MAKE NO MISTAKE . . . FOOD IS OUR GREATEST DEPENDENCY
You Need To Secure Your Ready Reserve Food Supply NOW!
I want to stress that I am not being an alarmist, nor am I running around with a sandwich board proclaiming the end of the world. I have just been watching societal trends and have become amazed at how fragile the food dependency chain has become. I am referring to the cost of diesel fuel for the trucks that deliver the goods, the slender roadways between point A and point B that are subject to extremes in the weather, union strikes, boycotts, water shortages, etc.
The recent blizzards that we went through, even though we had plenty of warning before they hit, left some of the supermarkets shelves bare after only a couple of days. Hoarding was only part of it...the trucks couldn't have delivered replacements at all until the roads were cleared. Most people replenish the refrigerators and larders once a week, and by the time they could get out to the store, they were running pretty thin on supplies.
With an agrarian society under the control of big business and big government, our modern food supply is almost completely out of our control. With few exceptions, we have become increasingly dependent on others to feed us. Even more, tillers of the soil are disappearing at alarming rates while fast food restaurants are multiplying. Imagine what would happen if food supplies were suddenly unable to reach
grocery stores and restaurants for a variety of reasons. Where would you turn for your next meal? Buying a farm and growing your own food is an unlikely option for most, even if you had the time and resources. What if you could invest in food reserves instead and protect your family…come what may? During times of need, food is worth its weight in gold and more… much more! Now imagine delicious meals you can prepare with ease and use today or store for the future. Would that empower you and free you from outside influences? We hope you agree with us in our belief that food in times of need will set you free! Welcome to eFoods Global where we sustain families in taking ownership of their personal food supply and personal economy. In our view, when you have food, you control your life in every way necessary. When you have delicious food, you are twice blessed. Combining the finest nutrient-dense, fresh-from-the-garden ingredients available, our eFoods Gold products set the new gold standard in storable foods. Order some now and protect your good life with something that’s truly good for you.Recent news concerning food prices:
As the Tunisian dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali discovered in January, there is no surer route to political oblivion than to deny people access to affordable food. On Dec. 17, after Tunisian police assaulted a street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi and seized his produce cart because, according to his family, he couldn't afford to pay bribes, the 26-year-old Bouazizi doused himself with accelerant and lit a match. He died two weeks later. The riots that ensued—propelled in part by anger over high food prices—drove Ben Ali from power and spread to Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, and Algeria. Ben Ali may be remembered as the despot who was toppled by a vegetable cart.
The hunger that has roiled the Middle East was not caused by the whims of autocrats and cops. It began last year with crippling drought in Russia and later Argentina, and torrential rains in Australia and Canada. The deluges in Saskatchewan were so sustained and intense that farmers couldn't plant some 10 million acres of wheat, according to the Canadian Wheat Board. "What is typically the driest province was never wetter," said the governmental agency Environment Canada. Shrunken wheat harvests in those countries, along with cool, wet summer weather in the American Midwest that delayed the U.S. harvest, helped drive wheat prices at the Chicago Board of Trade up by 74 percent in the past year. Corn traded in Chicago rose by 87 percent during the same period. More recently, grain prices have spiked even higher because of yet another drought, this one threatening China's wheat crop, the world's largest. In that country's eight major wheat-producing provinces, some 42 percent of winter wheat cropland has been hurt by a dry spell, according to Agriculture Minister Han Changfu.
Overall, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome says global food prices surged in January to record levels, based on data reaching back to 1990. "Whenever you get the market as tight as we are now, hoarding becomes widespread," says Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior economist at the FAO. Wheat prices may keep rising until the summer, he predicts, because importers are speeding up purchases to outrun inflation. Prices are more likely to stay high or go higher in the next six months, he adds, than to decline.
A Global Scare in Food Prices
With drought and flood clobbering harvests, forecasters see significant food price increases in 2011
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's index of world food prices rose 32 percent in the second half of 2010, topping the peak of June 2008. Low rainfall in Russia, Kazakhstan, Europe, and South America parched crops, while floods in Canada inundated them. China's growth spurred record demand for sugar and soybeans. Excessive rain in India has damaged the onion crop, driving the wholesale price of this staple up 40 percent in the 12 months ended Dec. 18. Developed countries' grain stocks—the reserves that keep consumption steady when harvests disappoint—will probably decline 25 percent in the 2010-11 crop year, according to the FAO.
And 2011? "We are coming out of a two-year period of relatively low food price inflation due to the recession," says Ephraim Leibtag, U.S. Agriculture Dept. food price forecaster. "Increased global trade coming out of the recession, some increased consumer demand, and higher energy and commodity costs for food production" will boost prices. The USDA expects a rise in oil prices to lift demand for ethanol by 5.1 percent in the U.S., which will affect corn prices. The agency foresees U.S. food inflation of 2 percent to 3 percent, the highest since 2008.
The rest of the world may feel pressure, too. Drought in Argentina and Brazil, the next biggest corn and soybean exporters after the U.S., and developing-world growth may push prices up further this year, says Gary Blumenthal, president and chief executive officer of World Perspectives, a Washington (D.C.) agricultural consultant. "Imperfect weather has collided with perfect food demand," he says.
The FAO does not see demand falling. "Consumers may have little choice but to pay higher prices," it says in its November price outlook. "With the pressure on world prices of most commodities not abating, the international community must remain vigilant against further supply shocks in 2011."
One good sign: "Many food-importing countries have improved their output," says Abdolreza Abbassian, senior economist for the FAO. Record crops were harvested in most countries of Eastern, Western, and Central Africa in 2010. Yet at the same time, the FAO identifies 20 African countries in crisis that still need outside food assistance.
The bottom line: Food prices, especially for wheat and other grains, have surged back to 2008 levels. The coming year may see prices rise further.
With Tushar Dhara. Bjerga is a reporter for Bloomberg News.
“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.”
~Thomas Jefferson