Will there be a Food Shortage?

Gareth37

We have had the oil crunch

Then there was the credit crunch.

Will there a food crunch where the shelves are empty and any food available rockets in price?

What will you do if there is no food available?

http://www.foodshortageusa.com/

bah - there wont be a real food shortage - crops arent failing or anything.
However...........

World shipping is being held up because of the credit crunch and banks failing in different parts of the globe. In some cases people are literally not being paid to load ships or to voyage from one place to another.
We might have a scenario where a few non irish goods disappear from the shelves - already happened in Russia.
People *might* panic buy then and clear shelves and freak people out :D

However who knows if there was some world banking collapse - suppose the G8 would step in and have some bartering thing arranged soon enough.
Nothing to panic about really

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=alFFUQ8a.WZM&refer=home

Credit Freeze Strands Cargo

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aPA4NMYtDIS4&refer=home

The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of commodity shipping costs that banks watch as an economic indicator, fell below 1,000 yesterday for the first time in six years, dropping it 89 percent for the year

more explanation here:
http://www.thepropertypin.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=14385&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

oh and this is an entertaining thread:
http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=91450&st=0



ps Ive already stocked up on food and fuel

connundrum

Its a possibility considering the way I'm going through the spuds this week

What's the solution - we all go on a massive diet? Then there'd be loads of food wastage.

Bah, carry on as normal I say.

monkeyfudge

I was eating some crackers and cheese earlier and I'm pretty sure I heard a crunch or two.

arse..biscuits

When peak oil starts to take effect there will definitely be a shift in how our food reaches our shelves, whether there will be a food shortage or not who knows, but I can't imagine current supply chains being feasible for much longer. I for one have started growing as much food as I can, no where near enough to feed me though

Run_to_da_hills

Global rationing using your assigned smartcard and the barcoding system at checkout. :pac::pac::pac:

brianthebard

Deleted User wrote: »

bah - there wont be a real food shortage - crops arent failing or anything.
However...........

there absolutely is a crop shortage. There were riots in the West Indies, India's grain reserve is nearly used up, the cost of rice and wheat has skyrocketed, and world production is down since the 1980s and continues to go down. Meanwhile more and more grain is going into biofuels, and for every tonne of that there's a tonne less food.

Run_to_da_hills

brianthebard wrote: »

there absolutely is a crop shortage. There were riots in the West Indies, India's grain reserve is nearly used up, the cost of rice and wheat has skyrocketed, and world production is down since the 1980s and continues to go down. Meanwhile more and more grain is going into biofuels, and for every tonne of that there's a tonne less food.

This time last year Tesco charged e1.80 for three liters of vegitable oil. It soared in line with the price of Diesel to 4.25 for the same :eek: Diesel has now dropped. I posted in Consumer issues about it and apparently its got to do with the supply and nothing got to do with it being used as a motor fuel.

amacachi

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

This time last year Tesco charged e1.80 for three liters of vegitable oil. It soared in line with the price of Diesel to 4.25 for the same :eek: Diesel has now dropped. I posted in Consumer issues about it and apparently its got to do with the supply and nothing got to do with it being used as a motor fuel.

If Obama goes ahead and subsidises the grain farmers in America to grow for ethanol and others follow, I wonder if prices will increase.

the_syco

Gareth37 wrote: »

What will you do if there is no food available?

Erm, panic, pay yer man $40 and buy his videos?:pac::rolleyes::D

brianthebard

amacachi wrote: »

If Obama goes ahead and subsidises the grain farmers in America to grow for ethanol and others follow, I wonder if prices will increase.

Grain farmers in the US are already subsidised.

Rhyme

Gareth37 wrote: »

We have had the oil crunch

Then there was the credit crunch.

Cap'n Crunch?

towel401

there will be "Peak food" and then we all die.

amacachi

brianthebard wrote: »

Grain farmers in the US are already subsidised.

Aye, heard on one of the news channels about Obama wanting to subsidize in certain states for the grain to be used in ethanol production.

Four-Too

Fcked up poll there guys, fcked up!
Why so negative?

It seems that either yes there will be a food shortage, or else we'll have GM crops which might not even BE edible. I'd rather starve or kill myself than eat them frankenstein crops, but, yes, by all means, let them brainwash you into thinking GM crops are the solution.
I will never be fooled

Run_to_da_hills

Four-Too wrote: »

. I'd rather starve or kill myself than eat them frankenstein crops,

Do you eat at Micky D's :eek:

marcsignal

Gareth37 wrote: »

What will you do if there is no food available?

ring the chinese :pac:

Four-Too

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Do you eat at Micky D's :eek:

WTF!!! This place sells GM crops/foods??

Run_to_da_hills

Four-Too wrote: »

WTF!!! This place sells GM crops/foods??

Mc Donalds :rolleyes:

Four-Too

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Mc Donalds :rolleyes:

haha - not yet matie.
But I've had enough, time to get me an AK, and take out the evil lizards who poison our food and lie to us. If I could just SEE them...

Kold

Maybe Ireland's economists can make use of the results of this poll. On the internet. On boards. In After Hours. Wait, why did you include the poll?

Overheal

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present: Exhibit A

One could only hope for a food shortage, tbh.

Xavi6

^^^ Link FAIL! (There's a rude word in the url that's blocked by the filter)

Overheal

well if you want to fix it, its your own fault, because that woman is a piece of work.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Quazzie

Overheal wrote: »

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present: Exhibit A

One could only hope for a food shortage, tbh.

I like the way they blurred out her eyes to spare her being recognised!!

Macha

The cost of food is going to go up because at the moment, our entire food system, from fertilisers to pesticides to transport, all relies on oil. The IEA just came out yesterday and revised its oil price forecast for 2030 upwards to over $200/barrel.

So take the reality of our precarious globalised oil-dependent food distribution chain, add in the negative impact of climate change on crop yields, the battle with biofuels for arable land, the likelihood in the future that the environmental costs of our food might actually be internalised in the price (shock horror) and yes-you end up with food shortages

We will all have to get it into our heads that the days of food costs only making up 10-15% of our disposable income were short-lived and will soon be over. Fortunately, most people in Ireland are wealthy enough to survive and we obviously have very good land for agriculture.

Gareth37

You have to ask the question....

Where does our food originate i.e. who cultivates our food and where?

And then answer the question, do we control this or does the US government control this?

Gareth37

It surprises me that 20% thinks there will be a food shortage. I think there will but I thought Irish people were really thick?

Terry

****ing survivalists.

There's always a food shortage somewhere in the world! War, crop failure & overpopulation all being ever present factors in many parts of the world.

Now there is an additional cause and that is farmers being encouraged to produce "cash" crops for bio-fuel in regions that really need to produce food crops.

Here in the west there is so much wastage that we could half our consumption, and no one would even feel hungry. The amount of food thrown out as passed it's use by date is frightening.

Caoimhín

Gareth37 wrote: »

And then answer the question, do we control this or does the US government control this?

The US gubberment has little or no control over my vegetable patch.


Unless theres something your not telling us...

Caoimhín

Caoimhín wrote: »

The US gubberment has little or no control over my vegetable patch.


Unless theres something your not telling us...

The CIA are recruiting agents in Madagascar as we speak :pac:

Gareth37

They are zooming in now as we converse

Caoimhín

Deleted User wrote: »

The CIA are recruiting agents in Madagascar as we speak :pac:

:eek:

brianthebard

brianthebard wrote: »

there absolutely is a crop shortage. There were riots in the West Indies, India's grain reserve is nearly used up, the cost of rice and wheat has skyrocketed, and world production is down since the 1980s and continues to go down. Meanwhile more and more grain is going into biofuels, and for every tonne of that there's a tonne less food.

yeah but we pay our farmers here to leave land idle.
Im talking in terms of Ireland. Worldwide as others point out there is always a food shortage somewhere.

In the long term as Taconnol points out food will increase in price in line with oil until we find something equally cheap to replace it with.

Gareth37

Deleted User wrote: »

yeah but we pay our farmers here to leave land idle.
Im talking in terms of Ireland. Worldwide as others point out there is always a food shortage somewhere.

In the long term as Taconnol points out food will increase in price in line with oil until we find something equally cheap to replace it with.

GM Foods no doubt, from the US etc :rolleyes:

grahamo

The green eejits are encouraging farmers to grow biofuel crops. Therefore less food crops grown >>food shortages>> food prices increase>> the poor go hungry.

Macha

grahamo wrote: »

The green eejits are encouraging farmers to grow biofuel crops. Therefore less food crops grown >>food shortages>> food prices increase>> the poor go hungry.

True but not all of us "green eejits" are blind to the draw-backs of biofuels.

GM may have a role to play. I'm not sure how I stand on the technology itself as I don't know enough, but I know that Monsanto and its ilk are rubbing their hands together at the thought of the incredible control that genetic copy right and patents will hand them. Oh and the sheer amount of money they'll make out of it.

blindjustice - the necessary changes will probably far greater than simply substituting one input for another. The entire industrialised agricultural system needs an overhaul.

Gareth37

Gareth37 wrote: »

GM Foods no doubt, from the US etc :rolleyes:

how will GM food replace oil? :rolleyes::rolleyes:

grahamo wrote: »

The green eejits are encouraging farmers to grow biofuel crops. Therefore less food crops grown >>food shortages>> food prices increase>> the poor go hungry.

Option A) Use oil until it runs out - food gets increasingly expensive and scare just like oil. The poor go hungry

Option Grow biofuel crops - food gets more expensive and scarce as less land is available for food crops. The poor go hungry

Lets not forget that we have farmers being paid to leave land Idle in Europe and crops like the oil producing jathropa will grow where food crops wont.
We can also factory farm oil producing algae in buildings that can be increased in height thus not taking up so much land.

taconnol

taconnol wrote: »

blindjustice - the necessary changes will probably far greater than simply substituting one input for another. The entire industrialized agricultural system needs an overhaul.

And the global trading system needs an overhaul too

Macha

Yeah, people are of the impression that a globalised food network is somehow more stable and secure but to be honest, I feel my food supply is more secure if I'm getting it from a farm in Wicklow than some beans that have to flown in from some unstable African country.

taconnol

taconnol wrote: »

Yeah, people are of the impression that a globalised food network is somehow more stable and secure but to be honest, I feel my food supply is more secure if I'm getting it from a farm in Wicklow than some beans that have to flown in from some unstable African country.

Yeah and heres another angle:
people argue against allowing cheap EU food into north africa as it would ruin local farmers who could no compete.

Why not let them grow jathropa in the near sahara and sahara conditions so we can both be sustainable?
win-win
we feed they fuel? I certainly prefer it to wars in places like Iraq

thebman

Deleted User wrote: »

how will GM food replace oil? :rolleyes::rolleyes:



Option A) Use oil until it runs out - food gets increasingly expensive and scare just like oil. The poor go hungry

Option Grow biofuel crops - food gets more expensive and scarce as less land is available for food crops. The poor go hungry

Lets not forget that we have farmers being paid to leave land Idle in Europe and crops like the oil producing jathropa will grow where food crops wont.
We can also factory farm oil producing algae in buildings that can be increased in height thus not taking up so much land.

Didn't an Irish man somewhere develop or is testing a way to grow biofuel crops in the sea.

Problem solved. Its not just A or B, there's probably a C.

brim4brim

brim4brim wrote: »

Problem solved. Its not just A or B, there's probably a C.

Ciunas bothar cailin bainne!!! (sp)