Potential Food and Energy Shortage Across the World


This is a discussion of Canada's food systems, and the benefits and detriments of self-reliance. Canada is in good shape in terms of food production. For instance, particular, the beef industry produces more than can be consumed domestically.

The format of the article is compelling. It is presented in the form of a debate, with one Professor advocates for a shift to local self-sufficiency and shorter supply chains, and a second professor detailing a number of the macroeconomic problems associated with such a change. There is a back and forth discussion that I found quite illuminating.

Is it not so simple to just overhaul an entire nation's agricultural system towards self-sufficiency? I thought that this would be a wise move going forward as well. But the picture is much more complex than a simple return to the 'Victory Gardens' that arose during WWII. This complexity is due in large part to the interconnectedness of each domestic economy with the global economy, as far as I can tell. Paradigm shifts can't be made in a vacuum.

It could be, however, that there will be a vacuum - due to some of the coming changes we've discussed at length, such as an Ice Age and a space virus, which would drastically alter just about everything we can imagine. In a state of collapse - even if the collapse isn't total - the Victory Gardens model may be the only thing that keeps food on the table for many.

But before we get to that point in time, this article provides a good look if one can assume some form of global economy going forwards, and not total collapse. In that sense, I feel that some of the points raised here could be extrapolated beyond the Canadian example, so it may be worth looking at for other readers. The economics of it are still pretty much gobbledygook to me, but it provides good food for thought.
 
We may see more of this crop poaching in Canada and elsewhere in the near future.
(from The Western Producer website):

Security systems and neighbours deter thieves -​

Miles Moore put this sign at the entrance to his farm near Outlook, Sask., after 1,800 bushels of canola — $40,000 worth — was stolen from one of his bins this January. Farmers are using technology from social media to security systems to detect and act upon suspicious behaviour. | William DeKay photo
Miles Moore put this sign at the entrance to his farm near Outlook, Sask., after 1,800 bushels of canola — $40,000 worth — was stolen from one of his bins this January. Farmers are using technology from social media to security systems to detect and act upon suspicious behaviour.
People have been moving away from rural areas in the Prairies for decades, and those who remain can feel isolated with their closest neighbours sometimes kilometres away.

It’s also much harder for producers to keep their property secure in ever expanding farms, especially when assets are in yards where nobody lives.

If producers do keep assets in yards that are not occupied, they should consider getting a security system, said Sargeant Neil Tremblay of the Battleford, Saskatchewan RCMP department.

“When you have people that happen to be looking for opportunities to steal, (it’s helpful to have) motion cameras or some type of an alarm system when you’re not living at a place where you’re storing equipment,” Tremblay said.
“Those are often where we’re seeing rural property getting targeted.”

A major stumbling block for security systems in remote areas is connectivity because many systems are designed for broadband, which is typically not an option in remote areas. There are, however, other options.

They can use security devices that use long range radio (LoRa) or a Low Power, Wide Area networking (LoRaWAN).

Or something as simple as a camera with cellular connectivity can be a huge help in terms of notifying you when someone pulls into one of your yards.
Images are automatically uploaded from these cameras, so it’s easy to see when there is movement on your property.

“Particularly when you’re dealing in the winter with snowfall when it becomes quite clear that some of these rural properties are not actively being visited very regularly. Those are often the ones that we find targeted,” Tremblay said.

He said cameras are not perfect but they help them apprehend thieves.
Many people in rural areas assume it’s not worth getting an alarm system because their property may be more than a half-hour drive to the closest detachment.

“I think a lot of people might feel like, ‘oh the people will be gone by then.’ But that’s not necessarily the case, and certainly if you have a location that has some means of alerting you or the authorities that someone is on your property illegally, it can certainly limit the amount of time they have to cause damage or to remove property,” Tremblay said.

A smartphone can also be effective.

The RCMP in Battleford use the Everbridge mass notification system to notify residents in a specific area when an urgent situation occurs.
“We have a very healthy number of people in the area signed up for it. We try to make sure we communicate any active criminal activity that might be of interest to people that are on that system, especially if it’s stolen vehicles or people that are involved in some suspicious activities. It helps get the word out a little quicker,” Tremblay said.

The RCMP can choose the area to send out an alert to people who signed up for the program. Tremblay said the system has aided in arrests on multiple occasions because people from the community knew what to watch for.

With Everbridge, only the people who created the community, in this instance the RCMP, can send push notifications to those who are signed up.

But there are plenty of social media platforms that enable everyone in the community to post tips.
For instance, Darren Czarnecki, who has a grain operation northwest of Dauphin, Man., started a Facebook group for his neighbourhood to track suspicious activity.

“I made one up (Facebook group). We had trouble with all kinds of poachers and the odd thief. It’s not hard to do. Add all the neighbours to the group and away you go,” Czarnecki said.

Rural residents can compensate for the distance between farms using social media apps to stay connected.

“If anyone happens to see a strange vehicle, or that’s parked somewhere they shouldn’t be, they just post it and the rest of us know to keep an eye out,” Czarnecki said.

“There have been a few times where some guys were after the elk, so we’d just get on their tail and chase them out of here. You can’t approach these people, but you can let them know they’re being watched.”

Other apps are being used by people in rural areas to prevent rural crime, including WhatsApp and Zello, which emulates push-to-talk walkie-talkies over cell phone networks.
Western Producer
 
The foreign currency crunch has left President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government unable to pay for fuel imports and other essentials. This has resulted in fuel shortages that have caused rolling electricity blackouts of up to 13 hours and brought ground transport in parts of the country to a halt.

Queues for diesel, cooking gas and kerosene are a common sight, with people reporting having to wait in line for days on end to get their rations. Police say at least two people have died while waiting in the scorching heat.

Prices of medicines have also skyrocketed, while the value of the Sri Lankan rupee has plummeted by 30 percent against the United States dollar this year, making it the worst-performing currency in the world.


 
MY 1st BOX OF CHARITY FOOD COMES TONIGHT

I just want to talk. I read all day learning and looking for items to inform and sometimes inspire and that helps a lot with my worry towards the future....Yes, I worry; I try to remain calm, but yesterday, I had a mini freakout.

Looked at what we spent on food and how much was left to buy more. The squeeze has hit my home.

My son doesn't want to hear much about the future, like it's all gonna be mana from heaven, don't worry, be happy....or mentally absent.

I talk with my mum and she's feeling it. She talks of about food prices and my brother who lives with her doesn't want to hear anything, either.

I might have not gone thru the Great Depression, but my parents and grandparents did, and I listened to the stories. They said it was worse in the cities because rural families still kept gardens and small livestock. Well, it isn't like that anymore....We're all vulerable; dependant on supply chains that are breaking down rapidly. We couldn't buy eggs, last 2 trips to the store.

Anyway, I called my sister to ask if I could get on her church's food pantry list. She texted the lady who set it up....first thing she asked Alicia, was, "Could your sister use eggs?" Funny how the universe works, huh?
 
I mentioned Khazin, Russian economist, numerous times on this forum. Unfortunately most of the materials he shares online are in Russian. But someone translated two of his recent videos and added English subtitles.

I highly recommend you to watch them. Although he also talks about the Nazis in Ukraine, he mostly talks about the economy, so this thread was the most appropriate, because he explains in a simple and understandable way what is already happening (disappearance of the middle class in the West) and what is structural inflation. And how exactly the crisis will manifest itself, and how it will lead to rizing nationalistic views as part of PTB's controlling mechanism. He poses that what has happened in Ukraine (grooming of extreme nationalistic elements) was a trial run for future use in other countries.


 
A report from Brownstone Institute; among other things they're warning about coming famines and civil wars caused by food shortages:

The propaganda is powerful, but reality is still slowly intruding into this make-believe world. Increased food and fuel prices, general inflation, reducing services, and economic hardship cannot be painted over, and the limits of money printing have been reached. Such are the fruits in developed nations of the Great Covid Panic, just as famines are its fruits in poor countries.

Civil wars and famines in 2022 are a near certainty for many poor countries, while the West is preoccupied by trying desperately to avoid its date with financial destiny, and is out of money even if it wanted to help.

2022 looks like being a year of reckoning for the covid madness of 2020-2021. We fear the reckoning will involve even larger-scale madness than we have seen so far. The Furies have taken flight.
 
"The world faces a "human catastrophe" from a food crisis arising from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, World Bank president David Malpass has said"

This from an interview with the BBC. As predicted, Russia will be the scapegoat, but stories like this are creeping into the mainstream more often. They will try to avoid panic among the Golden Billion by making connections to the situation in the developed world, for now.
 
Controlled Demolition:

In my latest conversation with Alex Krainer, he provides a clear-eyed and thorough analysis of various macroeconomic developments that Western empire — as it intentionally commits economic suicide — has been cynically blaming on or trying to link to Russia and the conflict in Ukraine. He also addresses "The Great Reset" and CBDCs. Alex's insights here are essential to understanding what is happening both in Eurasia and globally, and why.

LISTEN:
‎TNT Radio: Alex Krainer on Perspective with Jesse Zurawell - 21 Apr 2022 on Apple Podcasts
 
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