"Minnesota chicken farmer culls 5+ million due to bird flu." OH NOES, NO MORE CHIKN AT GROCERY STORE, WE ALL DIES!!!!@#%!
Yeah, not so much. Fear porn is real. Most of the food shortage....not so much.
I won't be so flippant to say there aren't limited quantities for some things, but lets be realistic frens, when Team Evil messes with the supply chain, things happen. Yes, certain things may be short right now. Things will be short in the future too. Some things yes, but remember a certain other commodity was recently believed to be stopped in production but had actually increased production nation wide by over 400% (ammo anyone?)
The reason for the shortage was not so much gov't interfearance (though they've been trying), as new gun owners, hording, and general high demand.
Will we run out of food and have to eat dandelions, dirt and bugs? Unlikely. Right now we are seeing hording, and therefore high demand. We also collectively have millions more mouths to feed more than anticipated (immigrants eat food you know, even illegal ones).
Both take a toll on our generally precise just-in-time inventory system, which is a must up and down the food supply chain to prevent spoilage. Add to that some fairly simple shinnanigans on shipping and some media fear from the left and bingo, fake mass food shortages.
"But Rooks", you say, "With all this surplus food in peoples houses, won't demand dip down again when hrders reach 2 months reserve? Your argument defeated by logixs!"
Hold up there wonder puppy. You forget, NPCs arent firing on all cylinders...or even thinking straight, just left. Remember that guy in CA who filled his truckbed with gas, just by lining it with tarps, then drove off sloshing gas all over the road and sidewalks?
Yeah, its like that.
Last food run i saw people buying 2 months of not just canned corn, but also milk, bread, yogurt, fruits, and deli sushi.
Can't fix stupid.
.
Anyways, So I work with farmers every day. Cow, pig, chicken, duck, crops. Only reason i see they cull a barn herd is when it is actual threat to the barn (local labs/vets checking, plus the farmers themselves, many amish too).
Farmers tend to be pretty based, and don't have time for much nonsense. Any farmer still out there (the American farmer is NOT gone) tends to also have pretty good business savvy, they have to, to survive. Long story short, wiping out large volumes of product isn't something you just say "do it" and they comply.
In addition. Believe it or not, wiping out a million here/there is not that unusual. Uncommon, yes. Notable, barely. Had a farmer just down the road take out .5 million due to flu, 3 years ago. Heard about 40k pig put down due to swine flu (yes, it was real swine flu). Didn't bat an eye, both still in production to this day. One SMALL farmer alone has 5 chicken barns, .5 mill IN EACH BARN. There are hundreds of these all over northern indiana alone.
Once you realize the actual scale of food production in the US, you will see the fear is manufactured, and 5 million dead chickens is... uh... chicken feed compared to actual DAILY production.
Yes, there is a lot more to it than that, yes there is industrial espionage in farms. The whole PETA highring people to work undercover at farms, then inciting/forcing/coercing others to video them doing cruelty to animals, yeah that is real. I personally know a larger farm that was targeted like that by PETA.
You always hear about the leaked video, but not when they find the dudes that did it were plants, and are now in jail for lying to officials during an investigation, false pretenses, conspiracy, not to mention fired and sued by the farm for lying on job app, breach of policy, etc.
Anyways, just a little bit of my take on this.
Best if you are worried, get out of the city, plant a garden, live in the country and make friends with farmers. When a city starves, i guarantee today's farmers won't.
Now im gonna go grill the family some T-bones, sirloins, and make me some mashed 'taters, and a salad, just because i can.... and its mothers day weekend....that too 😉
Yep in our house we've had a couple months of food stored for years, we do rotate food out to the local food pantry. We never went crazy shopping just quietly stocked up little by little.
I know a lot of local farmers, and I have family that farm as well. I haven't seen them panic about food shortages, so I won't either.
Starvation is the best way to kill lots of people and the Communists know this, so its not unreasonable to think they will try to do it.
"The globalists model is to starve Patriots out until they acquiesce to the tyranny" -A.J. Show tagline
I tend to agree, but IMO, I don't know if they can pull it off. Especially at the level they're shooting for.
Lmao what a dumb fucking comment. Starvation is absolutely not the best way to kill lots of people
What’s the quote? Society is three meals away from chaos
Downvote for historical inaccuracy and general boorish demeanor.
Fear is a useful tool to get people to do what purveyors of fear want the masses to do, and it’s used by both sides.
People on this site push fear as well and those from the deep state. People need to think before giving into any hype. As you said most shortages today are the result of people buying more than usual due to fear. The toilet paper shortage last year is a perfect example. There was no reduction in toilet paper production. There was an emotional increase in the purchasing of toilet paper resulting in an artificial shortage.
PEOPLE STOP GIVING IN TO THE HYPE!
And the fact that when 100 people buy toilet paper it empties the whole shelf row. The size to profit ratio is low, so stores don't keep massive stock. And that makes a good picture.
The problem with TP and paper towel is that once the retail shelves empty the truck space to resupply is overwhelming the system. These are very bulky items.
if society is starving, there should not be a toilet paper shortage... there will be nothing to wipe! all kidding aside... I've been driving through our state of Wisconsin and all over farmers are planting crops like crazy... all this talk of food shortage seems to be quite a bunch of fear porn... this will cause the weak-minded people to buy like crazy... thus creating an artificial shortage..... the toilet paper shortage... once people turn off their tell-a-visions, they become smarter.
This 100%
Well said, and true.
"Throw away your television" -RHCP
Solid insights.
And, I like being called a wonder puppy. I don't know why... I just like it.
Ty. 😁
We all get super excited about stuff, even when we're wrong. I know from experience. Many, many times experience.
Kinda yeah real, but not as portrayed, and not nearly as bad as portrayed. Only places it is truly bad is where Team Evil is forcing it by denying food growth or imports. 99% fabricated in this way.
Experienced differently, yes.
US starve....IF it happens, will be completely fabricated, and most likely only in blue strongholds, and event then only cities, or portions of cities (these are only my guesses, of course).
Yup the cities will suffer. Any unrest will worsen thier plight as the warehouses and farms are not in the cities and delivery becomes more difficult. Rural America will be fine, exburbs mostly fine and suburbs ok for the most part. But the cities will suffer.
Funny in a strange way is that Detroit with all its blight may do better than most. There has been a real effort to turn abandoned lots into urban farms. Im not exactly sure how far along they gotten but I have seen some of this with my own eyes. As a city with a population of 2.3 million in 1960 and at 700k now they have a lot of space.
That is actually pretty cool.
If you're interested, I have a post from recent past about Detroit:
https://greatawakening.win/p/15HIY8Z447/yes-the-spiritual-battle-is-real/
The bad rap Detroit gets is amplified because of the blight. Like I said 2.3 million to 700k makes for a lot of decaying buildings. But crime in Detroit isnt any worse than Chicago, Washington, Philly, St. Louis or Baltimore. In fact, since the 70s when the Murder Capital tag was deserved, it is noticeably less dangerous. We dont have the gang violence that a LA has.
I used to go to Tigers games down in Corktown and we do the bar crawl thing through some less than reputable neighborhoods and I cant recall a single incident. Weve walked around downtown at night from the river to Greektown with no problems. Mexicantown is fine.
You have to be situationally aware and as a local you understand the city and its inhabitants. As an outsider of course be careful and Id say that about any large city in America.
But the one thing people from outside see, and it makes everything way scarier than simple reality, is the blight. 2.3 million to 700k, think about it. Thats probably 3/4 of a million vacant homes and countless boarded up businesses that served them. And with that lost tax base how do you clean that stuff up?
Most of that population didnt go far. A lot went north of 8 Mile to Oakland County which is one of the richest in the nation. Livingston County went from a population of probably 50k farmers to near a million upper middle class households. Ann Arbor boomed.
Detroits problems are unique. The auto industry pretty much abandoned it. The small cities that are totally contained within Detroits City limits were sustained by auto factories. Once full of proud middle class Poles, they are ghost towns. It really is a sad state of affairs and it pains me when I see people attack the city I was born in without understanding its plight.
That is great insight, thank you for sharing!
Don't count on that, never say never !!!
Just gonna leave this...
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind...
——2 Timothy 1:7
Amen
Yea, but don’t forget that Joseph convinced the Pharaoh to stockpile food for the upcoming 7-year famine.
You don’t have to be fearful to stockpile food and supplies.
That’s true. But let’s remember the message Joseph interpreted was from God, not CNN.
Nothing wrong with having self sufficiency skills and SHTF preparations—but we don’t want to feed the MSM fear-beast and spark panic and hoarding. Far as I see, Resident F Brando himself warning us of “impending food shortages” is a message straight from the Devil’s taint.
They WANT roving bands of hostile Urban/Antifa/BLM swarming the suburbs and farms—country folks fighting back—any violent excuse to sic NATO/Ukraine hired thugs on us.
Amen!
I think the corporations got a taste of panic buying during the pandemic and want to move forward with it as a business model.
Agreed. It certainly seems so.
in their perfect world they would have panic buying at record prices and inflation. merged with the subscription model.....oh wait that's pfizer. nvm.
The toilet paper rush was a test run. Stock up, but don't go insane.
I buy one if it's on sale and same for paper towels.
We just bought 8 bags of flour at Aldi for $1.52 each. I'm going to vaccum seal them.
Sound advice. Another poster said they stocked up slowly over time. That is the way.
Why'd they pick toilet paper, of all things? Obviously we all agree it was all engineered, right?
Credit goes to DecodingSymbol's Telegram group:
Deep read but may have been Comms. "Poop" has been decoded to mean "evidence" in 100s of works of Clown media within the last century.
You have to think like a child to interpret Symbolism at times. What would cause a shortage of toilet paper? A LOT of people pooping!
This correlates to the train of thought of the Pandemic being almost entirely co-opted by Patriots in an effort to both lockdown Clowns and, to get them to Flip. "Celebrity X got Coronavirus" = Celebrity X sealed indictment or Flipped, that type of deal.
Appreciate the post!
Thank you very much, dear fren. This is very helpful.
Welcome.
No need to panic until the designated time. This is not that time.
When the designated time comes, don't panic, be at peace.
Only one flaw in that analysis of yours....
Sure, stuff like this has happened in the past, but is this year like every other?
For instance, the war in Ukraine has prevented the planting of wheat crops, which supplies wheat to a major part of the world. Where is their food going to come from?
Actually a good question. FWIW, here the farmers are all still planting, and animals are full production. Fertilizer will hit some, but US SHOULD be OK. Were a net exporter of fertilizer.
Also, fyi, a ginormous plant just opened, or is just opening, will increase local area fertilizer production bigly, like double digit percentages. Plus they are supplying nationally. So all good news there.
However,
Prices are indeed going to be high. Not just inflation, but the gas is hurting farmers more than us. Filling a tractor with diesel used to cost $750.00. Now it costs over $1450.00.
The food will be there, but everything will add up.
I have a theory that this was planned for and that counties that voted for Trump will be taken care of while the shortages will be diverted to blue strongholds. This is to amplify the narrative, to be able to show the idiots voting for establishment what that looks like while foregoing full punishment to those of us who voted for the pro life candidate.
I mean really... This hasn't been as bad as it could be or arguably should be. It sucks, but it's not forever and we know what's coming. We'll have the resources to weather the storm.
I tend to agree with this. This is very close to the reports I've heard as well from friends and family all across the country.
Most people could use a couple of days of being hungry.
Lol! Not gonna argue with that. Hunger redpills very fast.
Hunger is most likely coming on our current course. It would be better to happen while we still have some semblance of the first and second ammendment
Tonight I ate 20 morel mushrooms and 25 asparagus tips, all from my backyard.
Fantastic. This is what it's about.
I was quietly thinking the same thing. When Biden announced food shortages that when I started ringing the bullshit bell. Doesn’t mean that I’m not being smart and planting a garden and sticking up when/where I can smartly. Just means that I’ve decided not to panic.
Good perspective.
Plus, a new crop of chickens can be raised in a couple months.
If it ever gets to SHTF, I will be getting a few rabbits to farm, cause they f*** like rabbits, and there will be a never-ending meat supply.
That plus one milk cow will get anybody by -- if push comes to shove.
That's my plan, building rabbit cage now. Rabbits are amazing 10 does 2 bucks can supply 1764 lbs of dressed meat per year, 5 lbs per day. And you can easily source feed, garden / grass clippings, weeds, leaves, bark, plenty of stories of war time hutches feeding kitchen scraps. Highest amount of protein lowest amount of fat, (important to add healthy fats and carbs to diet, consumption of just rabbit can lead to protein poisoning). And a endless supply of fertilizer to boot.
Want me one of them jersey cows too. Been making my own butter an soft cheese for a while now, (local dairy) and using milk substrate for probiotics production, along with fermentations.
A few pigs in a portable pin on a bed of wood chips for carbon capture will build rich soil fast, and they'll eat just about anything.
A few lady layers an a feisty old crow with a grub farm production, then your set for life.
The cow is the only thing that need a little land. Minus the cow all can be done with an acre, self sustainably.
Grandpa had a similar set up, minus the cow, that with hunting, fishing, and trolling he fed the whole damn neighborhood. When he passed, the wake was a week long, I didn't realize they had that many damn people in south louisiana. Day and night for 7 long days, the stories, the glories, the sorrows, the love and the lost was incredible. This is what is born out of love for community and humanity.
3 car garage = 3,000 pounds of meat per year and 12 dozen eggs per day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbmjCN4T19o&t=4m59s
Polyface Farm, Joel Salatin has been a hero of mine for years, read all of his books, think i stumbled upon him 15-20 years ago. He has changed the production paradigm of small farming in a legacy that will out live him. I'm glad to see his son is carrying the banner. I think i even saw his grandkids being interviewed.
The symbiotic chicken rabbit combo makes sense, put that in a portable hoop house aka a prairie schooner then you got something.
Tks for the video link, been there done that.
Im an avid hunter and fisherman and have a large smokehouse.
What part of the world you call home?
Bought my first gun when I was 9 a hawkins 50 in a kit took my first deer with it the second season i had it. Been buying ever since, got quite a collection, in my whole life only sold two, and they were friends that were constantly begging and barrowing them any way, let them go for next to nothing.
Here in the south there's a thriving white tail population lots of turkey, and wild pigs too, tracked a black bear once, and saw a cat in the distance bout the size of a Shepard. Here in bama the deer are a bit bigger than the marsh deer in south louisiana, but ain't nothing like the northern northwestern game. Texas had a healthy population, I really like the long shot out in west texas.
Love to fish, but I've been spoiled, louisiana is a fisherman's paradise, and having worked offshore, got hooked on fishing by the platforms, (pulling them up two at a time) man made reef.
Now spear fishing the platforms is something else entirely different, you go down there and kinda pick out the one you want. I had the boat, a buddy I worked with had the dive gear (dive master) and after the first plunge, there was no turning back. Double certified naui and pati now. Closest to zero g on earth you can be, properly weighted you inhale you ascend you exhale you decend, and act like a graceful Ballerina in between.
A Real Smoke house is on my to do list, I like that cold smoke. I have a couple of barrel smokers and will do in a pinch, but when i get the time and a few dollars ahead.
Im in Michigan.
Monster deer by comparison. What's the story of chronic wasting disease in the deer population in Michigan?
Hasn't made it's way this far south yet.
Overblown for the most part. In some areas its a problem but its a symptom of a broken management system. We have tons of deer. To the point they are a nuisance species. Urban and suburban areas are over run. But where Texas has as many bucks as does, does here outnumber bucks by 4 or 5 to 1. This huge surplus of does is bound to bring disease. They have been working on better management. At one point I could take a doe a day during the Oct 1 to Nov 14 early bow and again during late bow from Dec 1 to Jan 1. And they have an early 2 week gun and a 2 week youth hunt in Sept, does only. Last year they upped the antler size on bucks. I cant remember what it is because I only take trophys any more. Most of the deer I take are archery and does for food and to quit eating my damn garden and fruit trees. I saved my cut hair and hung it from the fruit trees and garden posts last year and it did help I think. Learned that trick from the Peach Orchard at Gettysburg.
Cut hair, Cool tip I'll have to try it. Like you, I'm no longer after the rack, spend my youth in foolish pursuit of things that just don't matter anymore, one of the benefits of growing old. A doe a day could fill a freezer fast.
Chronic Wasting Disease is also tied to animal based protein supplement fed to grow those antlers. It's a prion disease, that's not just mismanagement that's plain stupid.
But I agree buck to doe ratio is important for a healthy herd.
Garden, fruit trees, abundant game population, fishing, sounds like you have a sweet setup.
Ice fishing is on my to do list one day, don't know if it was misrepresented, but on "grumpy old men" and in other movies it looked like a cool way to spend a winter day. Some of those shacks look like glorified man caves.
Tks for sharing fren, stay frosty.
The meat birds only take about 6 weeks.
Ive got chickens for eggs and the roaster and roaster rabbits. They are good eating in a stew. I dont eat them as like steak or roast though.
If there's no real shortages, how come grocery stores all across the country have whole sections that are completely empty? Very little rice, pasta, flour, chicken, beef, frozen foods, and more. I haven't seen a canning jar lid in a store in many months. I saw them that one time, and then there were months before that with none on the shelves. Not a single store in my area had the usual displays of canning supplies last year. I doubt there will be any this year. Some of the long-term storage food companies are out of stock, and at least one has shut down.
So there are real shortages across the range of foods and food-related items. You can see countless YouTube videos of empty store shelves across the country.
I don't know what the heck is going on here. Stores, including the big box ones that have had empty shelves for months, are awash in food - meat cases full, bread aisle full, canned and dairy full. I haven't seen this much food in Walmart since before Covid. Only place still with gaping holes is the canned catfood aisle.
Same is true in the smaller, regional groceries, which never were as bereft of food as the Walmarts but still had plenty of empty aisles.
A trucker told me the other day he's paying nearly $6 a gallon for deisel and that's going to cause totally empty shelves "within a month." No signs of it now.
You're lucky. The stores here have lots of empty shelves. Luckily my shelves at home are full. But there are a few things I'd like to buy, but they aren't in the stores any more.
This started here about three weeks ago. Prior to that, you couldn't find chicken in Walmart at all. If you did, some hoarder was loading their cart up with every package. But meanwhile the regional stores may not have, say, wings, but plenty of other chicken. I haven't seen this kind of stocks in a Walmart for a long time and now all of them have plenty of everything. I haven't looked for canning lids at Walmart. Rural King here had plenty. Amazon has oodles, have you looked there?
A lot of this people don't know about this. Here, menards and home depot have food sections. If you look there you may find quite a surprise. If the chain store shelves are empty
The Ball lids on Amazon are fakes. I ordered a box last year. The box says Ball, but the lids are blank. They are very thin, and the edges will cut you. The underside of a real lid is coated in white enamel. These fake lids had a thin coat of white paint that left bare spots of metal showing. The "rubber" seemed to be a thin coat of red paint. I have found some good lids at Lehman's.
That's good to know. I'm glad you found them. I've seen a number of reviews on Amazon where people said they received fakes. I try when I can to only order things sold by Amazon or other sellers I know are legit.
Really it is this. It depends on the area, state, political party in charge, etc.
Main chains seem to be having a lot of distribution issues, smaller regional not as much
It could be partly the huge price hikes. More poorer people shopping at Walmart here. Prices are horrible. Also, Walmart is now more expensive on a lot of things than the two regional chains here. For example, a big pack of chicken tenders was almost double at Walmart what they were selling for at Food Lion. Regular prices at both stores. That could also be a reason why there's more food - people not buying.
I hate our local Walmart. Produce is close to spoiled, and meats you get turn rancid in a day of purchase if not cooked right away.
FYI we buy a 1/4 cow each year. The meat is more expensive but quality is crazy good, and goes longer because its so lean. 1lb of burg is 4.50, but it's like...87-93% equivalent. When we make tacos there is no grease to drain off.
I have two local butcher shops and a local farm where I get most of my meat when I'm close to them, but I get a lot of other things at Walmart. The butcher shops aren't really any more expensive but the farm is even though the shops' meat is from other local farms. I live out in the country, 40 minutes or more from any local stores. I don't have enough time to traipse around the six different stores to find things.
BTW, I hate the closest Walmart here but there are two others a little further away that are much nicer.
Thanks for the insight. I guess we really have no clue re. the magnitude of farmers, but it seems like a hard life dependent on the weather and keeping animals healthy. No guarantees for farmers-dependent on weather, transportation, market demand, etc. Better to be safe than sorry. It is useless to stock up on perishables. You can freeze bread, but not so much milk and sushi! Lol. Better yet, buy flour and bulk yeast. Learn how to make it-cheaper, no preservatives, bake as you need. If you have to eat bread you won’t go hungry, but also not the best for your diet. Buy canned protein and rotate. If you don’t need it, donate before it expires. We haven’t seen major shortages-less frozen chicken nuggets, patties, decreased fresh chicken and turkey, but still available. Mothers and fathers, make your own nuggets. It is easy, tastes better, and no preservatives. Spend a couple hours on the weekend. Cook just until done and the pop in the oven or microwave for a quick meal. Get food that will stretch, but can also be eaten cold in case of a brief power outage: canned tuna can make a casserole to serve 12 portions; if no electricity, you can open a can or mix with pasta (heat water on your grill to cook rice or pasta and throw together). Dried beans keep forever, just need to soak and cook. Canned pasta products for the kids. A 25# bag of rice and flour go along way. Mix with a little protein and it will sustain you.
Yes, that is the typical depiction, but so far from the modern farmer.
Drone tech helps watch crops for needed irrigation, insect intrusion, disease... GPS helps with planting, crop density, location and efficiency, etc. Farmer down the road works hard, then goes north to his cabin in the winter, snow mobiling. Spring/summer rides around on Polaris rangers, rides cycles in Florida, etc.
Modern farmers work hard, play hard, and hire others to do all that for them while they travel, or go to the near barn with full size basketball court, sound systems, wet bar, etc.
Wow, here I pictured poor struggling farmers barely holding on to their farms.
It is definitely the picture they portray. And don't get me wrong, some people still lose their farms, but from what I've seen, it's almost always been to misfortune or mismanagement, not that farmers can't get a break.
In talking to some I find too, food price manipulation can directly help or hurt farmers, and unless you are a huge corporate farm, a lot carry crop insurance to play safe.
Flip side, I know a guy never had more than 250 acres, owns everything outright, kids had full ride through college, was able to buy his oldest a starter tract, I doing well, just gotta know how to get it done, just like any business.
Yeah, I'm not into ugly art. 😉
OP must be rich to be able to buy beef. I can't buy beef until it has been on the shelf long enough to be marked down for quick sale. And even then, I don't get steaks, because even at half price, they're too expensive.
I get steak at 4.50/lb,, otherwise I'd never get it.
Go out to the country and talk to small town, look at local ads, you can buy a 1/4 beef, or even a 1/2 side of beef, have it delivered to a processor, and they will package it for you. We buy a rear 1/4 beef 1x a year and it is all our beef for about a year. It's really lean burg too.
The beauty of living in fly-over country, local farmers are Mennonite or Amish. They have been doing just fine. Lots of fertilizer for their fields and all the surplus food they grow they sell at our local farmers market.
This. Was at a shop yesterday, shelves fully stocked.
Deli sushi? There's perfectly good 5 day old sushi at the gas station. How some people spend their money... ⛽🍣 😨
I just buy the fish freeze it and make sushi whenever I want
What do those factory farmers feed their livestock?
Do they realize that they are almost completely dependent upon imported and GMO crops, which are vulnerable to a variety of impending events?
What is the cost of diesel fuel today? Where does liquid nitrogen come from? How much food do we import from China? What happens when migrant laborers don't arrive to do work that US citizens won't touch?
Your argument exacerbates my concern. Factory farming is a fragile and insustainable practice, due to economies of scale.
We simply haven't yet experienced the catalyst.
People need to get back in touch with their food. During previous periods of famine, people survived because they could grow, hunt or forage enough to avoid starvation. We are now looking at billions who either lack the knowledge or access to land required to feed themselves.
The ultimate form of slavery.
That is a lot to unpack. Also while there is a lot to be concerned about, some is regional, some is moot, and some idk.
Factory farms are sustainable, and reports of how they function is hyped up by members of Team Evil. Many "factory" farms are free range, chickens go out during day, and instinctually go in at night. Believe what you want. If you want to know the truth of them, I'd suggest you visit one, or even work at one for a spell. What you learn may surprise you.
Feed is local. Anything imported can be replaced from local sources. Local fertilizer plant is going online this spring/summer. Massive local plant will supply nationally. It's huge.
GMO crops are a boogeyman to a large extent. Ask a farmer about them.
I talked about diesel in another comment it will drive food prices up, real concern. L.nitro is situational use, and not required by vast majority.
We are a net exporter of foods. Some exotic stuff we will lack from imports.
Modern farmers here, out of hundreds of farms, I've seen one that used foreign labor.
Can't attest for other regions (west coast). If they want their crops and don't have imported labor, I suggest they get off their lazy butts and get to work, just my $0.02.
You seem to have Internet or school knowledge about how things work, not practical knowledge. Agreed, self sustained living is awesome, but just not practical for most people. A living society can afford to compartmentalize jobs and allow for specializations. Main thing I object to is when a town or city tries to restrict growth of food on private land. Cities are notorious for that.
Thank you for offering to enlighten me. I grew up in eastern Colorado and the other side of my family does equipment maintenance for warehouses and processing facilities. My family has worked in agriculture and trucking my entire life. I currently live in Florida and have connections to various types of fruit production and processing.
Between them all I have first or second-hand experience inside pork and beef CAFOS, poultry & beef processing, grain elevators, potato, hemp, corn, sunflower, fruit, bean & wheat farming, and hauling/application of manure, anhydrous, cattle, and every type of product that went in or out of the area.
My brother worked for an irrigation company and relayed the issues with depletion of the finite Ogalalla Aquifer, which supplies the irrigation and drinking water for a massive swath of the corn belt. The entire system of these factory farms depends upon thirsty plants being grown in an inhospitable area and dependent upon a disappearing water source.
Planting and harvesting is performed completely at the mercy of equipment manufacturers whose components are manufactured everywhere but here, which can be remotely disabled, and which rely upon a steady supply of affordable diesel.
Distribution is dependent upon trucking companies and owner-operators who are feeling the pinch with fuel prices, labor shortages and supply-chain issues resulting in parked trucks for lack of parts. And have you seen the price of tires, lately?
In regards to "free range chickens":
That is the easiest thing in this entire post to dispute. Certainly you know the requirements of a free range poultry operation? Spoiler: It requires a small outdoor area, which the chickens mostly ignore because the GMO grain food is inside.
Want to talk about "organic dairy"? In one of the largest US organic dairies, the cows live on concrete in a slimy, shit-filled barn. They have a required period to be on pasture, so when they are dry they are put out on a barren field for optics. They can't wait to get back into the barn to get filled back up with grain.
I'm happy for you, but that is not the overall case. See my above comments.
I don't have to ask. I have stood next to a mountain of corn on the ground because GMO and irrigation allows for colossal harvests and have seen farmers lose an entire crop due to inclement weather.
I know that the soil is dead and that monoculture farming is dependent upon petrochemicals. I know that farmers are in an arms race against noxious weeds and pests, due to resistance to said chemicals. And (as I stated) these crops are water-intensive and would not survive without irrigation and petrochemicals.
Glad that we agree about the diesel. Perhaps you know more about L.nitro than I do, but I don't see corn belt farmers doing without it.
Exotic stuff such as equipment, parts, fuel, chemicals, agricultural pharmaceuticals, labor, etc.?
It goes both ways. We are beholden to the global supply chain to sell our products and to purchase what we no longer manufacture here.
Since we are sharing anecdotes: I am connected to farming in Florida and the high plains and I don't know of a single farmer who doesn't utilize foreign labor. Happy to compare notes, if you like.
Americans and second-generation immigrants have proven to be adverse to migrant labor conditions. It's not even about laziness so much as the temporary nature of many of the jobs. You don't get a 9-5 asparagus picking job. Anyone is free to delve into the nuances of both sides of the migrant labor issue.
I hope that this misconception has been dispelled.
A bit off-topic, but I'm curious what the insurance payouts are for farmers when they have to cull their livestock? Is the payout based upon their investment thus far, or is it based upon the end-value of the livestock when it hits the market? How much difference is there, between the payout vs. what they would have received if the livestock made it?
First, IANAL, this is IMHO, I'm not a big farmer(Read: not even classified as a small farmer), YMMV, and OBGYN. 🙂
With That out of the way, Insurance often depends. For livestock, I've seen where an investor will purchase the animals, then send to a farmer who has an open barn who then raises them for a fee. Owner will have insurance on the livestock, while the farmer has insurance on the barn/production facilities.
I know of one where 420 piglet suffocated at a new production because of hvac failure and dampers shut by accident (SNAFU insued, farmer didnt get the hvac alarm in time to save them). Insurance paid out to the owner minus the deductible i think it was initial investment. Farmer himself got insurance for his time. He said, " Well, as soon as 2 people get into business together, things can happen". IIRC They split cost for disposal of the carcasses.
For more info, see if you can talk to a farm insurance agent. My experience has been most all of them are more than happy to talk shop, And a valuable resource to the farming industry. Most know all about how this stuff works. Their actuarial tables and projection algorithms are secret, how the farming industry works is not.
Interesting -- thanks. I imagine it's not a requirement to insure your livestock, so, in those cases, farmers have a lot to lose!
It's pretty bad these days, don't know any farmer w/o insurance, though I don't know how it could be required.
Now that you mention it, I bet it was final value. I'm remembering it was something like $250k.
Pigs are like cows. Depending on type and intended final product they have vastly different values.
Per head:
Regular beef cow, $1k-5k
Milking cow, $5k-10k
Birthing cow, 5k-15k
Stud bull, $10k-50k+ (one...sample could go for $2k easily)
Angus beef cow $10k-20k+
.
These are just general estimates that fluctuate widely depending on LOTS of factors.
just throwing this in there too: farmers in my wifes family, ALL of them are going to be planting this year, just cutting out some fertilizer. Yield will be impacted but only by about 10-15% estimated.
That sounds accurate.
Each region will be a little different based on sources of fertilizer and other supplies.
It is not about growing food but a supply chain breaking down. This will lead to a food shortage of certain food items not grown locally..... I stock up on foods not locally grown.
I worked at a chicken processing plant and i can tell you the whole thing is cruel but necessary , not sure how PETA can get away with any of the animal cruelty stuff ....because dispatching and processing aint pretty .
The two I remember, one was chicken place, they were kicking the birds, stomping them.
Other was Pigs, don't want to know what they were doing to them.
For an animal rights group, they put people up to some twisted things.
You don't even wanna know what they do to dogs they steal from yards.
Thanks for this post. I will not be part of any hoarding issues. Ive seen this coming since November 2016 and have been building up ever since. My siblings and I have a plan if there is any temporary societal breakdown. We are ready.
Maybe we need to put bumper stickers on the hoarders' cars - "Follow me home, I have plenty of meat." Heh
Google how many chickens america eats in a day, it will put things in perspective.
I have an idea....have the soybean farmers cut production...and...poof...there goes half of the progressive lefts population. David Hogg would be the first casualty
LOL! I like it!
I did my stocking up at the food drives during the height of the plandemic Some good stock up items powdered eggs, milk in cartons not needing refrigeration canned meats. Might not be 5 star or our hearts content...but we won't starve.
I remember when people downplayed a global depopulation vaccination program as fear porn. Yet here we are...
I don't know why people are putting blind trust in ANYONE - black or white hat - with our food supply.
At the end of the day, food is life and I don't want to take any chances.
We as individuals are our own last line of defense.
Yes. 100%.
There was a reason for victory gardens. Anyone with the ability should follow suit.
Not everyone can be self sufficient, but every bit helps.
Guess that’s why Grocery Store chains are putting armed security at front doors to tell everyone to “chill out”. Whatever happens..happens. Gotta get back to planting 700’ of sweet corn and all the other veggies. Be/get prepared cuz I’m not hearing that everything gonna be ok and that’s from all my farmer friend/family and neighbors.
I'm not either, it's gonna be rough. However, not gonna be doom and gloom, starvation in the streets either, not from what I'm seeing, hearing, doing.
Just buy a few items for it every time you get your normal groceries and a couple things all year worth of grocery shopping won't put a burden on the system and you stock up plenty
This.
Thank you for the perspective. It's always good to hear from someone close to the ground who knows how things really are.
Even so, it doesn't hurt to have some things stored away. We learned that lesson after what happened when covid fear first hit and people were panicking. It just made sense not to be one item away from nothing. Panicked people can clean out a store pretty quickly, and if you have a little put away, you have the luxury of being able to wait until everyone calms down..
Exactly right. Think smart, plan in advance.
It took a while, but i finally started gardening, and i am loving it. It not only means I can feed my family, but it's actually kinda relaxing.
Agreed. Much better than wasting time on FB, but not quite as good as a switch. 😉
NP. Not saying it will be roses, but IMO, we should not doom and gloom about it.
Remember those deer are edible too. 😉