Author Topic: The coming food catastrophe (Read 5541 times)

351 power · « **Reply #90 on:** April 30, 2008, 03:56:23 PM »

subsidies are important to maintain a farm presence for a nation. food is not like any other item for sale. it is dependant on the season, the weather, and the health of the soil and plant/animal. so it is in the best interest of a nation to divert some funds that way. and solvency/sustainability is a better method than heavily supporting vertically integrated factory farm. in my opinion. because the really large multinational corporations are only loyal to shareholders and management. but a network of family farms will work to grow food and to maintain our food source long term. and their money stays in country. big companies may decide to invest elsewhere.
an interesting story. one time i was taking a course. i met a minor official with the jamacian govt. at that time, they registered every crop/livestock product within their country. and all of those products were assured a market before any imports were brought in. a secure food source.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #91 on:** May 01, 2008, 01:25:26 AM »

now that sounds like it was spoken by a true socialist !

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #92 on:** May 01, 2008, 01:26:19 AM »

guess you have missed the farm reg. going on in this country ?

beemanbeme · « **Reply #93 on:** May 01, 2008, 03:20:39 AM »

Dixie Dude, we used to get a great deal of satisfaction from sitting down to a meal that was totally "home grown" or that we had totally gathered , ie wild game, garden produce, etc. Everything except the seasonings.
If a fellow were to study up a bit, it's amazing how much can be grown in how small a space. My oldest son got me interested in small area gardening. As a school project, he threw some fertilizer on the ground, took a 10'x10' sheet of black plastic and put it on the ground (did not till or turn over the ground). And started planting stuff thru the plastic. Watering was a problem --it would have worked better if he had of had the pourous stuff they have now-- and he had to mulch a bit for heat but most of the rows were close enough together that the canopy shaded the walkway. Anyway, it amazed me at how much "stuff" he grew in that little patch. I certainly changed the way I garden.

beemanbeme · « **Reply #94 on:** May 01, 2008, 03:27:16 AM »

"So where do all the new people live?" That's a question for a whole 'nother thread.

I know the American Dream is a quarter acre with a house in the middle but is that realistic if we are gonna keep breeding like rats? Especially if that quarter acre has got to be the prime farm land and not the marginal land?

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #95 on:** May 01, 2008, 05:08:26 AM »

I feel it is the same , cities have infastructure needed for expansion jobs , sewer , water and power to list but a few .
that conflicts with farm land . So again where do all the new people live ? It easier to move food production in many cases than start a new city ( if it were not then we would have developed doing it different ) .

rex6666 · « **Reply #96 on:** May 01, 2008, 06:24:57 AM »

I was talking to a friend the other day that his family owns several 1000 acres in the Texas panhandle
about 2000 acres are irrigated but are in CRP which if i remember correctly is crop rotation program
(Federal) they pay the farmer $35-45 an acre to not grow anything on it he has to plant it in grass
and sign up for i believe 10 years, if he has NO out go it is making money at $35-45 per acre, he said all his irrigated land is in CPR and some other also. I know their are millions of acres of land i CPR from
TX-S.D. I ask if their was a food shortage how long would it take him to start growing and edible
crop on his land, first the gov. has to release it from CPR then he could have the ground ready in about a week, would just depend on what time of year. Problem is lots of older farmers have put their land in
and sold their equipment, because it is making more money in CPR than farming it, NO crop ins.
fuel, irrigation expense,labor NO out go. Their is lots and lots of good farm land not being used. I could
be off on the $ per acre that is what it is last time i heard.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #97 on:** May 01, 2008, 06:32:12 AM »

no risk !
a woman who is in her 90's has 400 ac in , getting 45 an acre !
now it a nice retirement , along with SS and other govt. giveaways she is doing great , for her !
how is this helping the country as a whole ?

rex6666 · « **Reply #98 on:** May 01, 2008, 06:45:16 AM »

SHOOTALL
That is a good question, i guess at one time it kept the farmers from producing too much, flooding the
market and pushing down prices, seems like if we cut that in say half we could grow more FUEL crops.
We could also push the price of food crops down, and use the $45. per acre to offset what was being lost
with the BIG shortages every where doesn't make sense to me. I am sure some one here knows WHAT,WHERE,WHY That is what we do here is solve the world problems isn't it.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #99 on:** May 01, 2008, 06:47:42 AM »

guess I'm just tired of being the one paying !
take off the gloves and let the good farmers get rich and the lazy ones find a new line of work !

rex6666 · « **Reply #100 on:** May 01, 2008, 08:36:52 AM »

i know the feeling

ironglow · « **Reply #101 on:** May 01, 2008, 12:55:45 PM »

Presented as an actual letter, sent to the Secretary of agriculture during the "New Deal" era between world wars I & II..

Dear Mr Secretary;

My friend Bordereaux received a $1,000 check from the government, for not raising hogs . So, I am going into the not-raising-hogs business .
What I want to know is what is the best kind of land not to raise hogs on, and what is the best kind of hogs not to raise ? I would prefer not to raise razorbacks,
but if this is not the best kind not to raise, I will just as gladly not raise Durocs or Poland-Chinas.

The hardest part of this business is going to be keeping an individual record of each of the hogs I do not raise.

My friend Bordereaux has been raising hogs for more than 20 years, and the most he ever made was $400 in 1918, until this year when he received $1,000 for not
raising hogs. Now, if I get $1,000 for not raising 50 hogs, I will get $2,000 for not raising 100 hogs, etc.

I plan to start off on a small scale, holding myself down to not raising 4,000 hogs, for which of course, I will receive $80,000...

Now, these hogs I will not raise will not eat 100,000 bushels of corn. I understand you will pay farmers for not raising corn. Will you pay me for not raising 100,000
bushels of corn, which I will not feed to the hogs I am not raising ?

I want to get started as soon as possible, as this looks like a good time of year for not raising hogs.

Yours very truly;

Octover Brussard

Now guys; I really suppose this was a bit of Cajun Irony..rubbing salt into federal bureaucrats..but I enjoyed old Octover's style of pointing out government waste !

Dixie Dude · « **Reply #102 on:** May 02, 2008, 01:57:36 AM »

This makes me think that the government contributed to the small farmers going out of business. Give the small farmers little more money than they were making to keep prices on the hog market high, which helped the big farmers make more. I know someone who gets paid for not growing cotton (for years), so they grow trees, and make money off pulpwood and lumber. Has to be years because trees don't grow overnight.

beemanbeme · « **Reply #103 on:** May 02, 2008, 06:41:26 AM »

TM7, I understand they've removed some of the travel restrictions to Cuba. Bye bye.

If you have land in the soil bank or any of the programs, you can only grow cover crops. And they have to be plowed under. You sure as hell can't grow trees in a cotton patch. Whoever told you that is full of BS or pulling your leg. Cotton, like tobacco, is an allotment crop. You can only have a percentage of your total acreage that is in cultivation in cotton or tobacco. I would explain the reason but it would take too long. You don't get paid for not growing cotton; you don't get paid for not growing tobacco.

As far as the "not growing hogs" letter, I've read the same "for real" letter about growing hogs, corn, wheat, cows, sheeps and other stuff I'm sure I've forgotten.

deltecs · « **Reply #104 on:** May 02, 2008, 07:13:16 AM »

Quote from: TM7 on May 02, 2008, 07:01:45 AM

Such wisdom from a angry bee.. Time to visit Cuba you say? OKay, I'll go, got to go in thru Canada still...americans are still pretty much persona non grata, and our rules. Going to be a lot of money to be made there pretty soon. Likely the Americans will generally miss this oportunity given their jihad and inflexible view on different cultures again.
But, since the Cubans were getting mighty hungry, here's what they did to feed themselves:

Time to visit Cuba?....TM7

http://www.theglobalist.com/storyid.aspx?StoryId=6782

Sounds good to me. Maybe you can be the American emissary there for the NWO, so you can set it up the way you percieve reality.

deltecs · « **Reply #105 on:** May 02, 2008, 07:51:06 AM »

I think I will stay North where we still have some freedoms, not permitted in the lower 48. Like having a public playground surrounding my home that is substantially larger than the State of Rhode Island. I own and live on the only piece of private property for a radius of 15 miles in every direction right at tidal edge. I have wild bear looking into my living room window from my second story porch and have scenery that most pay dearly to see on a daily basis. I live in an area that is not part of any city, borough, county, or other government entity, except that of the State of Alaska. I pay no taxes to any local government for real property, personal property, or income. Alaska has no income tax, so only pay federal income taxes. I have a 75' fiberglass Hatteras boat at anchor right in front of my house, a 36' fiberglass diesel seine boat, a 24' twin engine Coronet pleasure cruiser, and 5 22' open aluminum skiffs for beach hunting. I eat all the shrimp, clams, crab, salmon, and seafood at the only expense of my time and costs to harvest them, while you pay through the nose at markets. I have no debt. And no, I am not one, who believes in the new world order. I leave that to the Democrats and propagandas of conspriracy theorists.

deltecs · « **Reply #106 on:** May 02, 2008, 09:37:17 PM »

I could be making a big mistake here, but like I related, I like adventure and do not shy from risk. When you get to Cuba, I'd be glad to talk to you about a national franchise for Cuban cigars.

All according to NAFTA, of course. I think with the tobacco cartel in the US and Turkish imports, that is an AG topic inline with the intent of this post.

Chilachuck · « **Reply #107 on:** May 03, 2008, 05:18:04 AM »

TM7, you really should do a little research on Cuba before you go there. There are reasons people are trying to get off that island, and take chances that the Cuban military will drop sand bags on their boats to sink them (that's no farm pond out there, boat sinks, they die).

http://www.babalublog.com/

The economic embargo was placed for several reasons, the ones we all hear about or can figure out, like sugar cane, and one big one most people don't know; Cuba was once the main oil refining region for the US. Castro murdered his way into power planning on seizing those refineries and making lots of money.

Fidel was a control freak. His actual purpose was to gain absolute power, to force his will on every one. He had no faith in people that they could take care of themselves, given the chance.

Ever meet someone who thought no one should do anything that person did not understand why anyone would want to do? That's Fidel, and he had people killed for doing things he did not approve of, usually by having people like Ernesto Guevara execute them.

Fidel's need for control made him a micro manager in areas he had no knowledge of, and it looks like either he blamed the people involved for the failures instead of learning from his mistakes, or people were terrified of telling him the blunt truth so he could learn from his mistakes. Either way, he kept repeating his mistakes.

He has not been out of power long enough for the country to recover, and his brother is certainly no reformer. The recent permission for their subjects to buy computers suggests the subjects are getting a breath of hope, and, as Eric Hoffer has stated, giving a repressed people hope for something better is a sure recipe for revolution, and Cuba's government has a habit of revoking permissions and stealing property the subjects have worked for.

Revolution against General Raúl Castro would be, bloody.

Go through the back posts on the Babalu Blog. Ex-pat Cubans have many, very good, reasons for hating the Castro brothers.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #108 on:** May 04, 2008, 05:10:04 AM »

if you want Cuban cigars , go to KEY WEST , at least that's what people say !

Chilachuck · « **Reply #109 on:** May 04, 2008, 05:32:04 AM »

TM7, from all I've read, Cuba should be a paradise (for people who can take the heat. I melt at 75F).

It's a testament to the idiocy of the faith system called "Communism" that the place is such a hell hole that people are willing to chance probable death to get out of there.