Potential Food and Energy Shortage Across the World

[Honzap]

This Ukrainian technical grain is a serious mess

Context to this situation is that last year wheat harvest was close to record levels. It was so big that for example Russia is literally giving free wheat to Africa for no other reason as to empty their own storage capacities (silos, plants and warehouses) to make ready for this year`s harvest. Putin kills two birds with one stone again. Other wheat exporting countries are facing similar challenges, although on a smaller scale, so right now wheat is cheap.

Ukrainian wheat was supposed to go to Africa, but never made it there. Due to panic last year, it found its way to Poland and Germany,

The problem is that Ukraine does not necessarily follow the EU norms and regulations with regards to agriculture, so a lot of stuff grown there has above limits of fertilizer and other chemicals used in agro world (herbicides, pesticides, etc.). Above limits means thru the roof...Interestingly enough they can and did follow EU regulations before on some produce, but this time they did not.
So the wheat is not considered up to par for human consumption, but perfectly fine for live stock feed or as power plants fuel since it burns quite hot and produces a lot of "green" energy.

Anyway, since all is about money for some people, the question is how not to lose one`s pants on out of the sudden cheap grain market (and technical grain sells for even cheaper) and if at all possible even make a million or more? Inquisitive minds already know the answer. Mix it with good wheat and the result will be somewhat "acceptable" meeting the norms final grain quality. Magic trick right there.

Poland did buy this kind of wheat before. This time they simply don`t want to pay higher price for something it is not. It will be interesting to see what approach will Germany take facing exactly same situation.

 

[Pierre]

Notice that Germany already imported electricity before the closure of its last 3 nuclear plants:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1647147469308936195

 

[XPan]

Few eggs left in Stockholm stores

The issue about eggs, has started to get rampant even here in Sweden lately, I have noticed. Our biggest egg producer, had for the second time, to kill another 160.000 laying hens. When i walked into the store two days ago, there were almost no eggs left... So, no fires yet, but Salmonella always works as a reason to kill many hens...

Äggproducent tvingas avliva hundratusentals värphöns

I början av januari kom nyheten att jordbruksverket beslutat att 165.000 höns ska avlivas. Detta efter salmonellalarm hos Sveriges största → Läs mer

nyheter.swebbtv.se

"Sweden's largest producer, CA Cedergren in Fliseryd, is once again forced to cull a large number of laying hens in a short period of time following salmonella alerts, reports P4 Kalmar. At the same time, Sweden's major food chains have to recall eggs.

In early January, news broke that the Swedish Board of Agriculture had decided that 165,000 hens would be culled.
This after a salmonella alarm at Sweden's largest egg producer in Mönsterås.

- We have had continuous salmonella control in Sweden for a very long time. As soon as we received the test results, we closed the farm, said Katharina Gielen, head of infection control at the Swedish Board of Agriculture, to SvD.

Now it is time again. According to P4 Kalmar, there has been another salmonella outbreak at CA Cedergren.
The Swedish Board of Agriculture says to the radio channel that 160,000 laying hens need to be culled this time.

So, back in the end of February 2023, I referred to a Swedish article, that the biggest Egg producer in Sweden, for a second time had to cull hundred thousands laying hens... Shortly later I prematurely added, that my local store was pretty empty on eggs - but that was an error, because another could days later, it was all stocked up again.

However, now in April 2023 we start to see serious lack of eggs in many stores here in Stockholm. My husband, who works in a larger family company who teaches people how to make/cook Italian food & pasta, already said 2-3 weeks ago that there is a serious shortage of eggs going on.

Yesterday, as i walked into my local store (second photo), it was really almost empty on eggs


2 weeks ago: 10 April 2023 • The lack of eggs started to become visible


Yesterday, 25 April 2023 - not many eggs left.

 

[Laurs]

In the meantime, to address the cost-of-living crisis nationwide, the overlords from the Portuguese government scrapped VAT for a period of 6 months on 44 products which are deemed essential. The big result is that the average Portuguese family saves the grand amount of Euro 3.20 on their bag of groceries. Yay. This VAT measure is the only one the government took to tackle the cost of living crisis. Interestingly, just a few months before, this measure totally failed in Spain, where Spanish shoppers also noticed little to no difference in prices, which continued to increase! People continue to take to the streets in protest, mostly in Lisbon, young and old, demanding higher salaries and pensions, as well as affordable housing.

For the majority of Portuguese, there is no affordable housing, neither to buy nor for rent, and most certainly not when people have to pay Northern-European prices with three times less salaries/pensions. The government recently did propose a set of measures, which managed to outrage every single group. F.i. the first of the proposed measures is: 'State-owned land or buildings are to be offered up to private developers for the development of affordable housing projects.' I think we can all imagine just who will benefit from this measure, i know it won't be the Portuguese people! And with all this going on, very little has been said about the horrendous increases in people’s mortgages as a result of inflation. Now, these proposals will go to Parliament and will eventually be rubber stamped by President Marcelo, who acts as some sort of peace keeper between the government and the people.

These days, Mr Marcelo is dreaming of 'decorating' Zelensky in Kiev in person with some sort of honour, but is busy for now coming up with apologies for exploitation and human slavery during the colonial period. Yes, very important. Never mind that for years and years now, the South-West of Portugal has become one big money making paradise for investment funds operating intensive agriculture fully unrestrained, unregulated and in many cases unlicensed, and for which humans from overseas pay big bucks to 'be allowed' to work and live in utterly deplorable circumstances, exploitation and human slavery indeed. Needless to say, they spend nothing of their profits back into Portugal.

Irrespective of the effects on the environment, on communities, this lack of control has meant that nothing is being done with regards to addressing issues over water. These explorations are ‘guzzling’ the area’s precious supplies; every year issues with water become that more acute. Many interest groups have been warning all these governments for years and years about the water, drought, soil and irrigation situation (which has not been upgraded since it was put in the ground, in the 1950s and 60s and which leads to millions of liters of losses every single year). According to the Soil Mission, financed by EU programme Horizon Europe, basically 60% of the soil has little organic matter in it, while 84% of Portuguese grazing land is deemed "poor." Ironically, the best soil is under the cities and towns, especially Lisbon. In the words of geographer Teresa Pinto Correia: a healthy soil is “fundamental for all society”, but policies led by ‘those at the top’ have seen to it that healthy soils are fast disappearing. When we have super-intensive agriculture managed by investment funds, as happens in the Alentejo – based on a model of business that has access to land and dam water – the business product is extracted, the soil is degraded” and the investment funds then “go away.” By degraded they mean glyphosates.

Indeed, 60% of the water goes to intensive farming and agriculture, 32% to households and 6% to golfcourses, which basically bring in a lot of income from tourism. Portugal faces its third heatwave in April, where normally it should rain. The situation is dire, especially for live stock. I've been to a reservoir up in the mountains a few weeks ago, and it was on 25% or so, way to low. The government is absolutely doing nothing to tackle this extremely important issue, apart from barking some nonsense slogans every now and then, like proposing a ban no new greenhouses, while all interest groups are up in arms. One farmer's bleak assessment: "In Alcoutim, northeast Algarve, livestock farmer Nuno Coelho says it is not simply a question of pastures not growing sufficiently to feed cattle/sheep/goats. The lack of rain has reduced diversity of species: “Plants don’t have the proper growth and development and, year after year, the variety of biodiversity in the seed bank in the soil is getting worse and worse. One hectare of land, for my animals, used to allow me to graze there for 15 days. At the moment, maybe in three or four days they clear the land…”

So we will see what the summer will bring. The olive oil producers also sit with their hands in their hair. They fear an increase in prices to ‘record values.' Spain, the world's largest producer, is already pointing the direction: prices over the border have increased 60% since last year. Luís Mira, secretary general of the Portuguese Confederation of Farmers, summed up the developing drama ominously: “Without water there is no food. It’s a very simple equation.” In my local supermarket i saw yesterday that the big freezer containing good quality pork meat had disappeared, same at the supermarket in the next village. All Portuguese I have spoken with here in Central Algarve say that there is a huge parallel economy going on, cash based, that allows them to not just keep busy surviving.

 

[Chad]

[...]

Indeed, 60% of the water goes to intensive farming and agriculture, 32% to households and 6% to golfcourses, which basically bring in a lot of income from tourism. Portugal faces its third heatwave in April, where normally it should rain. The situation is dire, especially for live stock. I've been to a reservoir up in the mountains a few weeks ago, and it was on 25% or so, way to low. The government is absolutely doing nothing to tackle this extremely important issue, apart from barking some nonsense slogans every now and then, like proposing a ban no new greenhouses, while all interest groups are up in arms. [...]

Over in the UK they recently enforced a hosepipe ban in Cornwall. Normally these don't come into effect until the summertime.

I haven't looked into this particular ban, but i have read a number of times how significant amounts of water is lost through old and damaged underground pipes; it's also lost from the reservoirs themselves because they're poorly maintained, moreover, no new ones have been built for something like 30+ years, despite the population continuing to increase. I wonder how much of that is also applicable to Portugal? I would imagine, give or take, it's much the same.

Regarding the Cornwall ban, from the water company's website:

Our water resources across the region remain under pressure and as we go into the summer period we have taken the necessary action to safeguard supplies and break the cycle of drought following lower than average levels of rainfall last year and throughout February.

How much lower?

Reservoir levels fell to their lowest recorded level last year and storage at Roadford Lake is lower than it was at the same time last year.

Again, is this because the reservoir needs maintenance and is leaking? Or because the reservoir is serving more people than it was originally intended to supply?

There are numerous examples of how the weather and seasons seem to be increasingly erratic, but, as you note, such as with the intensive farming methods, which degrade the lands holding capacity, the situation may not be so bad were it not for government incompetence and corruption. Part of the problem in the UK is that the water companies are privatised, but there's no money to be made in maintenance, and the government doesn't oblige them to do anything worthwhile.

A decade or so ago in the UK, i remember my Greek friend commenting how she couldn't understand that such bans were in place despite how often it rained

 

[Laurs]

I haven't looked into this particular ban, but i have read a number of times how significant amounts of water is lost through old and damaged underground pipes; it's also lost from the reservoirs themselves because they're poorly maintained, moreover, no new ones have been built for something like 30+ years, despite the population continuing to increase. I wonder how much of that is also applicable to Portugal? I would imagine, give or take, it's much the same.

Yes indeed it is, i found an article that mentions that already in 2008 they warned about the incredible waste of water in irrigation systems and pipes in the south and south west of Portugal. To my understanding, the only government 'investments' since have gone to the intensive agro-industrial greenhouses and zero to maintenance or upgrading.

There are numerous examples of how the weather and seasons seem to be increasingly erratic, but, as you note, such as with the intensive farming methods, which degrade the lands holding capacity, the situation may not be so bad were it not for government incompetence and corruption. Part of the problem in the UK is that the water companies are privatised, but there's no money to be made in maintenance, and the government doesn't oblige them to do anything worthwhile.

I fully agree that also here government corruption and incompetence seem to play very important roles, and it seems especially so at the Ministry of Agriculture. Water here is under government control, and there are many commissions on this and that but it seems the results are the same.

 

[T.C.]

A decade or so ago in the UK, i remember my Greek friend commenting how she couldn't understand that such bans were in place despite how often it rained

Looks like the Cornwall hosepipe ban was put in place back in August last year and was never lifted. That seems a bit odd in itself. Leaky water infrastructure could go some way to explaining it.

Here in Yorkshire, it’s rained every day this month. We’re about 300 miles North of Cornwall, which does have a more temperate climate.

Looking at the link below, even though I’m not trained in interpreting this info, it doesn’t look like Cornwall has had a dire lack of rain over the last 6 months:

Newquay Weather Station - Yearly Rainfall Summary Reports

Live, local weather for Newquay Cornwall, updates include live webcams, radar, forecast, lightning, tides, uk earthquakes, surf, and weather information, cornwall weather, weather cornwall, radiation, ship and aircraft tracking, live solar performance data

www.newquayweather.com

 

[Ca.]

Italy turns the tide on fake meats, (March 28, 2023).

https://twitter.com/x/status/1654541249305518082

Up to EUR 60,000 fine Italy bans laboratory meat. Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has passed a law that completely bans the use and production of laboratory meat. Violators will be fined up to 60,000 euros.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1652674430160568321

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

May 5, 2023, at 1:00 PM GMT+2

From the worsening hunger crisis to a threat to the bourbon industry, here’s a snapshot of key food and drink stories from around the world:

More Hungry

The number of people facing life-threatening hunger jumped by a third to about a quarter of a billion last year, a worrying report showed. The reasons include economic shocks, conflict and trade disruptions stemming from Russia’s war in the breadbasket nation of Ukraine. Some of the poorest countries have been hit hardest.

World Hunger Rose for Fourth Straight Year in 2022 ​

Number of people facing moderate to severe acute food insecurity
Source: Global Report on Food Crises


Supplies of staple crops could remain tight as the El Nino weather phenomenon threatens output later this year in key regions, major fertilizer producer Mosaic warned.

China is an example of a nation particularly worried about ensuring there’s enough food. President Xi Jinping sees the country’s reliance on food imports as a national security issue and the government is pressing farmers to boost soybean harvests, using a combination of subsidies, government stockpiling and public pressure.

Fertilizer Recovery

Fertilizers are a crucial part of feeding the world, though some farmers had delayed buying nutrients after prices soared to a record last year. Costs have since dipped, but major producer CF Industries said North American crop plantings are lifting demand and can help prices rebound.

More Food for Thought…

There’s still uncertainty over renewing a key initiative allowing Ukraine to export its crops through the Black Sea. Deputy defense ministers from the country, Russia and Turkey are due to meet next week on the grain deal, after talks originally set for today were postponed, Turkish media reported.

And this episode of the Odd Lots podcast covers how the bourbon supply chain may be threatened by a lack of wood used in making the barrels.

—Nicholas Larkin in London

Charted Territory​

Barbecue costs | While South African food prices have gone up across the board, they’ve risen disproportionately for fresh produce. The cost of green peppers jumped 16% over the past month, the biggest rise of any single ingredient across Bloomberg’s Shisa Nyama Index, followed by onions and spinach at 11% and tomatoes at 8%.

Shrinkflation becomes the new norm on a global scale.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1653866441144238082

This is unacceptable @CarrefourFrance ! An explanation for this mess when the French are struggling to fill their fridge? #crisealimentaire #france #grandedistribution

https://twitter.com/x/status/1654539133535023106

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1654170964714823681

Russian fertilizer:

 

[Ca.]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1659276416540614657

The Power of Silicon Valley

https://twitter.com/x/status/1659292090688237598

World-renowned chef José Andrés may end up opening a new restaurant in the Bay Area after all, now that the city of Palo Alto has reversed its earlier decision not to allow the cook to link his forthcoming eatery up to a natural gas line that was built specifically for him.

The brief standoff between city leaders and a property group that owns the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto was the result of a new building code that the city council adopted last year, which requires all new buildings to be fully electric and prohibits linking any appliances to gas infrastructure. Andrés had been planning to open a location of his Mediterranean restaurant, Zaytinya, in one of the three new buildings set to be constructed at the shopping center, but the city — pointing to the new building code — indicated that he might not be able hook up to a gas line.

Unwilling to cook without gas, Andrés considered pulling out of the venture. That led the Simon Property Group, which owns the shopping center, to threaten the city with a lawsuit if it didn’t make an exception for the chef.

“While it is our strong desire to avoid litigation, [Simon Property Group] will take actions necessary to protect its legal rights and substantial investment in Stanford Shopping Center,” an attorney for the group wrote in an April letter to the council.

But the city backed off this week, saying in a statement that the situation is unique.

“Due to the years-long planning effort which started in 2019, three years before the City adopted the all-electric requirement, the City and the Mall have agreed that this one project should be able to proceed with gas service consistent with the long-established project plans,” city leaders wrote Tuesday. “... Except for this one-off situation, Palo Alto’s all-electric requirement is being implemented for all new projects and substantial remodels.”

Patrick Burt — a member of the city council — echoed the city’s statement in an interview with SFGATE, saying an exception was made for Andrés because of how far the restaurant already was in its approval process. He said he wasn’t worried about other businesses attempting to seek exemptions in the future, given the unique situation Zaytinya is in.

“They already installed a gas line, which they put in something like two years ago,” he said.

Palo Alto’s new building code was adopted in an effort to help the city reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2030. It’s one of several localities across the state that are banning new natural gas appliances in an effort to reduce the state’s carbon footprint, but those plans have already hit snags in some places. Just last month, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Berkeley’s natural gas ban, saying that the ordinance was preempted by federal law.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1659544936340135937

Push For New Earth Worship Religion as USA Electric Generation Plants Will Shut

Premiered May 18, 2023

How many Lidl solar panels does it take to equal a nuclear reactor?

Combien de panneaux solaires Lidl faut-il pour égaler un réacteur nucléaire ?

Le premier kit solaire de balcon estampillé « Parkside », la marque d’outils à bas coûts lancée par Lidl, débarque le 17 mai dans les magasins allemands.

www-revolution--energetique-com.translate.goog

The first balcony solar kit stamped "Parkside", the brand of low-cost tools launched by Lidl, arrives on May 17 in German stores. If it is already tearing up in stores, what impact can it really have on the electricity grid and the reduction of CO₂ emissions?

This Wednesday morning, in the Lidl store in Goldscheuer (Germany) not far from Strasbourg, there was no “balcony” solar kit left, just 30 minutes after opening. Energy Revolution was however able to obtain the last copy, in view of a test to appear on our YouTube channel . Can this small rush towards the Lidl mini photovoltaic power plant , sold at the very competitive price of €199, have a beneficial effect on the electricity network and on greenhouse gas emissions? How many Lidl solar panels must be installed to equal the production of an EPR type nuclear reactor?

To have a first estimate "with a ladle", we took out the calculator. If the quantity of solar kits marketed by Lidl is unknown, we have arbitrarily considered a volume of 10,000 units. Each kit must produce 100 kWh annually depending on the brand, which is quite realistic for this type of installation which is often poorly exposed to the sun, the load factor being 7.6% (compared to 11% overall in Germany and 13% in France). With a cumulative power of 1.5 MWp, our 10,000 kits are equivalent to a solar power plant of 8,300 m², as it is possible to find on the roofs of small industrial buildings.


To estimate the quantity of CO₂ equivalent (CO2eq) avoided by all the kits, we considered that they erased the production of a lignite power plant in Germany (1.15 kg CO2eq/kWh) and fossil gas in France (0.5 kg CO2eq/kWh). These two types of power plants correspond to the most widely used fossil fuel electricity production methods in each country. From this, we deducted the 35 g of CO2eq/kWh indirectly emitted by the manufacture, transport and end-of-life treatment of photovoltaic panels.

A nuclear reactor or 108 million solar panels?​

The impact of the 10,000 Lidl balcony solar panels is therefore far from considerable. If they can reduce greenhouse gas emissions to their level, they will obviously not upset the German electricity grid. But what if the famous chain of hard discount supermarkets decided to market its solar kit on a very large scale? How many kits would it have to sell to equal the production of an EPR-type nuclear reactor?

Based on the 10.87 billion kWh produced in 2021 by the EPR Taishan II reactor in China, it would be necessary to deploy no less than… 108.7 million Lidl solar kits, or 1.3 kits per German! At 150 Wp of unit power, these panels would potentially inject up to 16 GW at noon into the network. A colossal power that it would be essential to smooth via a solid storage network by energy transfer stations by pumped storage(STEP). Hardly conceivable. In any case, this is not the vocation of these small ready-to-connect solar kits, which remain relevant for erasing the basic consumption of a home: these few hundred watts absorbed by the internet box, the refrigerator and the appliances on standby, which have their small effect on the electricity bill.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1659489581090189314

Large demonstration in Buenos Aires, Argentina against the soaring cost of living as inflation reaches 109% and against the austerity policies imposed by the IMF #inflation

 

[treesparrow]

Extensive damage to thousands of hectares of crops after severe flooding in Italy -

Italy: Floods claim lives and cause enormous damage to farms - thousands of hectares of crops flooded

"We've lost a colleague, an acquaintance, a friend. The loss of life is the worst result of the catastrophe that struck Cesena and the regions of Emilia-Romagna and De Marche [in Italy] on May 16," Matteo Evangelisti, Biondi Giulio's manager,...

www.sott.net

Italy: Floods claim lives and cause enormous damage to farms - thousands of hectares of crops flooded


© Leandra Ricci Bitti on Meteo Emilia Romagna
The Santerno River breached its bank, flooding Ca' di Lugo - San Lorenzo in the province of Ravenna.

"We've lost a colleague, an acquaintance, a friend. The loss of life is the worst result of the catastrophe that struck Cesena and the regions of Emilia-Romagna and De Marche [in Italy] on May 16," Matteo Evangelisti, Biondi Giulio's manager, told FreshPlaza on Wednesday. This cultivation company has a stall at the Cesena wholesale market, where Sauro Manuzzi was a mainstay. Everyone knew this aromatic herb seller. His wife, who went missing first, was also found lifeless in Cesenatico, 20 km from their farm.

The state of emergency is still in effect in Italy. The area around Lugo began flooding early yesterday morning, May 18. "In the hills of Romagna, entire villages are isolated because the roads have been washed away. People have no electricity or water. The civil defense department is trying to reach them," says Matteo.

Vast areas of the provinces of Forlì-Cesena, Ravenna, and Bologna are submerged. "There's enormous damage to farms and rural infrastructure in Romagna and The Marches. Thousands of hectares of kiwis, plums, pears, and apples, plots of vegetables, fields of grain, nurseries, farm buildings, machinery, and other infrastructure flooded," says Ettore Prandini, president of the agriculture organization Coldiretti.


Damage in the hills too

"The cyclone not only damaged fields on the plains but hit the Apennines too. Chestnut cultivation has been hit hard. The water and landslides swept away century-old trees," lament Monia and Sergio Rontini of Il Regno Del Marrone. This company's organic chestnut grove is in the Castel del Rio municipality, at altitudes between 400 to 700 meters, on steep slopes. The same family has run this farm for more than four generations. "With no chestnut cultivation, this could be the final blow," Monia and Sergio explain.



Damage to Il Regno Del Marrone's chestnut grove.

Choked roots

"This is the worst weather since just after the war. The 2023 harvest is seriously compromised, but there may also be problems for subsequent years," says Carlo Carli, president of the interprovincial agricultural organization, Confagricoltura. The vegetable plots between Cesena and San Mauro Pascoli have been wiped out.

High-value crops are grown there. There are also major problems in Cesena's strawberry greenhouses, an important crop for the area. And the silt the rainfall deposits on the soil increases the risk of root suffocation, even for trees.

Supplies compromised

"The bad weather and blocked roads affect transportation, too. The A14 freeway is closed in some places, as are the toll gates in Forlì and Cesena. That's causing issues in fruit and vegetable shipment and additional company losses. Our sector, which is at very high risk, needs a large-scale plan to support its economic fabric," Carlo continues.

Ministers summit

At a summit meeting between ministers Carlo Nordio (Justice), Francesco Lollobrigida (Agriculture), Marina Calderone (Labor and Social Policies), and the state secretaries Bignami and Leo, they discussed suspending tax and social security obligations for companies.

"It's essential to suspend payment obligations for community expenses in the flooded areas, as has already been done for mortgages. Thought should also be given to increasing compensation rates for crop damage, based on the Agricat Fund provisions," states a Copagri representative.

Colderetti agrees: "Given the unusual situation, we believe a special government decree is needed to allocate sufficient funds to compensate for the damage, which is increasing hourly in the agricultural and horticultural sectors."

 

[Ca.]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1663896748543148038

PARIS (Reuters via PiQSuite.com) - France prides itself on taking its food seriously, but many consumers are now tightening their belts or skimping on quality, hit by a record inflation rate that threatens to serve up another political headache for the government.

Adjusted for inflation, household spending on food fell year on year by a record 10% in April, to its lowest since March 2009, data from statistics agency INSEE showed on Wednesday.

That followed a near 16% annual increase in food prices - another record - in March. The rate eased back in May, but only to a still appetite-killing 14%.

"I go for the cheapest things, things on sale or generic brands. I compare prices per kilo or per item, which I didn't necessarily do before," Sandra Hamadouche, a 38-year-old mother of two, told Reuters in the Paris suburb of Joinville-Le-Pont.

That changing pattern of behavior is increasingly common.

Eight out of 10 French consumers have adapted their food shopping habits in recent months, according to a May 9-10 survey by pollsters Elabe.

Some 55% said they had stopped buying certain products altogether and 44% had switched to cheaper products, cutting back particularly on meat and fish.

Food prices spiked after producers and retailers, in annual negotiations, agreed in March to an average 10% increase in prices, responding to a surge in input prices and wages after Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

FOOD COMPANIES UNDER FIRE
But the system is now causing political ructions, as big swings in raw material and energy prices over the last year mean that more recent drops in the cost of basics such as wheat and animal feed are not yet filtering through to consumers.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that while retailers were limiting price increases, the 75 big food producers that make 80% of what the French eat were failing to live up to a recent promise to re-open price negotiations.

"Either the big food companies keep their promises in the coming days or I will use taxes to recover the profits that they should be passing onto consumers," he told France Inter radio on Wednesday.

The producers say they have had to contend with higher energy prices and wage increases, but some, including French chicken group LDC, have reaped bumper profits over the past year.

The company told Reuters that lower feed costs had led it to cut selling prices in supermarkets by 2% this month and that further cuts were planned.

Under pressure after forcing through an unpopular increase in the retirement age, President Emmanuel Macron's government is eager to be seen tackling citizens' everyday problems, with surging food prices high on the list.

France is not alone in its concern, with governments in countries ranging from Italy to Britain also considering exceptional measures to rein in food price inflation.

While Macron and his team try to strong-arm producers into lowering prices, consumers see few options in the short term.

"The first thing is to cut back on expensive products, eat less red meat, a bit less alcohol," said relaxation therapist Daniel Dotti, another Joinville-Le-Pont shopper.
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas, additional reporting by Sybille de la Hamaide and Lucien Libert; editing by John Stonestreet)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1663945351399702529

https://twitter.com/x/status/1663690297778241536

https://twitter.com/x/status/1663974034617540610

Staying ahead of the game

https://twitter.com/x/status/1652023761883807765

 

[T.C.]

Some photos taken of a large reservoir in the north of England yesterday. You can see the dry banks that are normally covered:

 

[Ca.]

MIAC LIVE: Trillion dollar treasury buy 2020 repeats 6/8/2023

https://twitter.com/x/status/1666989235629608960

 

[iamthatis]

No more pesticides? Don't want to hire labour to do all that weeding? Apparently its AI to the rescue - with frickin' lazers!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1676959380577878025

 

[ToxicCoward]

I've noticed that shrinkflation can have "different faces" some products keep same same or similar price, weight too, but calorie count decreases.
Dictionary:

Tłuszcz: Fat, Węglowodany: Carbohydrates, w tym cukry: sugars among those, Białko: Protein

Before 91kcal now 76. (Each product net weight is 225g)