible while the grapes still grow.

It's the speed that scaring the shit out me: What started out a problem for my grandchildren turned in to a problem for my children, and has rapidly turned into a problem for me.

I have the uncomfortable feeling my mid-life crisis will include looking for grubs under bark and trying to make soup out of seawater and lichen, and my vague plans for being self-sustaining within 10 years are starting to look a bit futile...

But at least the starvation of billions and the implosion of civilisation means there will no more "Survivor" or "--- Idol" on TV, so that's something to look forward to.

[fedsron2us]

3. Let them eat fruit

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5216986.stm

[Nihil]

9. Another point from the same article ...

> Meanwhile, the leader of the National Farmers Union in Wales, Dai
> Davies, said the shortage of grass meant farmers were having to feed
> winter stocks to cattle now.
>
> "So there's no margin, no money in the kitty for the purchase of winter
> fodder which we shall need to survive," he told BBC News 24.
>
> "So there's great concern about what happens in the autumn."

It's interesting to note that most of the reported concern at the moment
centres on the farmer losing money. Few people seem to be looking ahead
at the impact of the reduced food supply - reduced in so many directions
(wheat, meat, milk, vegetables) at the same time.

[Dead_Parrot]

10. I'm guessing supplies are within tolerances...

The EU usually has excess of most staples, so with a shuffling about there'll be enough to go around. If the heat keeps piling on in the next few years that might change rather unpleasantly.

Needless to say, The first people to take a hit will be the very poor: If the normal surplus dries up, food aid to places like Africa will be the first thing to go.

[phantom power]

12. There are several reasons to think it will continue...

and get worse. Disappearing snowpack, increasing summer heat, changing rain patterns. All of it points toward chronic drought into the forseeable future. Contrapositively, I'm not aware of any factors that might mitigate it.

Yes, time to drink heavily. And listen to old Joni Mitchell CDs. I'm talking old-school, Ladies of the fucking Canyon stuff.

[CoffeeCat]

6. I also heard that bananas...

...will be disappearing.

No joke. Something about the trees dying off.

Stock up people! In these times, it's foolish not to have a stockpile of food and water.

[Dead_Parrot]

8. No more Banana Daiquiris?

Oh, the humanity....

[lostnfound]

11. After seeing "Inconvenient Truth" unfortunately this seems even more

disturbing.

[eppur_se_muova]

13. Heatwave hits vegetable supplies (BBC)

Supermarket vegetable aisles may be the latest victim of the hot summer.
High temperatures mean vegetables are maturing faster than farmers can pick and package them, an agricultural body has warned.
***
It said the very hot weather was creating a short picking season that might deplete frozen vegetable supplies.
***
Fears that the very hot weather will disrupt vegetable supplies stems from the way each line of produce is managed on the farm.

Crops are planted so that each field is ready to be harvested at different times, allowing vegetable pickers to keep up a steady supply throughout the season.

Very hot weather has wrecked this schedule and left farmers scrambling to bring in crops before they spoil, according to the PVGA.
***
more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5223836.stm