World Food Security / Insecurity

Photos: Western drought brings plague of voracious grasshoppers

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A punishing drought in the U.S. West is drying up waterways, sparking wildfires and leaving farmers scrambling for water. Next up: a plague of voracious grasshoppers.

Federal agriculture officials are launching what could become their largest grasshopper-killing campaign since the 1980s amid an outbreak of the drought-loving insects that cattle ranchers fear will strip bare public and private rangelands.

In central Montana’s Phillips County, more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the nearest town, Frank Wiederrick said large numbers of grasshoppers started showing up on prairie surrounding his ranch in recent days. Already they’re beginning to denude trees around his house.

“They’re everywhere,” Wiederrick said. “Drought and grasshoppers go together and they are cleaning us out.”

Grasshoppers thrive in warm, dry weather, and populations already were up last year, setting the stage for an even bigger outbreak in 2021. Such outbreaks could become more common as climate change shifts rainfall patterns, scientists said.


https://www.bigcountryhomepage.com/news/animals/photos-western-drought-brings-plague-of-voracious-grasshoppers/?fbclid=IwAR2XS47RoO-J7YY8CLVAvJWQHd9Cxj5ybOywipa9HOAWAerY8UPqmtfvIDM

Corn Prices Climb Nearly 50% in 2021, as U.S. Food Makers Contend with Labor and Ingredient Shortages
May 11, 2021

Wall Street Journal writers Ryan Dezember and Kirk Maltais reported on Monday that, “America’s biggest cash crop has rarely been more expensive.

Corn prices have risen roughly 50% in 2021 and a bushel costs more than twice what it did a year ago.

“Corn has been one of the sharpest risers in the broad rally in raw materials that is prompting companies to boost prices for goods and fueling concern among investors that inflation could hobble the post-pandemic economic recovery.”


“Corn Is the Latest Commodity to Soar,” by Ryan Dezember and Kirk Maltais. The Wall Street Journal (May 10th, 2021).
The Journal article noted that, “Farmers have a few factors to thank for high prices.

“China is on a corn-buying binge while racing to fatten millions of hogs to replace the pigs it had to kill during an outbreak of African swine fever before the pandemic. China is expected this year to import about four times what it normally buys from abroad, most of it from U.S. farmers.

“Corn-growing regions of South America are parched. Brazil expects a meager safrinha, or second crop, which will reduce its export. In Argentina, the Paraná River is too shallow for fully loaded boats to pass from the country’s interior to Atlantic shipping lanes.




https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2021/05/corn-prices-climb-nearly-50-in-2021-as-u-s-food-makers-contend-with-labor-and-ingredient-shortages/?fbclid=IwAR0WRX1KKztRIqSvqb36shbxKoPXbRF1Se6tn9wrY79UszzeRZl_QhhoQMk

Drought Indicators in Western U.S. Flash Warnings of the ‘Big One’
Summer in the U.S. begins with widespread drought already at historic levels across 11 states. Experts warn of worsening conditions once wildfires start.


Sarah Brunner opened the irrigation spigots on her farm in March, three months early. The rain should have still been falling in California. Now that summer is taking hold, she and her husband are considering shifting their meager water supplies into pastures so their animals will have enough to eat.

Brunner’s worries don’t stop at the barnyard. The family’s fields of shallots, garlic and goats are surrounded by thick Northern California forests, dried out and primed to burn. An early season wildfire near her home recently prompted Brunner to document her possessions and reevaluate her fire insurance. “I don’t feel safe anymore. It’s going to hit us hard,” she says. “There’s no doubt about it, we’re going to be inundated with fires. It’s just a matter of time.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-24/historic-drought-slams-entire-western-u-s-as-wildfire-season-looms?srnd=premium&fbclid=IwAR2izp7ymLbH31CfJASAlOGsscQc1yPQf_aAg5o96MyzQC_U3RuND5S-FBY

Some foods mentioned in articles: either shortage or higher prices, or both

wheat
beef
corn
cake mix to ramen noodles
Pillsbury cake mixes and Buitoni pasta. He said wheat costs have soared and shipments for ingredients including vitamin C for Sunny D
Kellogg Co. , maker of Frosted Flakes, Cheez-Its and Pringles,
chicken
pork
shallots, garlic and goats
sheep
almonds
also California is the salad bowl,

Need to keep an open mind though... grasshoppers are high in protein... and it sounds like there is going to be plenty to go around...

In many places in Asia cooked insects are a crunchy treat... low in sugar and fat...

If you turn your nose up at that... people eat snails and fish eggs for goodness sake...

Cowboy's daughter wrote:Corn Prices Climb Nearly 50% in 2021, as U.S. Food Makers Contend with Labor and Ingredient Shortages
May 11, 2021

Wall Street Journal writers Ryan Dezember and Kirk Maltais reported on Monday that, “America’s biggest cash crop has rarely been more expensive.

Corn prices have risen roughly 50% in 2021 and a bushel costs more than twice what it did a year ago.

“Corn has been one of the sharpest risers in the broad rally in raw materials that is prompting companies to boost prices for goods and fueling concern among investors that inflation could hobble the post-pandemic economic recovery.”


“Corn Is the Latest Commodity to Soar,” by Ryan Dezember and Kirk Maltais. The Wall Street Journal (May 10th, 2021).
The Journal article noted that, “Farmers have a few factors to thank for high prices.

“China is on a corn-buying binge while racing to fatten millions of hogs to replace the pigs it had to kill during an outbreak of African swine fever before the pandemic. China is expected this year to import about four times what it normally buys from abroad, most of it from U.S. farmers.

“Corn-growing regions of South America are parched. Brazil expects a meager safrinha, or second crop, which will reduce its export. In Argentina, the Paraná River is too shallow for fully loaded boats to pass from the country’s interior to Atlantic shipping lanes.




https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2021/05/corn-prices-climb-nearly-50-in-2021-as-u-s-food-makers-contend-with-labor-and-ingredient-shortages/?fbclid=IwAR0WRX1KKztRIqSvqb36shbxKoPXbRF1Se6tn9wrY79UszzeRZl_QhhoQMk

It's the same in Russia

A range of vegetables have shot up in price over the last year, especially carrots, cabbage and potatoes

And other products besides, such as eggs

The pandemic, a drought, inability to bring in migrant workers and increasing prices in export markets have all played a role.

I'm really surprised.

UK, same problem:



Food shortages now ‘inevitable’ due to labour crisis, industry warns
By Harry Holmes18 June 2021

Worsening supermarket food shortages are now “inevitable” in the coming weeks as labour shortages across the food supply chain approach crunch point, the sector has warned.

Chronic driver shortages have been compounded by shortfalls across other low-paid sectors including harvesting, manufacturing and packaging, and the supply chain is creaking under the pressure.

Trade bodies, logistics firms and suppliers all warn that the continued reopening of the economy combined with the start of the summer holidays will see a tipping point in supermarkets’ ability to keep shelves fully stocked.

“The real crisis for food supplies starts now,” said Shane Brennan, CEO of the Cold Chain Federation, adding that while he was typically wary of empty shelf warnings, “this time definitely feels different”.

https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/supermarkets/food-shortages-now-inevitable-due-to-labour-crisis-industry-warns/657227.article

Had a coworker offer me one dipped in chocolate No . Needless to say I turned it down. I drink raw eggs for breakfast but even I have limits.

But that is actually rather normal for anyone... I mean if you watch Bear Grylls and he is eating spiders and moths and things on the first day... he says it is good protein, but for most people that sort of crap is counter productive because you would throw up more undigested good food than you would get from such a small insect.

The point is that five days into the trip when you are cold and wet and starving... grab all that crap and mash it up and grind it up so you really can't tell what it is and make some sort of soup with some strong flavoured local plants and consume it that way and most people would not notice or care.

I mean if you have chicken nuggets you are already eating parts of a chicken most people would turn their noses up at... my friend used to work at KFC and he called Chicken nuggets "ears and arseholes"... it certainly isn't just chicken breast like some people think.

The reality is that you eat mince, you really can't actually tell what animal it comes from let alone which part of the animal and the stuff they make into mince or sausage meat you probably don't want to know.

Here in New Zealand even if we run out of sheep and cows there are millions of rabbits and possums that are pests and are fair game at any time of the year... and when cooked well taste better than chicken.

Part of the problem for food shortages in the UK is part of the Brexit thing where they get their food traditionally from certain EU countries and certain EU countries buy UK food in return, but break that relationship and the flow of food stops and needs to be sourced from other places.

When Russia banned EU food going to Russia in response to EU sanctions on Russia for a period there were problems and price rises.... Russia bought cheap food from the EU because they were established mass producers so they could make cheap products and distribute them widely... the loss of the Russian market led to apples being dumped in EU countries because you have to find alternative markets and that takes time but apples rot in storage eventually... you can't keep them forever...

If they were smart they could use them as alternative stock feed rather than just dumping them... horses would love apples... imagine the effect on the milk if you fed cows on apples... would be an interesting experiment.

The point is that if you import all your food then that is a problem when there is a food shortage because food producing countries might reduce exports to ensure local markets keep the locals fed...

3,000 Michoacán avocado producers arm themselves against cartels
'It's cheaper to buy a rifle than to pay extortion'
Fed up with being besieged by criminal organizations, avocado and blackberry producers in Michoacán formed their own armed group that is successfully keeping cartel members out of four municipalities.

Some 3,000 farmers and farmhands from Salvador Escalante, Ario de Rosales, Nuevo Urecho and Taretán have taken up arms over the past eight months to defend themselves and their land from attacks by criminal organizations. A spate of kidnappings in the area and frequent demands for extortion money motivated them to act.

Now, according to a report by the newspaper Milenio, an armed private security force — “a parallel authority” — operates in the four neighboring municipalities, located approximately 100 kilometers southwest of Morelia.
“With high-powered weapons, they have shut off access to their communities for drug traffickers and hitmen, choosing who comes in and who doesn’t,” the report said

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and Los Viagras posed the main threat as both criminal groups have sought to establish themselves in the region in recent years and have engaged in a turf war with each other.

But with their 54 roadblocks across all four municipalities the avocado and blackberry producers have kept the criminal groups out. One roadblock on the road to La Huacana, a municipality controlled by the CJNG that neighbors Ario and Nuevo Urecho to the south, is manned night and day by up to 150 heavily armed men.

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/michoacan-farmers-arm-selves-vs-cartels/

Commodity Traders Harvest Billions While Prices Rise for Everyone Else

From oil to steel, raw material prices are surging. As the world economy recovers, how much further does the boom have to run?
“Commodity prices will stay strong for a long way longer,” said Ivan Glasenberg, the outgoing CEO of commodities giant Glencore Plc. For the first time the world's two super powers, the U.S. and China, were simultaneously pushing big infrastructure projects as a way to rescue their economies from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, he said.

Supply is struggling to catch up. Some of the bottlenecks are due to deliberate moves by producing countries, like the OPEC+ alliance, which slashed oil production last year. And others are due to the difficulty of running mines, smelters, slaughters houses and farms in the middle of the pandemic.
The forces slowing the supply response are twofold. First, companies are under pressure from shareholders and courts to join the fight against climate change, reducing their production of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. Second, the same shareholders are demanding that chief executives reward them with higher dividends, in turn leaving less money to expand mines or drill new wells.

The impact of those forces are evident already in some corners of the commodity market, where companies stopped investing in new supply several years ago. Take thermal coal, for example. Mining companies have been cutting spending since at least 2015. As demand has picked up, coal prices have jumped to levels unseen in 10 years. The same has happened in iron ore, where prices shot up to all-time high earlier this year. Next is likely to be oil, where companies are cutting spending significantly.

For the commodity bulls, like Doug King, the hedge fund manager, it’s the sign to double down. “This is the beginning of a proper boom cycle — this isn’t a transitory spike,” he said.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-06-29/commodity-traders-make-billions-as-oil-copper-battery-metals-prices-rise?srnd=premium

Food Markets in Caracas Empty Out as Inflation Hits the Poorest
In a country suffering what’s considered the Western Hemisphere’s worst humanitarian crisis, Venezuela’s pain is hitting a new order of magnitude as the food markets of Caracas turn into ghost towns.

At Guaicaipuro, near downtown, the long hallways of stalls seem to stretch endlessly with hardly a shopper in sight. At Quinta Crespo, food sellers are desperate to attract attention, screaming over each other every time someone walks by. At San Martin market, on the city’s west side, some stalls are shuttered, while some have so little food, they might as well have also closed. Others have decent supplies, but high price tags mean would-be customers mostly just walk away. Business is so scant some hawkers can’t even be bothered -- they just sit at their posts, playing on their phones, with no expectations for the day.
There’s no dearth of causes behind rampant food inflation in the country, but the most acute issue now are fuel shortages that have deepened the problems.

In Venezuela, home to the world’s largest oil reserves, fuel scarcity has gotten so acute it’s crippled the economy, forced factories to shut and left drivers lining up for hours to fill up their tanks. The tightening vice of U.S. sanctions has strangled what supplies come in from abroad, and now a lack of diesel is snarling just about every aspect of the food-supply chain.
Farmers don’t have enough fuel to use the machinery they need to plant and tend to crops. What little is grown in the far-west Andean region, the heart of production, then has to get trucked some 12 hours or more to the capital city. Fuel is so expensive that transportation costs alone can push up the price of greens by 200%, said Gerson Pabon, director of Fedeagro, a large food producers’ association.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-02/food-markets-in-caracas-empty-out-as-inflation-hits-the-poorest?srnd=premium

Venezuela's fuel crisis and the associated impact are the direct responsibility of the USA and not the system in Venezuela.
The US has been trying to regime change the country ever since Chavez got rid of the pro-US comprador regime. The
crime wave, the shortages, and other "failures of the system" are externally engineered.

Grain imports rise as drought deals severe blow to domestic production
The next three months will be crucial, says atmospheric scientist of the need for rain
President López Obrador is determined to achieve food self-sufficiency but imports of key grains actually increased in the first five months of the year as drought ravaged crops in Mexico.

Imports of a range of grains including corn, wheat and rice increased 13.6% between January and May compared to the same period of last year, according to the secretary general of the National Union of Agricultural Workers (UNTA).

Speaking at a meeting of the UNTA leadership council, Álvaro López Ríos said that Mexico is in fact getting farther away from self-sufficiency for basic grains because imports have been on the rise for three years.
He said they totaled 16.73 million tonnes in the first five months of the year, costing US $6.29 billion. Grain production in Mexico fell 2.8% in the same period but demand rose 8.1%, López said.

He criticized the government for cutting funding for the agricultural sector by 40% over three years and eliminating at least 30 financial support programs for farmers, even though López Obrador – who has said on repeated occasions that he wants to wean Mexico off imports of basic foods – pledged to increase support for the countryside.
Drought has also dealt a heavy blow to Mexican farmers. Some 361,000 hectares of crops were damaged by drought in the first five months of the year and approximately 1 million head of cattle died, according to data presented at a forum this week on the drought and its impact on agriculture. The former figure represents a 365% increase compared to the same period of 2020.

The main crops affected were corn, wheat, rice, beans and sorghum, according to experts who participated in the forum organized by Bayer México.

Luis Fernando Haro, director general of the National Agricultural Council, said drought has caused delays in the harvest of crops and environmental damage, and reduced farmers’ incomes. The management of water has to improve in order for the country to be better prepared for future droughts, he said, advocating the use of drip irrigation systems and improved seeds that are more resistant to water scarcity.
Drought has affected more than 80% of Mexico’s territory since the middle of last year and there are fears that conditions could worsen in some parts of the country in coming weeks as temperatures rise. Additional crop damage and water shortages are among the problems predicted by experts.

“In some states, irrigation is practically disappearing due to lack of precipitation,” Rafael Sánchez Bravo, a water expert at Chapingo Autonomous University in México state, told the news agency Reuters.
Breaking the drought in many parts of the country is contingent on precipitation levels during the rainy season, when many regions get 50% to 80% of their annual rainfall.

“The next three months will be really crucial in how this drought turns out,” Andreas Prein, an atmospheric scientist for the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, told Reuters.

Some experts predict that greater Mexico City, where water supply is already an issue in some areas, will soon experience a severe shortage.

“I have no doubt that in 2022 there will be a crisis,” Sánchez said, adding that a lack of water will likely cause social unrest. “The reservoirs are completely depleted.”


https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/grain-imports-rise-as-drought-deals-severe-blow-to-domestic-production/



Megadrought at the border strains Mexico-US water relations
Population boom on both sides of the border, climate change and aging waterworks are underlying stresses
he 1940s, however, were a time of unusual water abundance on the treaty rivers. When American and Mexican engineers drafted the 1944 water treaty, they did not foresee today’s prolonged megadrought.

Nor did they anticipate the region’s rapid growth. Since 1940 the population of the 10 largest pairs of cities that straddle the U.S.-Mexico border has mushroomed nearly twentyfold, from 560,000 people to some 10 million today.

This growth is powered by a booming, water-dependent manufacturing industry in Mexico that exports products to U.S. markets. Irrigated agriculture, ranching and mining compete with growing cities and expanding industry for scarce water.
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/opinion/megadrought-at-the-border-strains-mexico-us-water-relations/

In a country suffering what’s considered the Western Hemisphere’s worst humanitarian crisis,

Bloomberg describe it that way because it is a western creation... it is western sanctions and western theft of Venezuelan government money that are making a difficult situation (Covid) rather worse for many countries, so of course they are going to point them out... it was their humane and humanitarian work that destroyed Libya and almost destroyed many other countries too... why not show off the pain and suffering they are creating around the world... that is what the US government does.

Regarding the situation in Mexico.... droughts are normal... just like flooding is... if they were caught unawares then they are idiots and should all resign their positions.

Population boom on both sides of the border, climate change and aging waterworks are underlying stresses

Two of those things were totally predictable... the population boom didn't happen over night and over very long periods of time you could see what was happening and could plan for that.

The lack of upgrades and maintenance to water infrastructure is a management issue and again people should be held responsible... management means planning for the future and the future is always going to involve floods and droughts.

Obviously there are floods that are just overwhelming that nothing can cope with so you have to budget for something you can afford to deal with, and drought can go on for extended periods and are hard to predict, but there are crops that need lots of water and there are crops that don't need so much water to grow... when times are good set aside surplus product and export that and keep the money aside to buy food when there is a deficit of food production... Even if you have a government department that handles it so there are funds to help farmers and food to feed people in difficult times.

Blaming climate change is just bullshit.

Plenty of fresh home grown tomatos, and fresh vegetables at the local farmers' market,

but at the local Walmart grocery, this past week, ONLY some cherry tomatos.

persons who don't have a garden, or access to Farmers' markets, and have to depend on Walmart, are not having a choice in fresh vegetables!

‘Unrecognizable.’ Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/nation-world/story/2021-07-12/lake-mead-hoover-dam-drought-nevada-arizona-california




North Texas Restaurants Struggling With Food Shortages
by Rachael O'Neil | CBS 11
By CBSDFW.com StaffJuly 6, 2021 at 6:30 pm

The Texas Restaurant Association says the state is also strapped for things like milk, cooking oil, and chicken.


https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2021/07/06/north-texas-restaurants-struggling-food-shortages/

Covid is disrupting supply chains around the world. In the case of non-perishable products the world was riding on stocks and then
it crashed into shortages and massive price spikes such as for construction materials. The agricultural impact has been more of
a creeping process likely aggravated by disruptions in other supply chains.

We may yet get a global Covid depression.

Cowboy's daughter wrote:Plenty of fresh home grown tomatos, and fresh vegetables at the local farmers' market,

but at the local Walmart grocery, this past week, ONLY some cherry tomatos.

persons who don't have a garden, or access to Farmers' markets, and have to depend on Walmart, are not having a choice in fresh vegetables!

My Amish farmer friends provide me with fresh raw milk, butter, eggs, produce, chicken, pork and beef. No chemicals, free range everything. Meat as fresh as can be. There is no comparison in taste. The egg yolks of free range chickens are bright orange - not dull yellow like commercial eggs. The pigs and cows they raise are heritage breeds - not genetically selected commercial breeds. Taste of the meat is incomparable. One Amish guy did an experiment and bought commercial piglets, raised them on forage and acorn finished. The meat still tasted like s*it. The diet can't overcome the genetics.

calripson wrote:

Cowboy's daughter wrote:Plenty of fresh home grown tomatos, and fresh vegetables at the local farmers' market,

but at the local Walmart grocery, this past week, ONLY some cherry tomatos.

persons who don't have a garden, or access to Farmers' markets, and have to depend on Walmart, are not having a choice in fresh vegetables!

My Amish farmer friends provide me with fresh raw milk, butter, eggs, produce, chicken, pork and beef. No chemicals, free range everything. Meat as fresh as can be. There is no comparison in taste. The egg yolks of free range chickens are bright orange - not dull yellow like commercial eggs. The pigs and cows they raise are heritage breeds - not genetically selected commercial breeds. Taste of the meat is incomparable. One Amish guy did an experiment and bought commercial piglets, raised them on forage and acorn finished. The meat still tasted like s*it. The diet can't overcome the genetics.

Yes! the Farmer's market's here sell beef, etc, also.

My ex husband and I used to raise beef, for ourselves. What is bought in the stores can not compare. There was a small place near us that slaughtered the calf, and processed the beef (or anything else a person brought: pigs, venison). We also kept the cowhide, and had them tanned. The only thing we ever had processed was homegrown, organic beef. & there's a big difference in store-bought eggs, and free range eggs when you have your own chickens.
When I was married, we lived on about 10 acres, and also had chickens. I had an electric cookstove, but I also had a wood-burning cookstove I had bought for $75. a four burner! My step grandson thought I cooked the best fried eggs ever, but it was just because they wasn't store-bought! We had a lot of fun  cooking on that wood-burning cookstove. I'd cook breakfast a lot, even cakes and cookies. One year we cooked the turkey for Thanksgiving in the oven. I had a chef friend, who came over one time, and he cooked an entire Chinese food meal from scratch using it,  (if you know what "from scratch" means!), and I had a cast iron homemade comal  (a smooth, flat griddle typically used in Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America to cook tortillas and arepas, toast spices and nuts, sear meat, and generally prepare food. ), that he gave me, that I used a lot. A "wetback", i. e. illegal farm hand of his Dad's made it!

(& in my part of Texas, the term "wetback" was never a slur, just meant illegal, i.e. swam the Rio Grande!)

I grew up on raw, fresh cow's milk, and my parents butchered their own hogs. They was wild hogs, that my Dad roped from horseback, on the big ranch that he worked on! My parents made home made sausage from the pork, and venison. I grew up "off the grid", until I was 14 years old! My Dad was a cowboy, my Mom a housewife, and she always had a huge garden! I tell you, growing up in rural Texas was grand! & for poor people, we were very wealthy!! It was a great life.

(& in my part of Texas, the term "wetback" was never a slur, just meant illegal, i.e. swam the Rio Grande!)

Hahaha.... here a wetback means your water supply is connected to a wood burner or coal fire so when you have wood or coal burning it heats your hot water instead of having a hot water cylinder that constantly heats water electrically.

A wetback is obviously superior if you need large volumes of hot water because with a hot water cylinder as you take hot water out cold water goes in and it needs to heat that up electrically.

As a hunter you can really tell the difference between so called free range meat and store bought meat. A lot less fat, and no chemicals... just make sure you shoot big animals close to somewhere you can get a motor vehicle in there to haul the damn thing out again....

GarryB wrote:

(& in my part of Texas, the term "wetback" was never a slur, just meant illegal, i.e. swam the Rio Grande!)

Hahaha.... here a wetback means your water supply is connected to a wood burner or coal fire so when you have wood or coal burning it heats your hot water instead of having a hot water cylinder that constantly heats water electrically.

A wetback is obviously superior if you need large volumes of hot water because with a hot water cylinder as you take hot water out cold water goes in and it needs to heat that up electrically.

As a hunter you can really tell the difference between so called free range meat and store bought meat. A lot less fat, and no chemicals... just make sure you shoot big animals close to somewhere you can get a motor vehicle in there to haul the damn thing out again....  

That's too cool, Gary B. ! I've never seen a water supply connected to a wood burner or coal burning, but I have seen wood-burning cookstoves that had a Water reservoir on one side, that held a gallon or so of water (to heat the water that way).

My cousin's husband who has a small ranch in New Mexico, near the Gila National forest, where they can run cattle on Federal land, also hunts mountain lions and bears. They use mules to ride and to pack supplies and what they kill. Their ranch house is totally off the grid. They have solar, woodburning stoves and cook stove, and a creek close by.

PICTURES: Public begin panic buying as riots threaten food security
Stores and petrol stations were flooded with concerned members of the public on Tuesday with food supply chains threatened by the riots.
Dan Meyer by Dan Meyer 13-07-2021 17:44


With President Cyril Ramaphosa warning that riots in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Gauteng will soon threaten food and healthcare supply chains, members of the public have begun panic buying at retailers tat remain open on Tuesday.

Images are surfacing online of store shelves being emptied out by concerned residents, who fear that the continued road blockages and torching of trucks by looters.

PANIC BUYING BEGINS
During his second consecutive address to the nation on Monday 12 July, Ramaphosa warned that the sustained disruption to supply chains that ensure the delivery of essential food and medical products is quickly going to lead to dire shortages.

“[The violent riots] started with the burning of trucks at Mooi River on Saturday, and was followed by the blockading of roads and looting of shops in the north of KZN,” he said. “Our sick cannot get help from pharmacies, food doesn’t reach shelves, and health workers cannot get to work. We are facing food and medication insecurity within a matter of weeks.”

On Tuesday afternoon, images emerged on Twitter of various supermarkets with empty shelves as people begin worrying about whether there will be food available in the coming days. Petrol stations in Gauteng also found themselves inundated with concerned members of the public.



FACTORIES STOP PRODUCTION
Earlier on Tuesday, the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the threat to food security is under serious threat due to the riots.

“This disruptive activity is damaging to the economic infrastructure, the threat on food security should be taken very seriously. Producers of essential foods have now decided to temporarily shut down,” its deputy president Gladwin Malishe told the African News Agency (ANA).

“Their on-site factories have had to stop production, due to the non-movement of stock from Friday.”

“The logistics sector as it stands has been hit severely hard. The number of trucks that have been burnt over the past three-days, have caused other business owners in the industry to ground their trucks, for the safety of their employees and the protection of their businesses,” he said.




https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/panic-buying-photos-pictures-kzn-gauteng-riots-latest-news-tuesday-13-july/

You'd almost think that using covid to cause food shortages is deliberate!

Food shortages warning as abattoir staff 'get NHS app exemption': Six million Britons face being told to stay at home every week - as infections bust 50,000 barrier

Nissan in Sunderland was among businesses that have flagged serious issues with app affected 900 workers

Unite's Steve Bush: 'I believe we're hours not days or weeks away from our first temporary closure of sites.'

Official figures show as many as 5,200 military personnel were absent from duties because of self-isolation

Meat Processors Association chief executive said abattoirs would have to 'rationalise' product lines

Royal College of Anaesthetists and Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine demand vaccinated medics exempted

Solicitor General Minister Lucy Frazer admitted the Government recognises the 'significant impact' of app

But the junior minister said it remained an 'important tool' in the fight against Covid-19 until next month





https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9796695/Abattoir-staff-NHS-app-exemption-amid-fears-Pingdemic-lead-FOOD-SHORTAGES.html