Global starvation imminent as US faces crop failure

The world faces “mass starvation” following North America’s next major crop failure. And it could even happen before year’s end. So says Chicago-based Don Coxe, who is one of the world’s leading experts on agricultural commodities, so much so that Canada’s renowned BMO Financial Group named the fund after him.

In particular, an imminent crop failure in North America will have particularly dire consequences for major overseas markets that are highly reliant on U.S. crop imports, Coxe cautions. Sadly, this scenario could have been avoided had successive North America’s governments not weakened the farming industry with too much political interference, he suggests.

“We will be dealing with mass starvation with the first serious crop failure. It could happen as early as this fall if for instance we have a killing freeze in Iowa in August.”

This is alarming...It appears the predictions, over the last several months, will be happening with just 1 serious crop failure. Geesh.....this seems so possible that, I guess, the stocking of items will be a God send for many.

Can you imagine?? A war for food instead of oil?? I can sure see countries keeping what they grow foir themselves - and that not being enough to go around!! Bad will be getter worse if this comes about......

Anything forbid the possibilty of screened co-ops and secure collective farming brigades who like in the 20s grew hemp for america and then that stopped i guess for some reason.

But my point is we have the resources to make a farming and irrigation/weather modification to safely make a good growing condition with minimal severe weather. Fear mongering creates things that other people who want money want to see. Run to me in your nameless fear and i can provide for you, for a modest price.

I know that recent reports in the Western States have stated that the drought this year is anticipated to be so severe that there will be widespread crop failure that will result in dramatic increases in the cost of food and decreases in the supply of food itself.

(The irony being that it has rained every day this year in the West/NW, but apparently the water table is primarily based on snow melt, not on rainfall.)

For the past 6 months, all of the grocery stores in my area have bans on families purchasing more than a single case or a 50lb bag of the same foodstuffs at a time. This must be a regulation at the distributor level because restaurants who buy from wholesalers are crying foul about it as well.

Our municipal CERT team has been recommending that citizens keep a minimum of a 2 week food supply for their families.

When one considers that grocery stores have only a 3 to 6 day supply of food for their customers, what do you think is going to happen when food shortages hit and stores are entirely emptied for a week at a time?

We take our food supply chain for granted here in the U.S. and don't realize just how fragile of a source of food it really is. Even if famine doesn't come about this year, the point is that it could happen. It really is food for thought.

Its events like this that make the genetic engineering of food and the like to almost seem like a necessary evil.

but one could easily argue that the strain of the infrastructure required for the technology to run such 'innovations' was the straw that broke the "environmental" camels back as far as natural resources such as water for the crops...

Tell the greenies to open the water mains in california, instead of trying to save a minnow that is on the endangered species list. Crops in California, orchards in california, are dying because of this minnow. Will someone tell me when in the hell a minnow became more important than human beings?
God gave mankind dominion over the eart and all the creatures on it. Something tells me that we are letting things get turned ass backwards.
The drought in california is man made.

[edit on 19-6-2009 by kettlebellysmith]

Originally posted by mastermind77
But my point is we have the resources to make a farming and irrigation/weather modification to safely make a good growing condition with minimal severe weather.

It's true.

Corn, wheat and cattle are the worst conceivable things to farm. They are water intensive, have a low yield per acre, promote erosion, and destroy top-soil that takes millions of years to create.

We can minimize the loss of topsoil, the amount of water needed, the effects of erosion, and increase yield of corn and wheat by using biodynamic farming methods, or even farming on hillsides instead of on flatlands/lowlands.

However, it would be better to break our dependency on corn, wheat and cattle and consider better alternatives such as quinoa, kamut, amaranth, spelt, millet, and even hemp. Chickens and sheep require less feed, water, and do significantly less damage to the topsoil than cattle, and certainly have a higher yield per acre!

The biggest barrier in the way of having plenty of food for not only our country but for the entire world is Farm Subsidies. Paying farmers to destroy their crops when there is too much of a particular foodstuff that the market becomes devalued is absolutely ridiculous. Hey, I'm all for giving a hand out to our farmers (I'd rather give them our Tax dollars than those crooks on Wall Street and in Detroit). However, get rid of the requirement to destroy their crop/harvest! If there is a surplus of a crop, then send it as aid to a less fortunate country. Trade it to SE Asian countries for Rice and Soybeans. Don't just let it go to waste!

(Especially when we already used precious water to grow those crops!)

Lastly, why don't we store irrigation water from one year to the next? Why don't we use cisterns to collect rain water for irrigation? Water doesn't have to be in short supply, but the fact of the matter is that we don't think about water until there is a shortage of it.

Genetically Modified Organisms or Foods is not the only (or even the better) alternative. There are many alternatives to prevent this kind of thing from happening, and using Common Sense is the better of them. However, those that guessed this would be the rally cry for GMOs are completely right. Rather than try whole-grain bread made out of kamut or spelt, we'd rather have our bleached wheat flour WonderBread, even if it means we get only 1/100th of number of loaves per acre.

Crops are failing because of the global warmi.....err...global climate change. I mean we have NEVER had a severe drought during a financial down turn....

And we have never had a mini ice age. I mean all of this is because people like me wont use the mercury filled light bulbs.

reply to post by kettlebellysmith


LOL, Love that post. I am all for nature but some of these eco-nazis have flipped their lid. We are all going to die while some moron tries to save a certain species of plant or 99% extinct bug, fish, or animal.

We must be retarded to have ever allowed stuff to get this way. I think it is time to cull our own herd and have one day where everyone can shoot everyone else that is an idiot.

reply to post by fraterormus


Well who in the hell is going to give up wheat and corn to eat all that crap you listed? Why dont we just find better ways to grow the stuff we want instead of eating a bunch of nasty crap.

I would rather spend the rest of my days eating corn on the cob and some nice roasted cow flesh, and then starve to death when we couldnt grow enough then to spend my life eating a bunch crap I dont like.

Just my opinion though.

reply to post by grapesofraft


I agree, I refuse to give up my corn and juicy cheeseburgers.

Also, if crop failure is really being caused because of some tree hugging hippies who are trying to save some dumb plant then it really shows that our lives mean nothing.

It's always nice to know that our lives rank well below plant life.

reply to post by Rocketgirl


Great post Rocket Girl. Star for you.

You know what I fear more than living under the tyranny of the NWO? Well it is living under the tyranny of a bunch of stupid, whiny, tree hugging, eco-nazis. At least the NWO crowd have a touch of common sense and a good eye for business.

Originally posted by kettlebellysmith
The drought in california is man made.

The one on the western Canadian prairies isn't:

Farmers and ranchers across a vast section of Alberta and Saskatchewan are staring down the same ominous fields of parched soil and brown crops.

In portions of the hardest-hit region, which stretches in a triangle pattern from Saskatoon to Edmonton and Calgary, 2009 marks the driest spring Agriculture Canada has seen in the 70 years records have been kept in the area.

The arid soil, combined with record-cold temperatures, have killed many cash crops and left ranchers with pastures of brown stubble to feed cattle.

Producers say the circumstances are ominously comparable to those of 2002, when much of the Prairies grappled with the worst drought in 133 years. Farm incomes sunk by 70 per cent in some regions and growers as far away as PEI shipped their hay to desperate western cattleman.


www.theglobeandmail.com...

reply to post by grapesofraft


That is so true. I would also rather live under the NWO because at least I would be able to continue to eat my cheesebugers.

On the other hand you are right about the need to find new ways to grow our foods. It's sad that our country isn't moving along fast enough. Sometimes, I feel like we are living in the stoneage.

MY friends sister owns a small farm in Illinois..Their neighbor owns a much LARGER farm....They were paid $75,000 NOT TO GROW FOOD!!!
The coming Food shortage will be orchestrated like everything else!

reply to post by Rocketgirl


Well you know us nutty humans, we dont usually change until we absolutely have to. I have just learned to accept it and move on. Saves me from driving everyone around me crazy by making them listen to me whine and complain every minute of the day and blame all of my problems on eveyone but myself like some of the whiny eco-nazis.

I am sure we will get there someday. All the better methods I have seen of growing crops all take a lot more resources and are nearly impossible to scale up to global production levels. You know everything is baby steps. We just gotta keep plugging at it.

[edit on 20-6-2009 by grapesofraft]

MY friends sister owns a small farm in Illinois..Their neighbor owns a much LARGER farm....They were paid $75,000 NOT TO GROW FOOD!!!
The coming Food shortage will be orchestrated like everything else!

reply to post by grapesofraft


There has to be better ways to grow food other then the methods in place today. There has to be a method to grow food and lots of it without taking up a lot resources.

reply to post by Rocketgirl


Well you are a smart woman, so maybe you will be the one to figure it out. Do you have any good ideas running around that pretty head of yours?

In light of this the current move to divert agricultural land to the function of growing fuel seems a little dumb.

The current American government wants to jump stronger than ever into producing biofuels...

On May 5th, President Obama asked USDA to expedite, within 30 days, the biofuels provisions of the energy title of the 2008 Farm Bill. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says USDA has met the President’s challenge to help produce more energy from - homegrown, renewable sources.

USDA Meets Obama's Goal

[edit on 20-6-2009 by Ntity]

[edit on 20-6-2009 by Ntity]

reply to post by grapesofraft


Right now, I don't have any ideas. I wish I did, but I don't.