Posted on 04/16/2011 4:57:47 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Down with the Czars!!!
” thought the bill had passed with exception easing restriction for food grown by small farmers and sold within a certain distance. “
You fell for that, too, huh??
If ya read the actual language of the bill (now law-of-the-land) instead of the press releases, you’ll find that the provision states that producers under $500K (and a few other restrictions) are not exempted from the law, but rather ‘granted a waiver’ - which can be rescinded by FDA (or, if memory serves, DHS or DOD) pretty much arbitrarily...
Ya gotta watch ‘em every second....
Thank you. I had followed the news on it for awhile but then it seemed to have dropped off the radar. I do keep Farm To Consumer Legal Defense Fund on my FB likes which does help with current news on these matters.
” Thank you. I had followed the news on it for awhile but then it seemed to have dropped off the radar. “
Someday, if you have the time, patience, and exceptional tolerance for ‘Legislative Language’, you might want to look up the new Food Saftey Act (which was signed into law at the end of last year’s infamous Lame Duck Session)- as you plow through it, you’ll find a plethora of nasty surprises - none of which have anything to do with “food safety”...
(An example to whet your appetite - there is provision for DHS or DOD to seize control of all or any part of the national food chain in the event of some undefined ‘food emergency’....)
Spam is not cheap at nearly $3.00 a can, but Kroger is now selling 12 packs of Mac&Cheese for $5.00 and 12 packs of Ramen for $2.00. That speaks volumes.
Spam will be the new Sunday dinner.
Paul (the “Population Bomb”) Ehrlich made his prediction in the 1960’s, just as the problem of third world starvation had been solved thanks to the development of genetically modified crops thanks to Norman Borlaug (the real “green revolution”).
Borlaug’s innovations were already being implemented in Mexico, Pakistan and India by 1965. Ehrlich’s “prophetic” work, the Population Bomb, was released in 1968. So Ehrlich’s “zero population growth” policies, which depopulated the middle class in Europe, were out of date well before he even became a pop culture icon.
In spite of his spectacular success in ending third world starvation, Borlaug has been criticized by the left for replacing the subsistence farming economies of the third world with food productivity that enriched big companies. But one can understand how the left could be so pissed off. Ehrlich was Professor of Population Studies at Stanford. Borlaug was just an Ag prof at Texas A&M.
Oh, by the way, Ehlich does have a legacy. His protege, John Holdren, is Obama’s science czar. Wouldn’t it be sick if Ehrlich’s fans have the last laugh.
I bet emergency is a rather flexible term. Thanks for the heads up.
Historically--especially during the 20th Century--famines happened for politcal reasons, not natural disaster reasons. Look at the following:
1. The forced collectivization of farms in the Ukraine from 1928 to 1933--14 million dead from over-export of wheat and other staples grown in the Ukraine.
2. The civil war between the Communists and Nationalists plus the Japanese invasion of China--several tens of millions dead from interrupted distribution of food.
3. The various famines on the African continent--several tens of millions dead due to deliberate economic policy from various dictators.
4. The current bad food situation in North Korea--again, deliberate economic policy from the government.
Indeed, the interruption of the distribution of food is the primary cause of famines.
I think if you have a carburetor (with some adjustments), you can run your vehicle off of straight moonshine...and if it doesn’t work. Just drink it and forget about it.
Six thousand years ago, Nebraska went through such a big dought that there are still sand dunes there, and enough topsoil blew off to make the loess hill of western Iowa.
My buddy, a soil scientist for the U of Mo says that the biggest problem around the world in the future will be the loss of cheap fertilizers, especially mined phosphorus, but also cheap ammonia/urea made from natural gas. The US is rich enough to be able to afford more expensive alternatives, but the peasant farmer in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Congo, or Belarus is going to get screwed badly.
Prediction: the future of what passes for journalism will more and more resemble Above Top Secret and The National Enquirer. More and more than it currently does, IOW.
#1 44 million people pushed into extreme poverty due to RISING OIL PRICES. Period.
#2 This “loss of topsoil” argument is old. I remember it being in encyclopedias published 45 years ago, along with info about soil conservation methods.
#3 Due to U.S. ethanol subsidies blah blah blah. Anything subsidized by the government increases (welfare cases, for example). B.S.
#4 “it is being projected that there will be no more wheat production in Saudi Arabia by the year 2012.” (that’s next year, smell of B.S.)
#5 More general than #6, but Chinese grain is generally rice, which is grown in paddies and requires much more water than other grains.
#6 Ogallala Aquifer: http://www.ogallala.ars.usda.gov/
#7 UG99 wheat rust: http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=14649
#8 Tsunami + nukes = vast agricultural areas in Japan unusable, third largest economy likely to totally collapse. Yeah, that’s what the Japanese society is known for, collapsing like a house of cards at the first sign of any kind of hardship.
#9 “The price of oil may be the biggest factor on this list.” — THAT’S THE TICKET, BURY THE LEAD! The price of everything (in particular food) is affected by the price of oil. DRILL!
#10 “At some point the world could experience a very serious fertilizer shortage.” Not as long as there are copies of this article around it won’t. The fertilizer / soil fertility “crisis” goes way back into the 19th century. James Burke discusses this in either “Connections” or in “The Day the Universe Changed”.
#11 Food inflation again — IT’S THE PRICE OF OIL. Not ethanol, not wheat rust... Isn’t it interesting that articles like this pop up each time OPEC starts to get richer than Croesus? It’s almost as if they have shills working for them in the media. http://www.aim.org/press-release/saudi-billionaire-boasts-of-manipulating-fox-news-coverage/
#12 High oil prices.
#13 High oil prices.
#14 High oil prices.
#15 High oil prices.
#16 High oil prices.
#17 High oil prices.
#18 Regurgitation of #1. High oil prices.
#19 High oil prices and jihad.
#20 High oil prices, or maybe just mass hysteria.
“Global food crisis” is certainly just a hoax. There is no forseeable shortage of food. The crisis is that governments around the world are making their currencies worthless, but the USA is joining them instead of being the source of currency value stability.
The global warming globalists know what they are doing and intend to do it. They are not kidding when they say they want the population to be severely reduced on their globe. Creating oil shortages and high prices, plus regulating usage to less than needed levels, is a means to an end.
Leftists will always be leftists and they really do love creating death and suffering for the people they desire to rule.
Due to U.S. ethanol subsidies, almost a third of all corn grown in the United States is now used for fuel. This is putting a lot of stress on the price of corn.
Not the same. The government spends more money then they take from us (fact) and that will come back to bite us.
Regarding food, we produce and export as much wheat as we use. America does not depend on any imports for basic food products but we export many of the same. The world may have a food crisis but America will not have one for any foreseeable future.
I'm with you - if they're pushing this it's to grease their own hand... Also a sizable portion of this has the 'feel' of elitist global warming type bull ...
That said, I'm concerned... we might have food problems - based on our dollar being worthless and our farmers needing to sell to the highest bidder. Which in the future will be people who don't trade in dollars.
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