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One in Seven Americans are on Food Stamps. Is this a Practice Run?

The Revolution will take place. The time and the method are still up in the air.

Ideally, it won't be fought with guns, sanctions and weapons of mass destruction.

It will be fought with acres of land, solar panels, rain collection, and off-grid solutions.

The goal is to stop participating in their system and to create our own.

We can't wait for Monsanto to grow a nicer plant for us.

We have to turn every inch we have into a productive landscape,

and use our resources to change the world in front of us.

If you want peace on Earth. If you dream of a better way.

If you want governments to shake in fear at the mention of its citizens,

then it's time to embrace domestic change and reoccupy your house.

Free yourself step by step from shackles to their world and truly become sovereign.

Teach each other. Learn from each other. Help each other.

Build a different possibility.

Food inflation is here and it's here to stay. We can see it getting worse every time we buy groceries. Basic food commodities like wheat, corn, soybeans, and rice have been skyrocketing since July, 2010 to record highs. These sustained price increases are only expected to continue as food production shortfalls really begin to take their toll this year and beyond.

This summer Russia banned exports of wheat to ensure their nation's supply, which sparked complaints of protectionism. The U.S. agriculture community is already talking about rationing corn over ethanol mandates versus supply concerns. We've seen nothing yet in terms of food protectionism.

Global food shortages have forced emergency meetings at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization where they claim "urgent action" is needed. They point to extreme weather as the main contributing factor to the growing food shortages. However, commodity speculation has also been targeted as one of the culprits.

It seems that the crisis would also present the perfect opportunity and the justification for the large GMO food companies to force their products into skeptical markets like in Europe and Japan, as recently leaked cables suggest. One thing is for sure; food shortages will likely continue to get worse and eventually become a full-scale global food crisis.

Here are seven reasons why food shortages are here to stay on a worldwide scale:

1. Extreme Weather: Extreme weather has been a major problem for global food; from summer droughts and heat waves that devastated Russia’s wheat crop to the ongoing catastrophes from 'biblical flooding' in Australia and Pakistan. And it doesn’t end there. An extreme winter cold snap and snow has struck the whole of Europe and the United States. Staple crops are failing in all of these regions making an already fragile harvest in 2010 even more critical into 2011. Based on the recent past, extreme weather conditions are only likely to continue and perhaps worsen in the coming years.

2. Bee Colony Collapse: The Guardian reported this week on the USDA's study on bee colony decline in the United States: "The abundance of four common species of bumblebee in the US has dropped by 96% in just the past few decades." It is generally understood that bees pollinate around 90% of the world's commercial crops. Obviously, if these numbers are remotely close to accurate, then our natural food supply is in serious trouble. Luckily for us, the GMO giants have seeds that don't require open pollination to bear fruit.

3. Collapsing Dollar: Commodity speculation has resulted in massive food inflation that is already creating crisis levels in poor regions in the world. Food commodity prices have soared to record highs mainly because they trade in the ever-weakening dollar. Traders will point to the circumstances described in this article to justify their gambles, but also that food represents a tangible investment in an era of worthless paper. Because the debt problems in the United States are only getting worse, and nations such as China and Russia are dropping the dollar as their trade vehicle, the dollar will continue to weaken, further driving all commodity prices higher.

We recommend that people garden indoors this year, or maybe from now on, to avoid as much radiation contamination as possible.

Another alternative is to dome garden.

Exelon

Have you ever gone hungry? Ever had to scavenge for any scrap of food-like garbage simply to stave off your gnawing hunger? Probably not. Most people in the affluent West can’t even begin to imagine it. But of the nearly 7 billion people on Earth, an estimated 850 million are undernourished or chronically hungry. With global food production hurting and prices rising, this number is swiftly climbing. When your belly is plenty full, your tendency is to brush aside such facts. After all, what can you do? But you need to give this some serious thought—because chances are extremely high that soon, you won’t just be reading about those hunger pains.

Stop a moment and think about just how much you take plentiful food for granted. In the First World, we have enjoyed several decades of practically unprecedented abundance—limitless food variety, available year-round, at some of the cheapest prices enjoyed on a mass scale in human history. Thanks to increased food production, the share of underfed people on our planet has been dropping for centuries; in recent decades, percentages of malnourished and starving people have been more than halved.

No wonder we take it all for granted. This auspicious historical anomaly is the new reality. The party can last forever, right? Well, there is a catch. This period of plenty has largely been sponsored by a complete revolution in the way we produce and distribute what we eat. The good news is that we have become extremely efficient in producing cheap food in massive quantities. The bad news is that it has come with monumental unintended additional costs.

Perhaps the most urgent consequence is that this revolution has made us dangerously vulnerable to massive disruptions in our food supply. As our modern world has shifted from an agricultural society to an industrial- and now a service- and information-based culture, farmers have vanished en masse. A mere century ago, one in four Americans lived on a farm, and the average farmer grew enough food to feed 12 other Americans. Today, while the population has more than tripled to over 300 million, only 2 million farmers remain. On average, each one grows food to feed 140 people.

Today in the First World, less than 2 percent of the population is feeding the other 98 percent. The vast majority of us get our food from hundreds or thousands of miles away, and have only about a week’s worth of groceries in the pantry. We are wholly sustained by a complex system about which we are almost completely ignorant. Making food has become a profession for experts.

Early signs of breakdowns in the system are appearing—more all the time. Soaring grocery bills. Headlines about food-borne sickness from harmful bacteria. Epidemic chronic health problems like obesity and diabetes. Food scarcity. And yes, even famine.

What would you eat if the grocery stores and restaurants were empty?

Surely you’ve noticed the rising cost of groceries. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Price Index climbed 25 percent last year. This February, it hit a record high. In June 2011, the FAO said the cost of a typical food basket worldwide was 48 percent higher than a year before. These high prices are not a short-term problem. Recent troubles have only aggravated a crisis that has been incubating for years—and it isn’t going away anytime soon.

Between 2001 and 2008, the world consumed progressively more grain than it produced. The world’s grain stockpile shrank from more than 100 days’ supply to less than 50 days. And food prices rose dramatically. Between 2005 and 2008, prices jumped 80 percent.

The situation led to rationing and, in poorer countries, famine. Food riots erupted in several countries. The “tortilla crisis” in Mexico, where thousands of people protested in the streets because of hikes in the price of maize, preceded public unrest over food prices in several other countries. Riots erupted in Haiti, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Cameroon, Morocco, Mauritania, Somalia, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Kenya, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico and Zimbabwe. As 2008 began, the FAO said 37 countries faced food crises, putting 1.5 billion people at risk of starvation.

These problems were only made worse by the financial crash at the end of 2008. By mid-2009, food shortages had hit dozens of countries, and a billion people were eating less each day.

Today, a number of factors continue to hammer food supplies and prices: the rise of biofuels; skyrocketing oil prices; shrinking government food stockpiles; and environmental disasters, including record droughts and devastating floods. The world’s grain reserves are now at a historic low. During the summer of 2011, G-20 agriculture ministers met for the first time ever in order to focus on mounting evidence that these high prices are only going to get worse—along with food shortages. “Almost in every country, including in Europe, the issue of higher food prices has already become tangible,” said senior fao economist Abdolreza Abbassian. The FAO’s director general elect said that high and volatile food prices would exist “for a long time.”

The FAO says unfavorable weather will put still more pressure on food prices in the coming months. What was referred to as a “500-year flood” in the area of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers this summer caused millions of dollars’ worth of farmland damage, spiking grain prices. The U.S. Department of Agriculture was already estimating big increases in grain costs for the 2011-2012 year over the previous year—and that was before the flooding. “All we can do is sit back and watch food prices soar, both across the United States and the globe,” wrote Ian Cooper, editor of the Wealth Daily investment-advice column.

The adverse effects of these trends are far-reaching and potentially quite serious. The CEO of Smithfield Foods, a global food company, said, “We are just one bad weather event away from potentially $10 corn, which once again is another 50 percent increase in the input cost to our live production.” But this is more than just a mere inconvenience. It means that food companies could well go bankrupt, he said.

The U.S. is the world’s biggest exporter of both wheat and corn. Failing crops in America will impact more than just the budgets of U.S. citizens—and exponentially so in many countries. Americans spend less than 10 percent of their income on food. But for the world’s poorest 2 billion people, that figure is 50 to 70 percent. As Foreign Policy wrote, for them, “these soaring food prices may mean going from two meals a day to one.”

“We’re descending into a food crisis that’ll ravage the world as we know it,” Cooper says. “Food prices will not come down. We should prepare ourselves now to see food shortages.” It’s one thing to have to pay more for food, assuming you have the money. But what if the food isn’t even there?

One can hope that these trends are mere anomalies—that they will improve, or that somehow, we’ll figure out a way around the growing obstacles. In reality, though, these trends are exposing cracks and structural weaknesses in the very foundation of our food system.

Every year, the human race produces 100 million more mouths to feed. Today we have nearly 7 billion eaters; 50 years ago there were only 3 billion. But it’s not just more mouths—it is what is going into those mouths. The average person worldwide eats 20 percent more calories per day than 50 years ago. And in many cases, those calories require considerably more energy to produce. For example, the emerging middle class in China and India has a growing appetite for meat, poultry, dairy and fish—far more labor- and energy-intensive menu items than rice and vegetables. As Julian Cribb brings out in his book The Coming Famine, China’s meat consumption tripled in less than 15 years, “requiring a tenfold increase in the grain needed to feed the animals and fish.” Within 15 years, China’s grain consumption rose 1,000 percent!

The combination of global population and food demand is rising about 2 percent a year. Meanwhile, food production is rising at only about half that rate.

You can add to this fundamental reality a myriad of other pressures on the food supply: more adverse weather events—droughts, floods, and other disasters—that reduce crop yields or wipe out harvests; vanishing marine life, including ocean fish catches—the top source of protein for Asians—because of over-fishing, pollution and other causes; government enactments like farm subsidies, food price controls, taxes, regulations, restrictions and so on.

Paul Roberts lists still more factors in his 2008 book The End of Food. “Arable land is growing scarcer. Inputs like pesticides and synthetic nitrogen fertilizers are increasingly expensive. Soil degradation and erosion from hyperintensive farming are costing millions of acres of farmland a year. Water supplies are being rapidly depleted in parts of the world, even as the rising price of petroleum—the lifeblood of industrial agriculture—is calling into question the entire agribusiness model.”

For some few realistic observers—and perhaps the 180,000 more people every day who, because of rising food costs, drop below the poverty line and can no longer afford a place at the table—these problems may, indeed, be calling into question the entire agribusiness model. But the reality is, our modern society has become impossibly dependent on it. Calling that model into question is tantamount to recognizing the inherently, irreversibly flawed nature of civilization as we have engineered it.

Many people hope to solve this dilemma through still more technological wizardry. It’s true that technology has delivered stunning growth in the volume of food produced—annual increase after annual increase in crop yields of 5 or even 10 percent in wheat, maize and rice, for example. However, the last massive surge in global food production occurred in the 1970s and ’80s. In more recent years those increases have been closer to 1 or even zero percent. Today, there is little investment in innovation. But more alarmingly, writes Cribb, “In advanced countries, some scientists whispered, we might actually be approaching the physical limits of the ability of plants to turn sunlight into edible food.”

Think about that. You can only take so much from the land. You can only increase crop yields using artificial methods by so much. At some point you hit a wall of biological reality.

“The challenge is far deeper, longer-term, and more intractable than most people, and certainly most governments, understand,” Cribb writes. “It stems from the magnifying and interacting constraints on food production generated as civilization presses harder against the finite bounds of the planet’s natural resources, combined with human appetites that seem to know no bounds.”

What we are seeing is the agricultural and nutritional equivalent of America’s national debt. To maintain short-term gains, we have been living on borrowed or artificial stimulants to food production that, in some cases, have devastating long-term effects. Eventually, there is going to be a “default.”

Consider the cold reality as Cribb spells it out: “The problem is very complex,” he writes. “To sum it all up, the challenge facing the world’s 1.8 billion women and men who grow our food is to double their output of food—using far less water, less land, less energy, and less fertilizer. They must accomplish this on low and uncertain returns, with less new technology available, amid more red tape, economic disincentives, and corrupted markets, and in the teeth of spreading drought. Achieving this will require something not far short of a miracle.”

Don’t count on that miracle.

“Civilization and anarchy are only seven meals apart.”

Food shortages simply make the world a more dangerous place. Nothing is more important to people than having sufficient food and water. Water shortages have provoked fierce conflicts; governments have been overthrown in the wake of famine. The “Arab Spring” that has rocked northern Africa and the Middle East has emerged in no small part from popular anger over food shortages. Even if a nation has enough food, high prices can lead to protests and civil unrest. History proves that nations will fight to secure the food supplies they need.

“This challenge is more pressing even than climate change,” Cribb writes in The Coming Famine. “A climate crisis may emerge over decades. A food crisis can explode within weeks—and kill within days.”

Global warming gets all the publicity but the real imminent threat to the human race is starvation on a massive scale. Beware of the combined, correlated threats of food shortages, famine and huge social unrest.

Look squarely at current conditions—the rising food costs, the weather disasters and other plagues decimating our crops, the shrinking food stores, the problems with our food production, the scarcity, the famine. Recognize how these are the early stages of major prophecies being fulfilled.

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To make the most of your emergency food supply, keep these essential food pantry rules in mind before purchasing:

Caloric intake is an important factor in survival. In any disaster situation, you want to avoid malnutrition. Having foods stored to prevent this health issue will keep you at your optimum health. Stock up on foods that provide you with essential nutrients to maintain body functions, proteins and carbohydrates, fats for energy, as well as foods that are not high in salt (the more salty your food is, the more water you will drink). To calculate how many calories you will need in your diet, click here.
Consider buying multifunctional food items. Items that can serve more than one purpose will help your finances, as well as save precious space in the food storage pantry. Items such as oats, pasta, rice, wheat and beans are some great low-cost foods will serve a variety of uses.
Store high energy snacks to help boost energy levels. Eating snacks that are high in complex carbohydrates and protein will provide you with a guaranteed energy boost. High energy snacks such as nuts, peanut butter, crackers, granola bars and trail mix can be stored for up to 1 year and will help keep energy levels and spirits high in an emergency scenario.
Bring on the protein! Protein is an essential ingredient in our daily diets and cannot be omitted out of a survival diet. Canned meat is a good source of protein and can also help you maintain your energy level. Meats such as tuna, ham, chicken and spam are great additions to the food pantry and are multifunctional. (Remember, the oil in canned meat can be used as an emergency candle.) Beans are another great source of protein, and when beans are accompanied with rice, it makes a complete protein which provides all the amino acids needed to survive. One serving of beans and rice provides 19.9 g, or 40 percent of your daily vitamins.
Don’t forget the basics. Essential staples such as cooking oil, flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, spices, baking soda, baking powder and vinegar should not be overlooked. If they are present in your kitchen, they should likewise be present in the emergency food supply.
Convenience helps in stressful situations. Many moms know that boxed dinners can be a lifesaver when you are in a time crunch. Having some pre-packaged dinners and meals-to-grab during emergency scenarios will help you begin acclimating yourself to cooking in a grid down scenario as well as can help provide some comfort at the same time. Personally speaking, my family has the “just add water” pancake mixes, corn breads and drink mixes that are a great convenience.
Variety’s the very spice of life, that gives it all it’s pleasure. Variety in your food pantry is important and can prevent the monotony that comes with eating the same foods day in and day out. Having a well rounded food storage will cut down on culinary boredom, as well as balance your diet. Further, stocking up on a variety of spices will also enhance your food pantry.
Find comfort in the little things. Have some comfort food items that provide enjoyment to the family. Items such as popcorn, sweet cereals, hard candy, juice boxes, pickles, applesauce, pudding, cookies could be a great way to provide a bit of normalcy to the emergency situation you may face.
Have backs up for your backs ups. Compressed food bars are lightweight, taste good and are nutritious. Having food bars as a back up to your existing food supply can provide you with piece of mind knowing you have an alternative to turn to if you run out of food. Further, these are great additions to your 72-hour bag or bug out vehicle. A review of the different types of bars can be read here or you can practice your survival skills and make your own with this recipe. MRE’s are another alternative food choice to turn to if you happen to run out of food in your pantry. Although many have turned their nose up at MRE’s (due to their high amounts of preservatives), they will provide you with sufficient calories and nutrition when it counts. Note: These should not be the only items in your food supply. Over time, you could become nutrient and vitamin deficient.
Rotate and resupply when needed. Any items bought for the food storage closet should be used, rotated and resupplied. This is the best way to have the freshest foods available in the event that a disaster occurs. When organizing food reserves place the item that has the earliest expiration date in the front so that it is used first. FIFO is a well known acronym used in the restaurant business that stands for, “First In, First Out,” and can be incorporated in your food storage endeavors. Do an inventory check every 6 months to make sure that canned goods, preserves and other storage items are within their expiration dates.

Keeping the above considerations in mind when purchasing your food supply will provide your family with a well rounded food pantry stocked with an array of foods that will assist in promoting a healthy diet. Not listed in the suggestions is water. You must have water to survive.