How Far is the US From Food Shortages and Food Riots?

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/04/12/18492403.php

As Americans complain over high gasoline and food prices, many third world countries are experiencing food riots over price and scarcity of food. In some parts of the word rice is so expensive that it is transported in heavily guarded convoys and farmers guard their fields from thieves.

Food riots are becoming more common, as more land and crops are being diverted from the food chain by the world biofuels industry. According to an investment magazine, the crisis shows no signs of weakening. Food, the bread of life, is fast becoming the “gold” of the Twenty-first century.

Fatal food riots in Haiti. Violent food-price protests in Egypt and Ivory Coast. Rice so valuable it is transported in armoured convoys. Soldiers guarding fields and warehouses. Export bans to keep local populations from starving. (Globalinvestor.com)

The face of food security is rapidly changing around the world and there are no quick fixes experts say. What worries many is that food stockpiles are at historic lows. In the United States alone,
stockpiles of wheat hit a 60-year low in the United States as prices soared. Almost all other commodities, from rice and soybeans to sugar and corn, have posted triple-digit price increases in the past year or two. (Ibid)

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

1. Paradigm Shift Approaching

Nothing foments revolution like empty stomachs.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Starting already.

Bill Moyers' program last Friday highlighted how across the nation food banks and food pantries are running out of fresh fruits and vegetables, no meat, no dairy, some rice and beans (but limited), less donations altogether.

[supernova]

15. Mostly because suppliers are

shipping goods overseas instead of donating to the pantry.

Once again, it's a distribution issue, not one of too little supply.

Excellent, though depressing, program. *sigh*

[NightWatcher]

3. get your "hurricane survival kit" ready

complete with a month's worth of food and camping gear.

[bdamomma]

4. and the jerk in the WH is concerned

sure he is:puke:

[Gman]

5. My backyard garden may be worth more to me

than I ever expected. I'm starting to wonder if I should plant more. I've got tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, spinach, green beans, radishes, carrots and cilantro in about 200 ft².

[NNN0LHI]

7. I have tried that

By the time my stuff comes in season so do all the small farms with their farm stands and the stuff is too cheap for me to mess with it.

You have to enjoy doing it. Like a hobby.

Don

[Gman]

10. It is a hobby

and nothing more. The only difference is the tomatoes are best when they're right out of the garden. I think produce at the store is usually so fresh it's hard to distinguish from homegrown.

[NNN0LHI]

19. Everything is best right out of the garden I don't deny that

My favorite was white radishes pulled right out of the ground washed off with a garden hose and right into my mouth.

Like eating candy.

Don

[slackmaster]

6. Not sure about a riot per se but there will definitely be a food FIGHT in Key West Harbor on 4/23

http://www.conchrepublic.com/history.htm

[gateley]

8. I read where a Food Bank had been robbed of all its food. nt

[smoogatz]

9. So far, the issue in the 3rd world has been that imports of food

staples (rice and other grains, mostly) from big producers like the U.S. and Canada have become prohibitively expensive, which in turn drives up the price of domestic and regionally produced rice, etc. Wealthier countries will still be able to buy all they need, it'll just be more expensive. I think it's unlikely, barring some sort of major drought or other ag catastrophe, that we'll be looking at food shortages in the U.S. anytime soon. What we will have are sharp increases in the cost of food, which have already begun, especially if we continue to burn a sizable chunk of our corn crop to run our cars. If the price of corn goes up, farmers react by devoting more acreage to growing corn, which means the wheat and soybean crop is smaller, which causes prices for those commodities to go up, too. Meat, eggs, dairy and produce are all affected, part of the ripple effect that starts with big increases in the price of corn. Rising fuel prices play a big role in driving up food costs, too: the more it costs to truck it from California to your local Piggly Wiggly, the bigger the bite it takes from your paycheck. Also, the higher the price for oil, the more demand there will be for corn ethanol. Good thing W's on it like a cheap suit, jaw-boning those pesky Saudis.

[L. Coyote]

11. Watch food stamp stats.

[BlooInBloo]

12. O gawd. Shoot me now.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Hoover.. err Bushvilles are now coming up

with people loosing homes and ability to buy food

Not that far

In the 1930s we had about 20% of the population going there... we are not that far...

Just watch

[Brigid]

14. I once heard that . . .

Most countries are about 10 days from food riots, given the right circumstances. There's nothing to say it couldn't happen here.

[lovuian]

16. not far away

US stockpiles are down

[Hannah Bell]

18. They're down because it's gov't policy to keep them down.

Don't buy into the (managed, calibrated, easier to herd the sheep) fear.

[SpiralHawk]

17. Next year. Plant and save open-pollinated seeds.

This year.