Food Shortages, and the Tricks of GM Food…

Posted on April 24, 2008
Filed Under Society |

As food prices continue to increase, the world is finding itself faced with a real threat of food shortages. The Wall Street Journal has gone as far as to publish an article suggesting that Americans start to stockpile food. In anybody’s book this is pretty bad news when coming for a mainstream source.

I don’t want to alarm anybody, but maybe it’s time for Americans to start stockpiling food.

No, this is not a drill.

You’ve seen the TV footage of food riots in parts of the developing world. Yes, they’re a long way away from the U.S. But most foodstuffs operate in a global market. When the cost of wheat soars in Asia, it will do the same here.

Reality: Food prices are already rising here much faster than the returns you are likely to get from keeping your money in a bank or money-market fund. And there are very good reasons to believe prices on the shelves are about to start rising a lot faster.

“Load up the pantry,” says Manu Daftary, one of Wall Street’s top investors and the manager of the Quaker Strategic Growth mutual fund. “I think prices are going higher. People are too complacent. They think it isn’t going to happen here. But I don’t know how the food companies can absorb higher costs.” (Full disclosure: I am an investor in Quaker Strategic)

Stocking up on food may not replace your long-term investments, but it may make a sensible home for some of your shorter-term cash. Do the math. If you keep your standby cash in a money-market fund you’ll be lucky to get a 2.5% interest rate. Even the best one-year certificate of deposit you can find is only going to pay you about 4.1%, according to Bankrate.com. And those yields are before tax.

Wall Street Journal - Stockpile your Food

The truth of the matter is that serious global problems appear to be right around the corner. Perhaps serious enough to match the Great Depression. That said - I am hoping that next year I will look back at this as nonsense…but something tells me that many of us are burying our heads in the sand regarding this.

Consider for a moment, in your present situation - how will you manage if there was next to no food on the store shelves? Is this just another case of media fear mongering?

…I am not convinced of the whole fear mongering theory - because the evidence to support approaching hard times has been there for a good number of years now.

If nothing else consider stocking up on items that can be traded, this would be things such as cooking oil, tobacco and alcohol. Now even if nothing comes of this - holding a small stock of this stuff is inexpensive at the moment - and isn’t really a ‘waste’ as it can always be passed on to friends or family.

Another worthwhile option is to start growing your own fruit and veg. To be honest, nothing beats home grown food anyway.

So - have I gone all survivalist? Well, no - far from it. Like most people, I am still not sure what the future will bring. But I don’t believe in ignoring these things…or burying my head in the sand. Whilst I am not going to buy hundreds of pounds of food, having a small ’stash’ is surely the only sensible option?

At any rate, whilst the outlook on food supply is bleak - the large corporations feel they can save the day with their cheap GM food. There is a continued push in the media to tell us that GM food is ’safe’…yet without a few decades of evidence, there is nothing to support that claim. It’s like with everything else, the public are told to ‘keep using’ these things until we know for sure that they are not safe.

It seems to me that people believe this stuff because to do otherwise means facing facts and living truth. And for many that invites fear, and that is unfortunate.

I’d be interested to hear what people think about all this, and what - if anything - you are planning on doing…

Comments

3 Responses to “Food Shortages, and the Tricks of GM Food…”

johnblend on April 26th, 2008 12:46 pm

I hope and believe that a food shortage might actually have some positive effects(if we don’t go the GMO way that is). This might be a opportunity for people to connect, to be involved in their own food supply. Thus beginning to act more locally and bring a positive change globally.

Also this could have a great change on the economy. moving from “symbolic wealth” aka money to barter and exchange with real wealth.

The key to the problem is to be positive, see possibilities and work for a positive outcome. I think the danger comes if we people of this planet act upon our fears, there is too much fearmongering in this world today.

On the other hand there is nothing wrong being prepared for the ebb of food supplies, just common sense.

I myself have started to prepare by giving tips of the coming food shortage to my family when I first heard of it about a couple of months ago. Building up a minor stock of knowledge is also good, there is of eatable stuff in the nature; mushrooms, berries and plants. but you need to know what is what.

But Optimism is the most important.
Be well
//john
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Marcus on April 28th, 2008 7:43 pm

To be honest, I think you are on to the right approach with all this.

The world is changing, and how we act know will ultimately be a deciding factor in what the world becomes. Personally I would rather live in a world where people share and are helpful - as opposed to a world where people fence themselves into their properties with hoards of food and a stash of guns…
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Theli on May 3rd, 2008 10:28 am

Some interesting information to go with this may be found by doing searches on “bees dying” and/or “the world according to Monsanto”.

The latter is a documentary that was aired on French-German cultural television (ARTE) on 03/11/08.

Present in forty-six countries, Monsanto has become the world leader in GM crops, as well as becoming one of the most controversial companies in industrial history. Since its foundation in 1901, the firm has faced trial after trial because of the toxicity of its products. Today it has reinvented itself as a “life sciences” company which has been converted to the virtues of sustainable development.

Using hitherto unpublished documents and the testimonies of victims, scientists and politicians, The World according to Monsanto pieces together the origins of an
industrial empire, built upon lies, collusion with the American government, pressure and attempted corruption, which has become the world’s leading seed manufacturer, spreading GM crops worldwide - amid a lack of any proper controls with respect to their effects on nature and human health.

The DVD is available in English Audio version from ARTE TV here:
http://linkanon.com/?r=http://www.arte-boutique.fr/HomeEn.action?lang=en The Title will show as LE MONDE SELON MONSANTO although it is english

Download a notes, commentary and links PDF file here: http://lix.in/b7816fd7 (good for sharing with friends).

Why are most of the developed countries refusing GM crops? Why does the U.S. ban GM-free labeling?

Don’t forget to look into why are our honey bees dying.

Best to all.
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