Food…

Food… I don’t know if you are paying attention to the current world and societal events that are coming down the pike. If not you should be. The crisis that started with a pandemic has spread to many aspects of the supply chain. Not to mention the acceleration of the inflation that has been exacerbated by the government’s handling of the economy and the use of repeated stimulus checks to try and resolve the mess. If you thought the food was short when they locked us all down last time wait till you see the mess on the horizon. Here are some aspects and how we feel they will affect the food supply chain in the coming months. Making it increasingly important to become your farmer – TODAY!

Weather:

IF you are living in the United States these days you see the extreme weather we are dealing with. From heat that has broken records across much of the country. To droughts that would make you sick to your stomach. To many of the Farmers in southern California are being denied water altogether. Paying the price for years of shortages combined with blatant mismanagement by the powers that be. Imagine paying for seeds, fertilizer, fuel for the machinery to get your crops in the ground.

Often the small farmers have to borrow against the money they will make at the end of the season. basically gambling their assets and future in the hopes of a season where they can pay off the last loan and have enough to hang on till the next. Then the weather decides to go on the fritz and make records of lack of moisture, and extreme heat literally cooks your chances to break even? I am fully expecting to see the farm bankruptcies and even suicides increase in the next twelve to eighteen months. All of this will drive the prices of what is available up if you can buy any in the first place.

By being your own farmer in this situation you would be able to small scale use of permaculture, and other more drought and heat tolerant methods to produce the food you and your family will need in the coming months. Methods like aquaponics that use a closed ecosystem to grow the food. If you want to learn more about being your own farmer, in an effort to survive the coming disaster please reach out to us here.

Shipping:

Have you seen the empty shelves? Or even the crazy price of lumber these days? Even the cost of gas (or diesel)? the stories of ships stuck off the coast of the United States waiting to load or unload their goods. We witnessed some of this while we were in southwest Louisiana, on the coast of the Gulf Of Mexico. The stories about the ship’s crews that are trapped on ships for extended periods of time are related to concerns about pandemic ramifications.

When one ship had a major mishap in the Suez Canal Egypt caused a bunch of issues with products in stores due to the stopping of freight for days from that part of the world. A lot of our food is grown outside of this country and therefore subject to the issues with international freight hiccups. In some cases, it’s not the food but it’s the packaging or the parts for the machines that process or package the food.

Trucking

Even the trucking industries have been negatively impacted over the last few years. They are in dire shape even today. Between the lack of willing workers, aka drivers to the fear of getting sick or worse from the pandemic. Or the possibility of spreading the sickness to unsuspecting family and friends. The trucking industry has suffered. The cost of fuel has also had a negative impact on the ability to get the food to the stores. Most food grown in our country has to travel over 100 miles just to get to the store.

By becoming your own farmer, you are eliminating the need to truck the food to your store and for you to go and purchase that food. There are many ways that you can barter and trade with your LOCAL community and help address the major reliance on the supply chain as it is today.

Goverment paying to control or destory crops:

Did you know that our government in the United States has been paying farmers either to not grow crops on tillable farmland? Or as we have seen this year the government has even paid some farmers to kill (spray with herbicides) or till under viable crops. Claiming that it is necessary to create stability in the markets. When the reality is that it is a control tactic that is designed to help control the supply of food to those who need it. If nothing else combined with the other issues it will result in astronomical food cost increases. Preventing those who live paycheck to paycheck from having access to healthy food.

” He who controls the food, controls the people.”

*Henry Kissinger

When you become your own farmer, these types of issues will be thought of the past. As you will not be affected by the actions of others. Your action of the rebellion of growing healthy food will serve to help your community be strong even in the face of a system, government, and world that has gone mad.

Costs of raw goods or imputs:

With all of the issues above we briefly touched on the cost of goods or raw imputs. When you look at the overall global situation it is clear that it can not continue in the status quo. When the cost of fuel for the tractors, and even parts to keep them running continues to jump higher and higher by the day something has to give. Then as I mentioned above the issues with the shipping industry also have a direct impact on the cost of raw materials. From what we are looking at this pattern is destined to continue on its headlong run for higher costs. Those costs have to be passed on to the end buyer, or the farmer will not be able to continue to farm.

While becoming your own farmer will not stop these crazy cost increases, it will allow you to have better control of the situation. You can choose to price shop or make a deal with your supplier on a cost factor basis. There are many ways as your own independent operation that you can address these issues and play let’s make a deal.

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