Potential Food and Energy Shortage Across the World

[KJS]

- Beer is the smallest problem. Meat plants have five or six days of carbon dioxide stocks. Later, pigs and poultry will be slaughtered, because nobody has carbon dioxide - emphasizes Witold Choiński, president of the Polskie Mięso association, in an interview with Business Insider.

This may be a bigger problem because Poland is the largest poultry producer in the EU:

(...) As a result of growing demand, a USDA report estimates that in 2020, Polish chicken meat production will reach 2.2 million mt, representing a 1.5% increase over 2019. Despite this moderate growth, Poland will remain the EU’s largest poultry meat producer.

Will Poland remain the EU’s largest poultry meat producer? - Poultry World

Will Poland remain the EU’s largest poultry meat producer?

www.poultryworld.net

 

[Magnolia]

If the government does not do anything about it, 80-90 percent of pork and poultry may be slaughtered - warns the president of the Polish Meat Union.

A year ago, IceAgeFarmer, Adapt2030 and others predicted the slaughtering of farm animals in 3rd quarter 2022 due to lack of feed (fertilizer shortages, weather anomalies) processing plant constraints, transportation issues, etc. They projected that for a short period of time meat supply would be abundant and prices would plummet.......then, shortly after that, supply would shrink and prices would skyrocket.

Looking at the meat section in the grocery store yesterday (Northeast US), it seems they might have been on target? Chicken was $1/lb, pork $2/lb, beef steak $3/lb -- 50% to 75% less than they cost over the past 6 months. There are no explanations for any such price variations in the local news. We are expected to just take things as they come.

 

[thorbiorn]

European crops damaged by summerlong heatwaves.

The silver lining, I hear from sources in North European agricultural sector, is that the drying expenses for the harvested crops have been minimal. In a normal year, drying the crops would have costed a fortune in electricity. In a normal year, if there is continuous rain, you may harvest with water of more than 20 % but you have to bring it down. Here it is explained:

Getting the Right Wheat Moisture Content for Storage
The ideal wheat moisture content at harvest is between 18% and 20%. This is above the ideal wheat moisture content for stored wheat. You’ll want to bring the moisture content down to 13.5% if you plan to sell soon, since that is the ideal wheat moisture content for the best selling price. If you plan to store the wheat for a year, or more, you’ll want to bring it down even more to 12.5%.

To dry wheat, air is forced at a high flow rate through the grain, which carries moisture away. It’s the temperature and relative humidity of the drying air that causes wheat to dry to a desired moisture level.

Let’s say the air is 60 degrees and the relative humidity of the air is 70%. If that air is heated to 80 degrees, the relative humidity will drop to around 35%. Those conditions would take the wheat’s moisture content from say 14% to under 9%. When the air is heated, it can hold more water, which in turn dries the wheat to a lower moisture content.

Say you harvest 6 tons of wheat per ha at 20 %, and you want it down to 12.5 %, then you have to remove 7.5 % which is 0.45 tons of water for every ha of harvested wheat. If you have 100 ha of wheat harvested with 20 % of water, you would have to remove 45 tons of water.

From August 7, the level of reduction in the fertilizer production
Another issue is from Home | ICIS. They have a range of paid services, but are kind enough to retweet when others post some of their info, as in this example:

The list of fertilizer and chemical plants shutting down or rationing in the EU is impressive. With these gas prices, the list will grow. According to @ICISOfficial, around 40% of urea production may have been cut in EU. Despite a possible recession, food prices will increase.

Their page carried an interview, where they mention a new normal, but not due to Covid:

The key question is: Where will the new normal for energy prices be for the industry? The jury is still out, he noted.

On 25 August, the ICIS benchmark for European gas prices – the front month Dutch TTF – hit a record high of over $91/MMBtu. Prices were mostly in the single digits through the first half of 2021 before the start of higher volatility. Volatility intensified after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February and the subsequent reduction of Russia gas flows into Europe.

The LANXESS CEO expects a peak in European energy prices soon.

“Let’s face it – we have reached a situation where it really cannot get that much worse. The capital markets are factoring in a tough recession – a hard landing. Energy prices have reached a peak – the worst scenario – and therefore there are little further negative

Well, let us see which direction it will take.
Edit: a news release from Home - Fertilizers Europe

Brussels, 26 August 2022:
Rocketing gas prices have led to curtailment or shutdown of majority of European fertilizer production. With the cost of natural gas 8-10 higher in Europe compared to the US and even more compared to other fertilizer industry hubs, the European producers are not able to compete on the domestic and global market. An urgent and decisive EU-driven crisis management action is needed to restore fertilizer production. This is key to secure EU’s strategic autonomy for fertilizer and to ensure Europe’s long-term food security. The European fertilizer industry faces an unprecedented crisis with gas prices soaring over 1000%* from levels a year ago.

The EU was a vassal, and is now on the way to become a slave.

 

[Honzap]

Nanny State Test: Company Locks Thermostats of 22K Customers, Cites 'Energy Emergency'

For many Americans, the summer of 2022 has been a blistering hot and humid miserable existence. It’s just one of those years when one truly appreciates the comfort provided by something as simple as an air conditioning unit. How did we live without them?

But for some 22,000 Xcel Energy customers in Colorado who wanted to be a little more comfortable on Tuesday when the thermometer was pegged at 90+ degrees, a bizarre message flashed on their thermostats indicating they’d lost the ability to control the temperature in their own homes.

According to KMGH-TV, “Energy Emergency” was part of the message that flashed on thermostats as temperatures skyrocketed and Xcel customers desperately tried to crank the A/C.

“Temperature locked temporarily during energy emergency. Due to a rare energy emergency that may affect the local energy grid, your temperature slider has been changed from 8:00 pm – 8:00 pm because you enrolled in a Community Energy Savings Program...

Well, I don't see how having an internet connected thermostat would make our lives any better than a standard programmable un-smart thermostat. Which by the way can be said about all other smart appliances.

Thinking this thru, even if a house is not a smart house (preferably), the power company can still get you every single time on the meter. These days, all analog meters are gone, replaced by digital units and readings are happening remotely. The very same remote can be used to trickle or stop the electricity power coming to your house.

I wish it was just a bad joke.
Nope, it is not

 

[Magnolia]

IceAgeFarmer posted an ominous statement yesterday or today (copied below).

"Biden/Trump have now mutually declared each other enemies of the state, within just the last days. The stage is now set, and an extraordinarily dangerous show is about to begin. The USA likes to do things bigger and better, and this will be no exception. Once this kicks off there will be no stopping it, and I expect escalation of crises and conflicts worldwide. Keep your wits about you and continue moving away from the system, towards self-sufficiency in food, energy, medicine, local markets/currencies. Radical and rapid decentralization is the only way forward. Comms will go down at some point. I am grateful and honored to have shared this space with you. Godspeed and God bless. Christian / @iceagefarmer"

We haven't had rain where I live for 3 months and we're supposed to get at least 3 inches on dry-as-toast, hilly terrain over the next 24 hours, so the atmosphere is already charged without being further darkened by statements like this. Then there's Adapt2030 on sotts saying all heck will break loose on Sept 16 (kind of specific, and he's missed the mark before). Anyhow -- an FYI.

 

[Chad]

The dark absurdity of this made me laugh out loud: One of the UK's most watched morning TV programs This Morning currently has a competition, and the prize is either 1,000 GBP cash, or their energy bills paid for the next 4 months.

Article published today: This Morning offers to pay people's energy bills on Spin to Win

What with Europe's energy stores not expected to last through the winter (90 days according to Reuters) unless rationing is enforced, will the next top prize be '1 hours worth of electricity'?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1566816683683192835

Side note: i only watched the video once, but i got the impression that the host helped the wheel stop on that prize. Even if he didn't, he should.

Some small businesses in the UK are facing energy bills of 500% more than usual - and, according to one Tweeter, some of these bills are already starting to come into effect, which means that we won't necessarily to have to wait until winter:

 

[Pierre]

"The energy bill of Vert Marine the company that manages 30 public swimming pools in France has risen from 15 to 100 million euros, i.e. its entire turnover. As a result it has decided to close its 30 public pools"

https://twitter.com/x/status/1566797062934511617

 

[Magnolia]

A List Of 33 Things We Know About The Coming Food Shortages​

Michael Snyder, Activist Post, Sept 5, 2022: "Things are far worse than you are being told."

The primary examples:
#1 The hard red winter wheat crop in the United States this year “was the smallest since 1963”. But in 1963, there were only 182 million people living in this nation. Today, our population has grown to 329 million.
#2 It is being projected that the rice harvest in California will be “half what it would be in a normal year”.
#3 The U.S. tomato harvest will come in at just 10.5 million tons in 2022. That is over a million tons lower than a normal year.
#4 This will be the worst U.S. corn harvest in at least a decade.
#5 Year-to-date shipments of carrots in the United States are down 45 percent.
#6 Year-to-date shipments of sweet corn in the United States are down 20 percent.
#7 Year-to-date shipments of sweet potatoes in the United States are down 13 percent.
#8 Year-to-date shipments of celery in the United States are down 11 percent.
#9 Total peach production in the U.S. is down 15 percent from last year.
#11 Thanks to the endless drought, the total number of cattle in Oregon is down 41 percent.
#12 Thanks to the endless drought, the total number of cattle in New Mexico is down 43 percent.
#13 Thanks to the endless drought, the total number of cattle in Texas is down 50 percent.
#18 Corn production for the entire EU could be down by as much as one-fifth in 2022.
#19 We are being warned that there will be crop losses in France of up to 35 percent.
#20 It is being projected that crop losses in some areas of the UK could be as high as 50 percent.
#21 It is being reported that there will be crop losses “of up to 50 percent” in some parts of Germany.
#22 Some farmers in Italy have already lost “up to 80% of their harvest”.
#23 Agricultural production in Somalia will be down about 80 percent this year.
#24 In eastern Africa, the endless drought has already resulted in the deaths of at least seven million animals.
#26 India normally accounts for 40 percent of the global rice trade, but we are being warned that production in that country will be way down in 2022 due to “considerable rainfall deficits in key rice producing states”.
#27 A third of the entire nation of Pakistan was under water after recent floods absolutely devastated that nation......the vast majority of the crops in the country have been “washed away”…
#28 The prices of some fertilizers have tripled since 2021, while the prices of some other fertilizers have actually quadrupled.
#30 Demand at U.S. food banks is now even worse than it was during the height of the COVID pandemic.
"As global food supplies get tighter and tighter, so will the risk of civil unrest."

Associated Article The summer drought’s hefty toll on American crops
Hyperbole and cherry-picking of data? On the other hand:

(Joe) There's a lot of articles in the past two weeks about rumors of food shortages this winter due to various reasons. It's not just high food prices, but food shortages. ....

A: Weather destruction of food sources has been covered up by fake news.

 

[Laurs]

Speaking of sky high energy bills being the downfall of European SME's, I saw this Dutch article (in Dutch) about butchers, bakery's and launderettes in the Netherlands. On top of these gigantically high bills, increases in wages have to be paid due to personnel shortages. They are not passing on all these extra costs to consumers, yet there are bakeries whose energy bill went from Euro 30,000 to Euro 370,000! Unsurprisingly, the sector expects that 40 to 60% of all artisan bakeries will be wiped out before the 1st of January 2023. Launderettes doing laundry of bedding for state hospitals and nursing homes find that they are unable to renegotiate their contracts. Some have just stopped doing laundry, which means beds in hospitals can't be used. Yet, the Dutch government does another savings round on Health care of 600 million Euro's (article in Dutch), while spending 730 million Euro's on the asylum seekers! However, the tabloid newspaper reports that practically no one agrees with these policies. Will it matter, though?

Meanwhile Portuguese dairy farmers are still killing off their herds due to spiraling costs of animal feed, while the ones that are still alive are being squeezed dry by the large supermarket chains for the price of milk.

 

[loreta]

Speaking of sky high energy bills being the downfall of European SME's, I saw this Dutch article (in Dutch) about butchers, bakery's and launderettes in the Netherlands. On top of these gigantically high bills, increases in wages have to be paid due to personnel shortages. They are not passing on all these extra costs to consumers, yet there are bakeries whose energy bill went from Euro 30,000 to Euro 370,000! Unsurprisingly, the sector expects that 40 to 60% of all artisan bakeries will be wiped out before the 1st of January 2023. Launderettes doing laundry of bedding for state hospitals and nursing homes find that they are unable to renegotiate their contracts. Some have just stopped doing laundry, which means beds in hospitals can't be used. Yet, the Dutch government does another savings round on Health care of 600 million Euro's (article in Dutch), while spending 730 million Euro's on the asylum seekers! However, the tabloid newspaper reports that practically no one agrees with these policies. Will it matter, though?

Meanwhile Portuguese dairy farmers are still killing off their herds due to spiraling costs of animal feed, while the ones that are still alive are being squeezed dry by the large supermarket chains for the price of milk.

I think it was Pepe Escobar that said, in one of his articles, that all the small stores and small businesses will disappear right away in short time, and we are seeing how they are doing this, how their Plan is working absolutely with an excellency that is astounding. Because it is not about the war or Russia, we know that, but about erasing everything, the small business in particular, to just have for us the big business, Carrefour and company. And the big farms. And everything genetically modified. I can not imagine in India, if things continue like that, how much many farmers will suicide.

It is a genocide, really.

 

[loreta]

"The energy bill of Vert Marine the company that manages 30 public swimming pools in France has risen from 15 to 100 million euros, i.e. its entire turnover. As a result it has decided to close its 30 public pools"

https://twitter.com/x/status/1566797062934511617

During Nazism Jews could not go swimming in swimming pools, today it is everyone. Soon everyone will not be able to take the metro or the train either (like in Germany the jews), for lack of money. Nor will they be able to go to restaurants, cinemas, or theaters. Or libraries!!!! Nor will they be able to visit museums, because the electricity bills will be too high. So, it is all of us today who are the Jews, the hated race that must be eliminated step by step, without any pretense, with the excuse that electricity is too expensive.

The C's told us that what happened in Germany in the 1930s was a trial run, today it is being implemented, and it is amazing how smoothly everything is going!

 

[loreta]

I apologize if this article has already been posted. It is an excellent article about the land in Ukraine that the vultures of this planet have or want to take over. It's a new piece of the Ukrainian puzzle, and it allows understanding that one of the objectives of this war is the theft of the land, which was the richest of the planet. I put this article in this thread because the principal subject, after all, is food.

Whose Grain Is Being Shipped From Ukraine?

A great humanitarian uproar in recent weeks demanding the safe shipping of Ukrainian grain to ease a hunger crisis in Africa and elsewhere is deceptive on

journal-neo.org

 

[mabar]

The C's told us that what happened in Germany in the 1930s was a trial run, today it is being implemented, and it is amazing how smoothly everything is going!

Way too smoothly.

Switzerland considers JAILING anyone who heats rooms above 19C for up to three years if the country is forced to ration gas due to Ukraine war

The country could also give fines of up to 3,000 Swiss Francs (£2,667)
In gas-heated buildings, water could not be heated to more than 60C (140F)
Radiant heaters would be banned and saunas and swimming pools would have to be cold
Likely that the proposed measures will be subject to challenges and disputes

Concerns!?

Regarding the potential new measures, the cantons of Switzerland have until September 22 to submit any concerns.

Sense of proportion with the "culture of denunciation" as if they would not know the state of histeria already in mass psyque...
Well, I have not registered or seen the level of hysteria of the Plandemia in Switzerland, compared to its neighbors, maybe they want to try as if chewing gum and glued.

Advising the government, the report states that senior police officer Fredy Fassler has told them to 'only order measures that can be implemented, and above all, controlled.'

And he has said that the proposed new measures should be implemented with a 'sense of proportion', emphasising that he does not think police should go from door to door.

Mr Fassler used the COVID-19 pandemic as an example, stating according to the report that there had been a 'culture of denunciation.'

His sentiment was echoed by SVP Economics Minister Guy Parmelin who last Wednesday said: 'We are not a police state', when referring to the measures, saying that he thinks the police can do spot checks to ensure people are sticking to them.

At least he said they were not a "police state"

Mr Fassler recommended that it might be more favourable to discuss giving administrative fines to people instead of shelling out for expensive criminal proceedings.

 

[mabar]

... It's a new piece of the Ukrainian puzzle, and it allows understanding that one of the objectives of this war is the theft of the land, which was the richest of the planet. I put this article in this thread because the principal subject, after all, is food.

Whose Grain Is Being Shipped From Ukraine?

A great humanitarian uproar in recent weeks demanding the safe shipping of Ukrainian grain to ease a hunger crisis in Africa and elsewhere is deceptive on

journal-neo.org

I would like to believe that Africa said thank you, but I am not interested.... But, one don't know anymore with the high rates of corruption everywhere nowadays.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1567481312453206016

 

[Oxajil]

Not sure if this was posted already, but this is pretty crazy and not that much of a surprise sadly:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1567462388898594816

From this article:

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Wednesday that the European Union would propose a “mandatory target” for reducing electricity consumption during peak demand.

European powers are scrambling to address energy shortages as natural gas prices increase more than tenfold compared to normal levels ahead of the winter months. Pointing to low hydropower generation and disruptions caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, von der Leyen revealed in a speech that the European Union plans to work with member states to limit power usage.

“If you look at the costs of electricity, there are peak demands. And this is what is expensive, because, in these peak demands, the expensive gas comes into the market,” she commented. “So what we have to do is to flatten the curve and avoid the peak demands. We will propose a mandatory target for reducing electricity use at peak hours.”