G.O.O.D

Source: farminguk.com

NO BUTTER AVAILABLE IN JAPAN,NO BREAD IN EGYPT,NO BEEF IN RUSSIA XMAS 2008,WHAT HAS GONE WRONG.

Its very hard to believe that in 1976 we had the famous Beef Mountain, Butter Mountain a Wine Lake and Milk Lake in Europe.

Beef was being subsidized and given to the Soviet Union, along with butter in the hundreds of thousands of tonnes. Milk was being poured down deserted mine shafts all over Europe and Apples and Plums were rotting by the train load as no one wanted them.

Every newspaper on a global basis has carried the story of the world food shortage for the last few months, CNN have set up a special web site www.cnn.com/worldfoodcrisis with numerous versions of the root cause of the problem.

In 2003 the EU farm commission were concerned that there was an over production of rural products in the European Union, they decided to act on the problem.

In May 2005 farmers were to be paid, the average of the previous 5 years subsidy on corn of fattening cattle on condition that they did not keep any animals or plough a field , this payment system is in its third year next month and continues until the year 2112.

What used to known as the worlds great exporting countries are now importing countries and farmers are being paid in the EU, not to produce.

We now have to add the other factors, increased demand from emerging economies such as Russia, India and China that have blossomed from nowhere in the last ten years.

James Neilson raised a very valid point in the Buenos Aires Herald when he said “The greenbacks collapse (US Dollar) has contributed greatly to a commodity boom which would look far less impressive if the prices of grain, soybeans, oil and minerals were set in euros. And the great food crisis ,he adds has little to do with production ,which is at record levels ,and a great deal to do with money” Mr Neilson is indeed correct in relation to Latin America especially Brazil and Argentina and there is no doubt the decline of the dollar earlier in the year has caused many problems.

However the aforementioned facts along with facts like Peasants in China have not been growing rice for the last 5 years, only enough for their own requirements, until this year when the price they receive justifies the labor.

In Argentina we are slaughtering cattle at 350 kilos as opposed to the rest of the world at 650 kilos,
Pig Farmers from England Ireland and Australia have losing money hand over fist, because of the cost of feed and the demand for low prices in supermarkets.

Poultry Producers have gained immeasurably for whilst meat and bone meal has been banned in feed for cattle because of the threat of BSE mad cow disease. However it is still allowed to be fed to poultry. Whilst no proof has been established of a link between cooked By products and BSE, one can reasonably assume if humans can indeed become infected by beef they can as easily become infected by chicken.

There have been Food Riots in Egypt over the price of bread and the Police in fact baking 70,000 loaves a day in Cairo for the poor, Butchers shops in Egypt are turning over the same amount of money as last year but selling 50pc less beef.

From the worlds top 10 beef exporting countries 25 years ago, Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe ,Romania and the old Yugoslavian nations have become beef importers on a very large scale.

In the last year since 2007 Corn prices went up 36pc, Rice has risen 75pc, Soymeal 87pc, in many countries bread has gone up 130pc in price, until the marker collapsed again two months ago.

Beef has been a luxury item in wealthy countries for many years, which has been compensated by the advent of processed foods, with the same protein at affordable prices such as burgers hot dogs and kebabs. However in the EU, they are now going to ban the use of mince beef or ground beef as they call it in the USA.

France has been used to high meat prices for many years, consequently they are big users of offal liver, heart, tripe tails head meat and lambs heads.

Robert Zoelick head of the World Bank, believes the current food crisis threatens Global security. However Josette Sheeran, director of the UN World Food Program, concurs with Mr Neilson and said last month “We are seeing a new face of global hunger, we are seeing food on the shelves, yet people are unable to afford it”.

Recently in Australia farmers were complaining that they can buy their own beef cheaper in the supermarkets of the USA and Japan, than they can at home, despite the costs of shipping thousands of miles away and the additional refrigeration and packaging.

In Argentine we consume 69 kilos of beef per person per year, this is a staggering figure compared to the EU where consumption is 17.5 kilos .In Argentina as in France we also have a healthy appetite for offal.

We have seen in recent months India, Vietnam, Egypt and Brazil ban the export of Rice to conserve supplies for the domestic market, In Argentina we have banned export of beef and wheat for the same reasons.

There have been food riots in Egypt, Haiti, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Bangladesh and Vietnam, water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink, as it’s the price as much as the shortage causing the problem.

Is it a big problem to fix, indeed not, farming has always been feast or famine, ask any farmer in Outback Australia, who has to battle the elements of drought or floods.

In Australia during the late eighties and early nineties at the time of the wool mountain. The Hawke Government were giving farmers 20 cents for each sheep they had. This was the price of a government subsidized 22 bullet, in order to shoot there sheep at the governments cost then dig a hole to bury them. Millions of sheep were disposed of this way and today we have a food shortage.

Which came first the chicken or the egg, without the arable farmer tilling his corn, wheat, barley, maize or soybean we have no basic food for pigs, poultry and cattle, in the majority of countries where they have to be wintered in yards,

Man cannot live on bread alone, our farm animals cannot survive on grass alone only in exceptional countries in the Southern Hemisphere, Argentina, Australia, Brazil and New Zealand. Whilst the framework is still in place in the African countries, politics has got in the way of farm production, until we can find a compromise between colonialism and nationalism .

The whole world situation can be turned around in under two years, this is physically possible if the politicians could see the wood for the trees.

The subsidy system has served the farmers of Europe and the USA well for the last 55 years, whilst the farmers of the Southern Hemisphere have had to battle on and farm every hectare to its best advantage, with no assistance through drought or flood except their tears and blood.

Technorati Tags: famine, food shortage

We will be growing a lot more potato and corn this coming year…

Also see US generals planning for resource wars and Food shortage catastrophe creeping up on the world

Wikipedia: Because it provides “an assessment of the price of moving the major raw materials by sea,” according to The Baltic, “… it provides both a rare window into the highly opaque and diffuse shipping market and an accurate barometer of the volume of global trade — devoid of political and other agenda concerns.”

Baltic Dry Index

Source: Associated Content

The Baltic Dry Index which is a direct indicator of the health of vital worldwide shipping and supply activity as well as the potential health of the global economy has recently slipped more than 93%. Its value has gone from over 11,000 to less than 800 with little except for a floor of zero to suggest the slide will stop in the near future. This means that worldwide, the demand for cargo ships and more importantly raw materials that go into producing the everyday items that consumers buy has come to a near standstill. This is an indicator of a massive worldwide slump and likely foreshadows more economic woes for not only the US, but also the entire globe.

To understand the Baltic Dry index one has to approach this economic telltale from multiple angles. Basically, the index is set where the supply of raw materials meets the demand for ships to be booked to carry those materials from country to country or continent to continent. The index is broken down into different segments that take into account the size of the ship and the type of the cargo that is being shipped. It can be observed at the Investment Tools website at http://www.investmenttools.com/futures/bdi_baltic_dry_index.htm

Generally, when the BDI is charting a gain, stocks will likely close up and countries’ whose currency are good market indicators of worldwide exchange, like the value of the Canadian and Australian Dollars are on their way up as well. When the BDI is performing badly, generally the US and worldwide stock markets are likely to also perform badly in the near future and the currencies of the countries previously mentioned, who are heavily affected by the foreign goods and raw materials exchange will also likely soon show losses. This is because the BDI shows exactly where the worldwide demand for raw goods and materials rests at any given period. When these raw goods and materials are not being moved around, production of almost everything imaginable slows due to the tightening supply of worldwide goods.

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Pilgrim's Pride

Source: Charlotte Business Journal:

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., a chicken processor with operations in Union County, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The company, based in Pittsburg, Texas, says it does not expect the move to affect its daily operations. A Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing allows companies to protect their assets while they reorganize.

Pligrim’s Pride has been hit hard this year by several factors, including the high cost of ingredients for chicken feed and lower consumer demand for meat.

Earlier this year, the company shut down a facility in Siler City where it had employed more than 800 workers.

“We expect to emerge from this restructuring a stronger, more competitive company that is well-positioned for growth and enhanced profitability,” says Clint Rivers, chief executive. “We are proud of the consistently high quality of our products, our valued customer relationships and the high level of service we provide.”

Pilgrim’s Pride (NYSE:PPC) says it has reached an agreement to obtain $450 million debtor-in-possession financing from a group of lenders led by Bank of Montreal.

Pilgrim’s Pride says it expects to lose $802 million, or $10.83 per share, in the fourth quarter. The company says the latest results will include a $501.4 million charge tied to the impairment of goodwill associated with Pilgrim Pride’s purchase of Gold Kist Inc.

That company lost $33.2 million, or 50 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Pilgrim’s Pride has 48,000 employees. The company operates 35 chicken processing plants and 11 prepared-foods facilities.

Technorati Tags: Famine, Pilgrim’s Pride

The next big thing to happen is related to food.  Be prepared.  Again, we urge people to provide as much for themselves as possible…

Source: Barrons.com

AN INTERVIEW WITH DONALD COXE: He’s convinced that we are in the midst of the greatest commodities bull market of all time. His hunger: food.

ONCE A WEEK, LOADS OF INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS DROP whatever they’re doing to tune in to Donald Coxe’s strategy conference calls. Small wonder. With a keen sense of history and wry sense of humor, Coxe has helped his followers anticipate some of the biggest shifts in markets, be they in stocks or commodities. As global portfolio strategist for BMO Financial Group, a Toronto-based bank that is among Canada’s largest, he now sees real hope for two sectors that have been taking poundings: banks and commodities. Though he launched the Coxe Commodity Strategy Fund this past summer, right before commodities took a nose dive, Coxe remains convinced that we are in the midst of the greatest commodities bull market of all time. For his reasons, please read on.

…

When I came back from a trip two years ago, I said the biggest commodity story is going to be food, bigger than the other ones. It is high-protein food. The way to play that is through the fertilizer stocks, the genetically modified seed stocks and the farm-equipment stocks….

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Technorati Tags: famine

Yes indeed, working families are starting to seek food assistance from food banks and rescue shelters. Will it be another seven months before people realize that the food crisis is upon us? I hope not. I don’t dwell on the food emergency too much on this blog, but it is real, it’s happening now, and it will only get worse.

People, you need to purchase and stockpile some basic food supplies, for the sake of your family. If you have some money still, places like Nitro-Pak.com might be a good way to go, assuming the canneries are keeping up the pace with demand. Aldi’s, Costco, Sam’s Club…wherever you need to go to get the basics, do so now. Unfortunately, the gardening season is coming to a close, at least where I live, but think about spring time NOW, and plan accordingly. The system is too fragile, too volatile, to rely on; It is already running low on supplies.

My grandparents always had stack upon stack of seasoned fire wood available, and a fully stocked pantry. For them it wasn’t hoarding, or showed a lack of faith…it was simply prudent and wise; it was how they were raised, and it’s about time we take to heart some of the practical lessons that those who lived through hard times (like the last Great Depression) have to teach us.

Do it, do it now, stop fooling around. Stop trying to convince yourself that everything will be OK. If you have a family, if you have children, get busy now.

Source pressofatlanticcity.com

Tough economic times are making it hard for the state’s food pantries to keep their shelves stocked.

State officials said New Jersey’s food banks are reporting as much as a 30 percent increase in the number of families seeking food assistance, while food supplies are down by 19 percent from the same time last year.

In some cases, they said, a few of the facilities simply closed after running out of supplies.

The situation is so bad that Gov. Jon S. Corzine recently announced the early distribution of nearly
$1 million to the state’s six emergency food distribution centers to ease the shortages reported by the food pantries.

Of those funds, $14,444 went to the Southern Regional Food Distribution Center in Vineland, where Executive Director Tammy Morris said people requesting food are not just those on fixed incomes.

“Now we see more working families coming in requesting food,” she said. “It’s not looking good.”

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famine

Source: WORLD FOOD DAY: Eating Less, Paying More

Despite wall-to-wall media coverage of the financial crisis rocking the U.S. and, increasingly, other financial systems around the world, a crisis with a larger scope is brewing with little attention.

Many people around the globe are feeling the burden of higher food and energy prices, found a new international poll of 26 countries released ahead of World Food Day Thursday.

The rising food prices, said the poll from the BBC World Service conducted by University of Maryland’s Programme on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) and the polling firm Globescan, were sometimes so acute as to affect people’s eating habits, especially in developing countries.

“The financial crisis is taking up a tremendous amount of coverage in the media right now, but what is going to affect a larger number of people around the world [are the crises of rising energy and food costs],” Clay Ramsay, the research director at PIPA, told IPS. “It’s important to see all these dimensions at once and not regard the financial crisis as the be-all and end-all of our problems.”

Ramsay told IPS that the first of these crises involved energy costs, which subsequently affected food costs because of the fuel and electricity needed for production, transportation, and storage.

“The financial crisis is the newest one — it’s the icing on a very bad-tasting cake,” Ramsay said. “All of these factors are going to interact, but the one that was the underlying one for many parts of the world was the increased energy costs. That has exacerbated the food crisis.”

With energy and food costs soaring of late, many perceive the increases as having a large effect on them, even leading some to cut down the amount of food they eat.

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famine

• 30 Hour Famine: View from behind the stage