European Produce Crisis

Extreme weather has decimated the available fruits and vegetables for many areas of Europe.
Hardest hit is the southeastern part of Spain, which supplies about 30 percent of Europe’s produce supply during the summer months and 50 percent during the winter months.

Sounds like it is time for Europe to learn to become more self-sufficient, to use some of the high-tech farming methods being developed.
Floods and droughts happen...and have for thousands of years.
With more and more people on the planet, it may be time to look into non-traditional farming and storing methods.
Source supplies links to some of these options.

Spain hasn’t seen this kind of heavy rains, snow, and ice since the 1980s. Back then, European lifestyle was more self sufficient. As modern technology and large scale farming has expanded, self sufficiency has deteriorated. Europe is more dependent on concise “food basket” regions and supermarket shelf distribution than ever before.

This string of weather events has crippled the region. It started with flooding then climaxed with a hard freeze. The extreme frost left many crops under ice. When it all thawed, farmers were unable to clean what they had and replant.
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As rationing hits supermarket shelves in Europe, these self sufficient grow systems and clean storeable food options can provide energy abundance and nutrition for anyone, during any crisis, right in their own home. This is how to live healthy and be independent no matter what strikes.

www.naturalnews.com...

edit on Wed Feb 15 2017 by DontTreadOnMe because: DUH...forgot the link

Yep, the supermarkets here in the U.K have only just started receiving the winter Strawberries from Spain.

I only ever bought them once, that was enough for me. Nothing not like the summer British Strawberries. Picked far too so and on our shelves far too sharp, they never sweeten.

here's the source, LOLa reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Source?

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

And BTW, rationing... It's a 10% to 15% discount on all vegetables and fruits where I am in Europe.

Weird way to ratione it...

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

It was rough in the US recently as well, several vegetables were in shortage for quite some time. Never once did I see the grocery store out though, but that's probably because of the temporary price spike they endured.

a reply to: Cobaltic1978

Yes, strawberries grown in greenhouses tastes bland. Same as blueberries grown in greenhouses. Point is?

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

However I do agree that hydroponics, aeroponics and GM is the way forward.

Also maybe not throwing away so much...

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Ahhh, naturalnews...
What a shame....
Hey, on the upside you got some blogs quoting nn...

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Ahhh, naturalnews...
What a shame....
Hey, on the upside you got some blogs quoting nn...

""source"" lol

a reply to: Vector99

Now that is interesting.

Around here, Midwest US, broccoli was the one thing that spiked the most. Cucumbers but not as big a spike.
Other veggies have good prices, even below what I have seen other years.

Could be other veggies...but I tend to stay away from many veggies that our out of season for my region.

a reply to: carabao

Permaculture and biodynamics coupled with local trade is the only sustainable method imo. Those methods require to much energy out.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Another interesting thing to note: vegetables grown in tge West have lost on average 30% of their mineral and vitamin content between 1950 and 1999.

Our soil is dying. Broccoli used to have near 30 mgs more calcium for instance.

It's been 40 years since I was in Europe, but what impressed me so much, even then, was all the fresh food everywhere. Even then, the U.S. was tending toward fast food and prepared/packaged food full of dozens of ingredients vs. the actual FOOD I found while bumming around Europe.

Things haven't gotten any better in the 'food culture' of the U.S. (my opinion), but I bet things are still much the same in the rest of the world. Oh sure, Mickey Dee's is everywhere, but not part of the culture everywhere.

These days, if you don't grow it yourself, or know the people who do, you can't be sure that your 'fresh' produce isn't harming you.

Meanwhile, there's no shortage of packaged food with lists of ingredients, much of which is probably edible.

Whole lot of first world problems.

Should be happy it's not at Venezuela's level.

a reply to: Black_Fox

fair point

a reply to: BlueJacket

Thanks for mentioning that.
I always assume the traditional nutritional values for produce are less than what the charts show.

Not to mention what is lost in the days from harvest to table.

A good multi-vitamin, multi-mineral supplement is needed, IMHO.

A couple of observations.

1. We don't need more intensification of agriculture as that's catastrophic for the countryside and wildlife esp. in the UK.
2. Open to "High Tech" farming ideas, but if that means square miles of endless glasshouses and industrialisation in the countryside then bin it. High tech usually equates to tasteless and no wildlife, because wildlife is dirty.
3. In the UK post Brexit, we'll be able to buy our food with other places. Why import from Spain (EU) when we could strike deals with, and nurture good farming practice, in more favourable places.

BTW I am not against GMOs per se, but I am against mono-culture, reduced variety and environmental degradation. GMOs could reduce the need for damaging pesticides, but they could also encourage intensification.

originally posted by: paraphi
A couple of observations.

1. We don't need more intensification of agriculture as that's catastrophic for the countryside and wildlife esp. in the UK.
2. Open to "High Tech" farming ideas, but if that means square miles of endless glasshouses and industrialisation in the countryside then bin it. High tech usually equates to tasteless and no wildlife, because wildlife is dirty.
3. In the UK post Brexit, we'll be able to buy our food with other places. Why import from Spain (EU) when we could strike deals with, and nurture good farming practice, in more favourable places.

BTW I am not against GMOs per se, but I am against mono-culture, reduced variety and environmental degradation. GMOs could reduce the need for damaging pesticides, but they could also encourage intensification.

Absolutely, mono-cultures are the problem.

You don't need pesticides if you don't have 10 acres of one pests food source growing and nothing else. Diversity in agricultural land is severely needed.

originally posted by: carabao
a reply to: Cobaltic1978

Yes, strawberries grown in greenhouses tastes bland. Same as blueberries grown in greenhouses. Point is?

No particular point per se, except I find them bland and tasteless.

I must be old fashioned, but I'm all for local seasonal produce.

Thanks for asking though.

There is another alternative
Trade with southern hemisphere producers
with freight planes there is no worry about it being fresh
most of NZs best fresh produce goes to China and Japan this way
Look forward to more trade with the UK in the future
EU can get in line at the back of the queue because of the way they have blocked our access for the last 50 years