FOOD SHORTAGE

AH: Please pardon the scanning errors.

Food Shortage?

We have never seen a food shortage in the USA in our lifetimes. That does not mean it could not happen. But, with recent headlines such as:

A Perfect Storm for US Agriculture, and,

Beef Prices Surge As Ranchers Sell Off Cattle Herds,

We can’t say that our enemy hasn’t told us what they have in mind regarding the further destruction of America as we know it.

And why not? Doesn’t our Bible, the same Bible that has John 3:16 in it, also have Leviticus 26:18-20 in it, where the SAME GOD says he will make our sky like iron and our earth like bronze, because of our sins'! YES it does! Read Ezekiel 30:12, where our God says He will make the land desolate, and dry up the canals. Meditate on and study Psalm 107:33-34, where we read:

He changes rivers into a wilderness And springs of water into a thirsty ground; A fruitful land into a salt waste, Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it.

What do we have in our land today, Remnant, but wickedness and deceit and lies and filth and apostasy! God keeps His Words to His people! Changes to this land are coming, and it will be on the righteous and the unrighteous both. Be found in our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ, walking in His way, not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and being a DOER of the Word.

The following is taken from articles that point out, in no-uncertain terms or language, what is happening in this land today, and what is seen as coming on the horizon.

A Food Shortage Could Be Coming, Even in the U.S.

Concerns of a global food shortage have been mounting given the war in Ukraine and the huge amounts of fertilizer, wheat, and other food-related exports that come from that region. Many economists and strategists say a food shortage can’t happen here. After all, the U.S. produces most of its own food and roughly half of domestic land is used for agricultural production, according to the Food and Drug Administration. There are several overlapping reasons, however, why America shouldn’t take a sufficient food supply for granted.

Record temperatures and the worst drought in more than a decade mean there isn’t grass for the animals to eat, and hay—the

alternative—is tough to come by as higher fuel costs make it harder to transport from other states. The cost of hay in one Texas area is around $220 a roll, compared with about $45 in normal times and $120 in a typical drought year.

“None of the ranchers I know want to get out, but they have to,” a local says, says of the livestock liquidation. “Everybody is selling because they can’t feed them, and no one is buying the cows to raise.” That suggests more meat and lower prices in the near term. But the Texas Farm Bureau said in a report this past week that with much of the current breeding herd going to processing plants, calf numbers will fall in years ahead. If everyone sells out of cattle now, what are we going to do later on?

About 250 miles away, Stephen Brantley is getting nervous—but for a different reason. Brantley, a longtime banker at Waggoner National Bank in Vernon, Texas, says his bank has been fielding calls lately from farmers approached by solar companies interested in their land. First the companies ask to test the land over about a year, during which time the farmer can continue growing crops such as wheat. Then, if the testing goes well, the solar company either offers to buy the land or lease it for 20 to 30 years.

The offers are hard to refuse. Farmland often best meets solar- site requirements, and Brantley says solar companies are paying as much as $800 an acre in his area of the wheat belt for leases that last for decades. That’s $512,000 a year for a section of land—640 acres—an attractive lifeline for farmers increasingly strapped by rising input prices and unfavorable weather. There is also a precedent. Wind came in about ' 5 years ago and turbines proliferated in the area, overall a net positive, Brantley says. But unlike wind, which is less lucrative and can coexist with crops, solar is pretty zero sum. “I know how fast it can happen. I’m afraid this thing might snowball. If solar catches on like wind did, all this cultivated land will go out of production,” says Brantley.

Solar farms like this one in Andrews County, Texas, (and in Colorado, too) are gobbling up prime farmland. Some observers see a long-term threat to the nation’s food supply.

A May report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago said agricultural land values in the region surged 23% in the first quarter from a year earlier as investors bought a rising share of some of the country’s best farmland. Strategic Solar Group, which brokers land, says the high end of the average solar-farm lease is $2,000 an acre. Apart from business incentives, government subsidies and tax credits also help explain why solar companies are aggressively seeking land.

Already, Americans have seen double-digit price increases in food categories this year. In the latest consumer price index report, meats, poultry, fish, and eggs leapt 12% from a year earlier as bread rose 11% and milk increased 16%. That’s occurring as the U.S. Census Bureau has found about a 10th of Americans don’t have enough to eat.

Fourth-generation farmer:

‘Food shortage is coming’

One fourth-generation farmer is warning the worst is yet to come. “People are going to see the rising cost of food in their local grocery stores in the coming month,” John B. Jr. said Monday.

“Farmers are feeling the pinch from high cost of diesel fuel and fertilizer, truckers are feeling the pinch and you have a certain region in the world that’s not planting crops at this time in Ukraine, so there’s going to be a shortage of wheat and commodities that they’ve been producing there, as well,” John said.

And it goes far beyond the gas pump: Eggs are up 32%, poultry is up 16.6%, milk is up 15.9% and fats and oils are up 16.9 %, Axios reports. Overall, the cost of food is up about 12 % — the largest increase since 1979.

This fourth-generation farmer goes on to explain food staples such as corn, corn syrup and soybeans are all the types of products local farmers produce daily, which, in turn, helps place the major products on shelves that shoppers are accustomed to seeing. Inflation, however, makes these deliverables more difficult.

“For so long, we’ve enjoyed lots of food in this country, so we’ve never ever faced a food shortage and I think that’s coming in the coming months.”

“The Biden administration that I’ve been urging to take more of swift action, still hasn’t taken the action I believe that’s needed,” he said. “Farmers are the last person on the totem pole. You may not need a doctor or a lawyer today, but every day in this country, you need a farmer,” he said.

We NEED Jesus Christ in America, every Day!

Remnant, remember the promise of Psalm 37:19:

They will not be ashamed in the time of evil, and in the days ¦ 'amine they will have abundance.

The time is now to be that Doer of the Word, and not a hearer only. Make sure your trust, hope, work and faith is in our King, our _r._e. our law-giver, our refuge and our Savior, Jesus Christ. rp

 

From the Scriptures for America Dragon Slayer newsletter, 2022, Volume 7.