Potential Food and Energy Shortage Across the World

[Magnolia]

Joel Salatin posted an article on his blog yesterday about the so-called egg "shortage."
He states:

"The Trump administration is sucking up the entire news cycle, but something is percolating underneath in America that is extremely disturbing. The American Pastured Poultry Producers Association just released a 4-day synopsis of exterminated chickens and it's unnerving. This is 4 days, folks.

Weekly Disease Update 2/4-2/10

POULTRY CASES

2/4/25: Dauphin Co., PA, Commercial Egg Layer, 1,975,300
Adams Co., PA, WOAH Non-Poultry, 30
Mercer Co., OH, Commercial Turkey (x3), 27,300
Mercer Co., OH, Egg Pullets, 88,300
Mercer Co., OH, Egg Layers, 96,700
Darke Co., OH, Commercial Turkey, 5,400
Queens Co., NY, Live Bird Market, 1,100
Bronx Co., NY, Live Bird Market, 100
Newton Co., MO, Commercial Turkey, 13,600
Lawrence Co., MO, Commercial Turkey Breeder, 14,300
Jasper Co., MO, Commercial Turkey, 49,500
Alpena Co., MI, WOAH Non-Poultry, 8
Worcester Co., MD, Commercial Broiler, 201,600
Harvey Co., KS, WOAH Non-Poultry, 50

[That's one day.......he lists three more days of "culling" on his blog.........Musings from the Lunatic Farmer]

If you're still with me, you realize that even a cursory look at this list indicates we are in a strange place with agriculture and food. As far as I know, here is the situation:

The USDA head of the bird flu program now says it's ubiquitous--in the air, everywhere.

The USDA is using the widely discredited PCR test to determine what chickens and turkeys (and now dairy cows) have it.

The PCR test is a bit like a virus microscope and you can adjust the magnification (called "cycles") to find smaller and smaller bits and pieces. Massachusetts Dept. of Ag, to my knowledge, is the only state that has officially and publicly said anything above 30 cycles is fraudulent. In other words, you can magnify until you find parts anywhere--on your eating utensils, in your hair, and certainly in feathers. The USDA is using 45 cycles.

In other words, when you get particle size low enough, you can find almost anything anywhere. Kind of like the Russians who said "show me the man, and I'll show you the crime." In other words, if you want to arrest someone, we have enough rules to find something he offended.

Finally, realize that anyone who grows plants and animals knows that to strengthen genetics, you save, cultivate, and breed the survivors of a disease; you don't exterminate the specimens with immune systems vibrant enough to overcome the disease. The blanket extermination, even of the immune chickens, is probably one of the most asinine protocols ever foisted upon the food system.

......for the life of me none of this makes sense, and the numbers are overwhelming and shocking. And not even in the news.

 

[Carlos Alberto]

Alex Krainer has an interesting and depressing article recently posted on his substack:

The global war on farming gathers pace

Here's a sample:

Food production is also being suffocated through regulatory measures. Active farmers are buried under the burgeoning regulatory requirements, forcing them to spend long hours filing endless forms to be compliant with burgeoning rules and regulations. Many of the new rules, including the "get out of farming payments scheme," effectively punish or discourage food production while incentivizing the farmers to sell their farms. Farmland is then often bought by global investment behemoths like BlackRock and Vanguard. The result is that livestock is gradually disappearing and food production is shrinking, which is by now obvious to see in our supermarkets. Now there are reports that the UK government is planning a mass culling of livestock towards the end of 2025.

According to Byford, similar measures are being pursued in Ireland, the EU as well as in India and many African countries with the effect that today there is 72% less food moving through global distribution chains than in the pre-pandemic period. Most probably, this is all caused by climate change or perhaps Russia, Russia, Russia, or China, China, China. However, there's also a strange coincidence that all these measures appear to have been planned.

 

[Magnolia]

Zerohedge published an article originating at Beef News stating that Walmart joined the "Big Four" Beef producers with a $700 million vertical investment in the beef industry. The basic contention of the article is: "Unlike the others, Walmart doesn’t have to make money on meat. It can sell beef at cost to move more detergent, diapers, and digital subscriptions. If you’re a rancher? You’re not negotiating with a buyer—you’re entering a corporate conveyor belt."
Excerpts from the article:

The Big Four Just Became Five: Walmart Quietly Captures the Beef Chain​

Walmart has spent over $660 million building its own beef empire—from processor to packaging plant to retail shelf. That makes them more than just a grocer; it makes them the fifth major packer, joining Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef. The press calls it “resilience,” but ranchers know what it really is: vertical consolidation dressed in feel-good PR.

A $700 million vertical integration move—framed as “resilience” and “investment in U.S. beef”—just claimed what little was left of the open market.

Walmart’s new case-ready beef facility in Olathe, Kansas isn’t just another fulfillment center—it’s a chess move.

A 300,000-square-foot plant. 600 new jobs. Cuts packed, labeled, and shipped straight to Walmart shelves. And all of it fed by one source: Sustainable Beef LLC, the North Platte processor Walmart bought into back in 2022.

What the press release calls “supply chain transparency” is really supply chain capture. “We’re delivering more of what our customers want—affordable food and quality they can trust.” — John Laney, EVP Food, Walmart U.S. Trust, sure. Just don’t ask who sets the prices for the people raising the cattle.

Walmart now owns a piece of the processor (Sustainable Beef), owns the packaging plant (Olathe), and controls the retail outlet (Walmart stores). This isn’t a backup plan. It’s a power play.

• Walmart decides what cattle are worth
• Walmart decides how it’s cut and wrapped
• Walmart decides what consumers pay

The middle? Gone.

Small Processors Wiped Out​

According to USDA’s Packers and Stockyards Report, the number of federally inspected beef slaughter plants declined from 297 in 2013 to 271 by 2022.

Nationwide, over half of small and mid-sized beef processors (those handling 5–500 head per week) disappeared between 2000 and 2020, based on analysis from Rocky Mountain Farmers Union.

Then COVID hit. According to NIOSH and CDC data, more than 480 meat and poultry facilities across the country reported COVID outbreaks. Many of the small ones—already fragile—never reopened.

Nationwide, small and mid-sized beef processors have declined sharply over the past two decades, with many regions—including the High Plains—now facing limited slaughter access and months-long backlogs.

And unlike the others, Walmart doesn’t have to make money on meat. It can sell beef at cost to move more detergent, diapers, and digital subscriptions. If you’re a rancher? You’re not negotiating with a buyer—you’re entering a corporate conveyor belt.

 

[Magnolia]

Christian Westbrook / Ice Age Farmer has a substack now.

He informs us:

Flagship Pioneering, creator of Moderna (and a WEF partner), has just unveiled Terrana Biosciences, providing $50mm to scale-up development of their flagship product, an RNA spray which enters the plant and alters gene expression.

The company’s leadership is a “who’s who” of pharmaceutical and AgTech genetic engineering-meets-AI.

“The difference with Terrana’s technology is it actually goes inside the plant.....After being sprayed on, the RNA enters the plant through small tears in the leaves. With this method, Terrana can load in RNAs that act as ‘programmable plant vaccines’ or proteins that can aid in insect resistance or antifungal capabilities, for example.”

What’s more: the changes are hereditary. They flow to the next generation of crops.

There is a 12 minute video on his site.

 

[Ca.]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1960636677711651235

https://twitter.com/x/status/1960756567965376754

Belarus potato shortage sparks discontent

According to experts, the scarcity of this vegetable, a symbol of national identity, is linked to state-set prices, which make it unprofitable to sell on the domestic market and encourage producers to export their produce to Russia.

www.lemonde.fr

https://twitter.com/x/status/1960700789799969125

https://twitter.com/x/status/1960341622820159503

 

[SummerLite]

Radioactive shrimp, Cesium-137, coming from Indonesia is being recalled. In another report the contaminated water from Fukushima was a suspected source.

Seattle-based AquaStar (USA) Corp is recalling approximately 26,460 6-ounce packages of cocktail shrimp, imported from Indonesia, and sold between July 31 and Aug. 16.

The states in which they have been sold are Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin,

A day earlier, on Aug. 27, the FDA issued a similar recall warning for frozen cooked shrimp sold across 17 states. In that instance, the importer, Aquastar, had recalled approximately 18,000 bags (net weight 2 pounds) of Kroger Mercado Cooked Medium Peeled Tail-Off Shrimp.

On Aug. 26, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that federal health authorities are taking a closer look at shrimp being imported into the United States after the FDA issued warnings about potentially radioactive shrimp that were recalled last week.

“We have now increased FDA inspections of shrimp to make sure that Americans are not eating ... contaminated shrimp,” Kennedy said at a Cabinet meeting.

Kennedy also said that South Asian countries “are now dumping shrimp on our country, and the shrimp is heavily contaminated” and that “we just stopped a shipment that was contaminated with [Cesium-137].”

“They’re farming these shrimps, and they’re using bactericides and antibiotics and all kinds of chemicals, and the shrimp are so contaminated. The European nations won’t take them, so they’re dumping them all here. We have the most sustainable and most highly regulated fishing industry in the world. What our fishermen do is a good thing. And all of the trawlers in the Gulf and in Alaska are being shut down,” Kennedy said.

Jack Philips contributed to this report.

New Recall Of Potentially Radioactive Cocktail Shrimp In 27 US States | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

 

[Magnolia]

Sott has an article by Christian Westbrook (formerly Ice Age Farmer) The Planetary Bio-Surveillance Grid, about GE microbes. It is on his substack in 3 parts (links to part 1, part 2, part 3). Below is a record of the key points of the three articles.

1. The public is increasingly showing awareness of and resistance to wearable devices and the surveillance state.
2. What does the technocrat do? Change tactics and attack in an invisible way, using synthetic biology.
3. Create surveillance microbes, stage a crisis that demands their mass deployment 'for your safety.' Flood the zone with them, quickly replacing the natural microbiome. Now, humanity is being monitored from within -- no wearable devices, no microchip implants.
4. In the process, re-format and re-write the biosphere on this planet.
5. The microbiome IS life on Earth. One cannot separate the two. We live in symbiotic harmony with these microscopic organisms. While an adult human is comprised of ~30 trillion human cells, we host ~39 trillion bacteria – a wonderful bacterial life support system. We are more microbiome than human.
6. As Bayer’s CRISPR creations dominate, the microbes with whom we have co-evolved for millions of years cannot be restored. In a very real sense, a part of ourselves is being erased.
7. Millions of acres of U.S. farmland have already been inoculated with genetically modified microbes, replacing the ecosystem’s natural microbiome. It is invisible. Containment is impossible. Remediation is unexplored. It is done under the guise of regenerative agriculture.
8. Pivot Bio’s product Proven is a GE microbe that fixes nitrogen in the soil and it is engineered to not turn-off when the soil is N-saturated. It’s on 15M+ acres of US farmland (2%), an area larger than Greece, and it’s irreversible.
9. Vestaron’s Spear is a microbe engineered to create spider venom peptides as an insecticide. Approved in EU under emergency authorization in 2025, GE spider venom microbes are in soils growing tomatoes in Greece, Italy, and Portugal.
10. An application of GE microbes releases about 3 trillion organisms per half-acre....shoving trillions of identical GE bacteria per acre into the root zone. A clone army of engineered microbes suffocates the web of life that provides crop resilience and ecological stability.
11. Unlike plants and animals, microbes share genetic material, allowing for horizontal gene transfer. Genetic modifications inside engineered microbes can move into other species.
12. GE microbes can become pathogens. Some organisms already used in AgBiotech are already pathogenic.
13. Scientists tend to add genes so some microbes are engineered to resist antibiotics as a marker to distinguish GE from natural microbes. Horizontal transfer of the resistance is possible.
14. Farmers are already among the most cancer-ridden and immunocompromised group due to toxic pesticides. Antibiotic-resistant GE microbes will add to their already medically suppressed immune systems.
15. When these crops are then eaten, there is a real possibility that the GE microbes will contaminate our gut microbiome, genetically altering the bacteria in our body and triggering health effects difficult to trace back to their microbial origin.
16. Pesticide Liability Shields (e.g., North Carolina Farm Act of 2025) have been passed in two U.S. states, and legislation is being rushed through seven others. This shield provides indemnity for companies who create agricultural treatments against claims of damage from their products.
17. Liability protection is not as much about money as positioning for a roll-out of synthetic biology, which is being reclassified as critical infrastructure.
18. When Trump announced investing in super data centers he was saying AI/biotechnology is no longer seen as products, but as infrastructure, critical to national resilience and competitiveness, which merits the same legal protections as energy grids, communication networks and airlines.
19. In 2023 the DoD launched Tellus, enabling rapid design of agile, robust, reliable, and durable microbial sensors for environmental monitoring.
20. DARPA is exploring the range of chemical and physical signals that microbial devices can detect, environmental conditions they can tolerate, and types of output signals they can generate. In other words, these sensing and reporting microbes are the most critical mechanism for a biosurveillance state.
21. The World Microbiome Partnership (WMP), founded in 2023, includes WHO, CDC, NIH, and biotech firms. They position microbial communities as strategic assets, to be programmable, governable, and ultimately weaponizable.
22. Ginkgo Bioworks was founded 2008 to develop a Biological Foundry -- a cell programming platform and biological operating system.
23. Ginkgo gets grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which heavily funded gain of function research for H5N1.
24. Ginkgo used its product Concentric for surveillance during covid and birdflu (waste water, testing, gene sequencing). They call their bio-security efforts Bio-Radar.
25. Ginkgo’s Bio-Radar surveillance network is being used to detect H5N1. CDC Director Robert Redfield said in 2022, “It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when we will have a bird flu pandemic.”
26. Palantir already has partnerships with the CDC, NIH, and defense agencies. They have the AI Platform, but not the data. They need Bio-Radar. They need the microbes. They need Ginkgo’s biodigital surveillance eyes and ears. Ubiquitous sensing & reporting microbes are the most important, though least visible, component in Palantir’s surveillance system.
27. In 2025 Ginkgo was contracted to develop WHEAT (wheat-based high efficiency enzyme and API technology) ostensibly to reduce dependence on foreign manufacturing of pharma ingredients. However, those on-demand lab modules can be rapidly reprogrammed to produce anything.
28. A totalitarian goal of total awareness demands a strategy of sensors everywhere. These microbes are the keystone in that strategy, embedded in every environment, every living system, even our gut, and providing high-resolution real-time data on human health and environmental state.
29. Bio-surveillance is, however, not just another data stream. It is the irreversible replacement of natural biology and the instrumentalizing of life itself into the technocratic control grid.
30. They want to measure it all.