Search for terms like
food crisis and you will find a list of articles such as "Are We
Running Out of Food?". There is great concern for many of the
natural resources we depend on and food is not the least of
resources we need every day. Malnutrition alone, which comes from
not having enough food, kills 10 children every minute according to
the
U.N. Do the math and you will find that means 5,256,000 or more
children die every year because of a lack of adequate food. Now it
seems matters are taking a turn for the worse as the UN is warning
of much greater risk to the worlds food supply. In much of the world
the food crisis has already arrived leading to rioting and violence.
Our personal survival
depends on adequate food supplies. In the US and most developed
countries around the world we are accustomed to going to the market
and obtaining our food supplies in abundance with little effort. The
question is, could this change and what can we do to insure adequate
food supplies.
Could Abundant Food
In Markets Disappear
Take a look at your
local market, do you see more people than before? As the price of
gasoline has sky rocketed many families are cutting corners and not
eating out, many are also cutting corners and not eating as they
once did. A survey of shelves at your local market will reveal that
there still seems to be enough, but look more closely and you may
see gaps appearing in the shelves and behind the rows of products,
as well as much higher prices, this is happening in many parts of
the world. Could this situation continue to worsen, I think we are
all becoming concerned that it will and at what point we will be
affected in even greater terms.
High food prices seem
to be the first method of controlling the use of the the food
supply, this is called the law of Supply and Demand. But the
laws of supply and demand work OK if we are talking about toys or
other gadgets that we all don't need anyway (even if we do want
them). They work also if we were discussing for example a shortage
of green peas or other individual items. We would just choose
something else to eat. What makes the current world food crisis so
concerning (and scary if not life threatening for much of the worlds
population) is that all food prices are on the rise. Every where you
look the price of necessary food is rising, the laws of supply and
demand are at work, but they will not cause us to all stop eating.
Prices will not plummet because consumers will stop eating because
we can't. No, we must eat every day and the quality and variety of
our food is important to our health and well being not mention our
life.
Have you heard talk of
truckers strikes? Your local grocery store would be stripped bare in
a matter of days if not hours (in a panic) if truckers were to
cease bringing goods to the stores for just a few days. Walmart and
other major store chains have been called the rolling warehouse,
because items must be stocked every day. What happens if the
truckers strike, or the cost of diesel fuel continues to sky rocket.
Still worse, what if these markets or truckers can't survive an
economic down turn or depression because of heavy debt. In the US
we depend on the store chains to deliver the necessities of our very
lives including food. When we examine the methods used to supply
us the basic necessities of every day life ( a just in time delivery
system, reserves are kept to a minimum or are non existent) we start
to wonder if they could become or in fact is a house of cards. The
truth is, I'm sure we all count on some sort of government aid to
these community necessities but then these question arise,
How long will it
take?
What will we have to
do to qualify for the aid needed?
Will all areas be
served equally or more importantly, adequately?
Where will we need to
go to get the aid?
How will we get
there?
Crisis and Disaster
Breed Food Shortages
We know that food is a necessity of life. Food is already clearly
suffering a strain which is seen in soaring prices and the food
rioting in many places around the world. If the food supply becomes
disrupted for any reason such as a natural disaster or a truckers
strike, would we have enough on hand? This question has been on the
minds of many. Consider the example of hurricane Katrina which
struck the gulf coast of the US in recent years. We saw images of
looting but the people weren't carrying out just TV's many were seen
running with there arms full of food. What happened the last time a
disaster or even a snow storm threatened where you live? A trip to
the local grocery store reveals that especially in the short term,
food can disappear quickly. What happens if the electricity is off,
the stores are closed. The current world situation causes us all to
stop and ponder if our food supply could be disrupted and what we
can do about it. Even in rural areas many of us do not have access
to food. Farming is not what it once was, today most food is grown
on large corporate farms with only one crop. What's more is national
reserves are drying up or disappearing all together. Take a look at
these recent headlines
In a survival situation
there are a couple of common food sources that many people buy and
keep packed in a survival kit such as
Emergency MRE (Meals Ready To Eat) or
Other Emergency Food Supplies.
These are inexpensive and good in a disaster kit. If you search the
links to emergency food supplies you see that it is possible
to purchase a years food supply but this isn't practical for many of
us. What we all can do with a little planning is keep enough food
for several days on hand. We can cycle the food supplies so that
they are always fresh this will provide a buffer until new supplies
are available in any emergency.
.
These are inexpensive and good in a disaster kit. If you search the
links to emergency food supplies you see that it is possible
to purchase a years food supply but this isn't practical for many of
us. What we all can do with a little planning is keep enough food
for several days on hand. We can cycle the food supplies so that
they are always fresh this will provide a buffer until new supplies
are available in any emergency.