Biden Says to Expect 'Real' Food Shortages Due to Ukraine War

[TheProle]

Source: Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden said that the world will experience food shortages as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and production increases were a subject of discussions at a Group of Seven meeting on Thursday.

“It’s going to be real,” Biden said at a news conference in Brussels. “The price of the sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia. It’s imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country as well.”

Ukraine and Russia are both major producers of wheat, in particular, and Kyiv’s government has already warned that the country’s planting and harvest have been severely disrupted by the war.

Biden said that at the G-7 summit in Brussels earlier that he and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau both discussed increasing their nation’s agricultural production to try to make up for shortfalls. Biden said he’s also urging all nations including those in Europe to drop trade restrictions that could restrict exports of food.

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biden-says-expect-real-food-175308088.html

[intrepidity]

1. Well, time for the corporate thieves to start jacking prices now

they see a green light, they don't hesitate.

[katmondoo]

2. I lived through World War Ii food shortage. I remember there was no butter only horrid margarine.

[trof]

4. And it was as white as lard,

and had that little orange dye packet to make it kind of yellow.

[justhanginon]

14. I remember that. As kids we used to argue over who got to squeeze the bag

Yeah, we were a lot easier entertained back in the forties. Also saving aluminum foil from cigarette packs. Ration books, lots of stuff back then
were in our daily lives.

[jmowreader]

20. The little orange dye packet wasn't due to the war

It was because of the butter lobby, who in 1902 convinced the government to write laws prohibiting the sale of colored margarine. It took until 1955 to get those laws repealed.

[Evolve Dammit]

6. but it was yellow...?

[katmondoo]

9. It was yellow because it came with a tablet that you had to mix into this lard looking yukki stuff.

That was my job

[Evolve Dammit]

13. I know. I was joking. My depression era parents told me all about it! They didn't complain though.

After you live through that and a WW, you understand that small sacrifices are OK. I wonder what Americans today will do with small sacrifices, considering many wouldn't even put on a mask.

[roamer65]

12. My dad was brought up on a dairy farm during the war.

My grandmother traded meat, vegetables and real butter for sugar, coffee and other ration stamps from the relatives in the cities.

She used the sugar in canning fruit, etc.

Bartering was a big thing during WW2.

[PortTack]

3. I for one plan on being a "happy warrior." This country will not be as affected, but if there's

Shortages...I am not going to complain!

[Evolve Dammit]

5. Same

[Marthe48]

7. Let's remember the ration cards of WWII

Let's remember Victory Gardens, butter, sugar and egg free food, meatless stew, tire collections, all of the things that helped the U.S. and their allies get through the dark days of that war. My grandmother and parents didn't like Spam. My grandmother explained that they ate a lot of it during the war.

I have some magazines, books and recipe books from the era. The publishers and advertisers were so encouraging and positive. I hope it doesn't get to food shortages, and other shortages. None of us in the world need that

[oldsoftie]

15. Todays population would've never lasted thru WW2.

[Fiendish Thingy]

8. Stop growing corn for ethanol, convert those fields to wheat NOW! Nt

[roamer65]

10. Not quite that easy.

75-80 of North American wheat is winter wheat, which means it was planted last fall.

Soonest we could see a larger wheat crop harvested is late July, 2023.

As far as ethanol, it is a MUCH cleaner burning fuel and burns cooler. Better for our atmosphere and better on engines.

I have one flex fuel vehicle and often put E50 into it. There is definitely more power when it runs on a higher ethanol fuel.

[oldsoftie]

17. Non-ethanol fuel gives more power and better mileage.

Growing food for ethanol is a scam perpetuated on the US market. Corn raised for ethanol is the most subsidized crop in the US

[roamer65]

22. Rice is the most subsidized cash crop in the United States.

https://www.card.iastate.edu/iowa_ag_review/fall_01/concentration.aspx

Cotton is number two.

[oldsoftie]

27. But corn also gets Dept of Energy subsidies that the other don't

Ands I'm surprised that sugar isn't high on the list. I think it USED to be

[roamer65]

30. Cotton is very subsidized and hard on the environment.

The pesticides used on it are nasty stuff.

I honestly thought it would be #1

[Fiendish Thingy]

18. Ethanol corn takes up the space that could be used to grow food for starving people

It’s really that simple.

And it’s bad for the environment:

https://libraetd.lib.virginia.edu/downloads/qj72p7142?filename=Appel--Environmental_and_Energy_Consequenses_of_Corn_Ethanol.pdf

https://www.popsci.com/corn-ethanol-smog/

https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2014-12/documents/environmental_challenges_associated_with_corn_ethanol_production.pdf

https://www.thecgo.org/research/environmental-effects-of-renewable-fuel-standards/

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-corn-based-ethanol-worse-climate-than-gasoline-study-finds-2022-02-14/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2014/04/20/its-final-corn-ethanol-is-of-no-use/?sh=724bb1c267d3

https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2019/04/02/building-evidence-corn-ethanols-greenhouse-gas-profile

Ethanol is a greenwashing cash grab by cynical financiers.

[roamer65]

21. Less Russia and Saudi Arabia in my tank is a good thing.

Two horribly repressive regimes that deserve a LOT less in oil revenue.

Russia: Putler’s invasion of Ukraine and its resulting genocide.

KSA: 80+ people executed in a single day and Jamal Khashoggi.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/15/saudi-arabia-mass-execution-81-men#

[NickB79]

33. It really isn't better for the atmosphere

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/594377-new-study-casts-doubt-on-ethanols-climate-benefits

A new study is casting doubt on the climate benefits of using ethanol as a fuel, finding that it may actually contribute more to global warming than gasoline.

Researchers found that emissions from changes in land use to account for the growing demand for corn make corn-based ethanol no cleaner than gasoline.

In fact, they determined that these changes likely make ethanol's emissions at least 24 percent higher than those for gasoline, according to their study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

High corn prices due to ethanol motivated a lot of farmers to clear forests and plow under CRP land that stored a lot of carbon.

[roamer65]

34. Better than Russian and Saudi petroleum in my tank.

I hate Moscow and I hate Riyadh.

Both regimes are evil incarnate.

I’ll burn more ethanol merely for the ability to say 🖕to them.

[NickB79]

37. And melt the ice caps in the process, dooming billions

"Cutting off your nose to spite your face" comes to mind.

[roamer65]

38. If you heat your home, drive your car, turn on your lights...etc, etc

You are just as responsible for that as rest of us.

[NickB79]

39. You're actively choosing and promoting a worse fuel

It's like advocating for a return to heating your house with coal, or lighting with incandescent bulbs again.

Your false equivalency argument falls pretty flat.

[roamer65]

40. Wrong.

Ethanol has no sulfur, unlike petroleum distillates, for example.

False equivalency on YOUR part.

https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2019/04/02/building-evidence-corn-ethanols-greenhouse-gas-profile

[Auggie]

11. California farmers have some surpluses and could use the sales

[Warpy]

16. One more reason to learn how to cook

If you find yourself with a cabinet full of unfriendly ingredients, you can always figure something out, even if it's corn cakes with blackstrap and raisin sauce. Those aren't bad, by the way, been there.

Or fast food condiments from your days of not thinking cooking was unimportant. You can make a decent tomato soup out of those ketchup packs, water, a little sugar (to cut the vinegar), and non dairy coffee creamer.

It's hard to say where the real shortages will come in. Right now, processed food is iffy and miluitary families are back to panic buying toilet paper.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

19. My current food costs are the lowest they have ever been,

since I've taken up making certain meals in large quantities and freezing up individual portions. As soon as I finally finish eating portions I froze several months ago, I'll make them up again.

I do know that if I had a family, had kids, even if I were also staying home and cooking everything from scratch, my reality would be somewhat or even a lot different.

[IronLionZion]

23. Most Ukrainian wheat is bought by the Middle East, South Asia, North Africa

so those countries will feel the pain if they depend on wheat for bread. The US is probably not going to feel it as much since we grow tons of wheat. So the US might export more to those countries to help.

[RussBLib]

24. plant hemp instead

requires less water, less fertilizer, faster growing cycle, it really is a miracle plant.

[oldsoftie]

26. THIS RIGHT HERE!!!

Hemp can be grown on land not suitable for other crops & used for SO many more things. It can also produce ethanol, but not at the same rate as corn.

[roamer65]

35. The best crops for ethanol production are sugarcane and switchgrass, hands down.

The yield energy wise from sugarcane is about 8 to 1 and switchgrass about 4 to 1.

[DenaliDemocrat]

28. How is hemp supposed to replace wheat

A cereal grain?

[RussBLib]

29. you can make bread and cereal from hemp

along with a thousand other things. It would be a great bridge until you can get back to the slow-growing winter wheat.

[Sapient Donkey]

25. I'm guessing this will mostly be relatively minor inconveniences for us in wealthier nations

but far more dire for people in poorer countries. It's unfortunate that Putin is forcing this to happen.

[roamer65]

36. India, Pakistan, the ME and Africa are screwed if Ukraine doesn't ship grains.

[womanofthehills]

31. Canada, Russia and Belarus are the top potash suppliers

This (and distribution problems) is causing a shortage in fertilizers for single crop farmers of corn and soy. Besides being harder to find, farmers are paying way more for herbicides and fertilizers. On top of that, it’s costing them way more money to operate their machinery. I like to bake so I’m stocking up on organic flour. My feed for my chickens has gone way up. I’m stocking up my freezer with meat and going to grow a larger garden this yr. This will hit the third world countries the hardest.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/22/fertilizer-prices-are-at-record-highs-heres-what-that-means.html

[orangecrush]

32. I was planning

On cutting carbs anyway.