I need to lose a few pounds anyway...

[FatherDunlap]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/busin ... ref=slogin

In a year when global harvests need to be excellent to ease the threat of pervasive food shortages, evidence is mounting that they will be average at best. Some farmers are starting to fear disaster.

http://www.tristateobserver.com/modules ... &sid=10121

"Our concern is that the U.S. has nothing else in our emergency food pantry. There is no cheese, no butter, no dry milk powder, no grains or anything else left in reserve. The o­nly thing left in the entire CCC inventory will be 2.7 million bushels of wheat which is about enough wheat to make ½ of a loaf of bread for each of the 300 million people in America.”

[FatherDunlap]

And now all the flooding in the Midwest is exacerbating the food crisis:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/p ... 90376/1030

For consumers feeling the pinch of higher food prices, the flooding of prime Midwest farmland will bring more bad news in supermarkets through next year.

So, to summarize:

- Increased energy prices have caused global food prices to spike.
- This year's harvest was already shaping up to be a poor one.
- Our emergency food stores aren't even enough to feed the country for a day (granted there's probably a few more days of food in the supply chain at any given time).
- The recent floods have wiped out millions of acres of crops.
- Modern distribution systems (thanks to industrial engineers like me and Janelle ) operate "Just In Time", meaning our local stores hold the absolute minimum inventory levels needed to fulfill demand in between shipments.

[Mark Itzero]

Today on NPR they reported a story in which they said that if the crop damage turns out to be at the high-end of estimates, it will only make up 1% of total crops.

You've been spending too much time in your Doom Doom Room Chris.

[FatherDunlap]

My original post was about how this year's crops were shaping up to be poor, and how our emergency reserves had recently been depleted down to abnormally low levels. The flood damage is simply making the original problem worse, and in this case apparently, 1% worse. Perhaps I should have added:

Spiking fuel prices make it that much worse.
Spiking fertilizer prices make it that much worse.
Spiking pesticide prices make it that much worse.
Spiking <insert product here> prices make it that much worse.
The declining value of the dollar makes it that much worse.
Commodities speculators make it that much worse.
People hearing all this bad news and stocking up on extra food make it that much worse.
Turning food into automotive fuel makes it that much worse.
Truckers striking and protesting (in other words, not delivering goods to market) make it that much worse.

Obama's gonna have a lot of shit to deal with.

JR News - I report, I decide