What is causing all of these plagues to hit our food supply? Have you heard of citrus greening disease? Probably not, but it has already gotten so bad that it is being projected that Florida’s orange harvest will be the smallest in 30 years. Have you heard of TR4? Probably not, but it has become such a nightmare that some analysts believe that it could eventually wipe out the entire global supply of the type of bananas that Americans eat. In addition, another major plague is killing millions of our pigs, and a crippling drought that never seems to end is absolutely devastating agricultural production in the state of California. Are we just having bad luck, or is there something else to all of this? (Read More...)
Drought
Why Meat Prices Are Going To Continue Soaring For The Foreseeable Future
The average price of USDA choice-grade beef has soared to $5.28 a pound, and the average price of a pound of bacon has skyrocketed to $5.46. Unfortunately for those that like to eat meat, this is just the beginning of the price increases. Due to an absolutely crippling drought that won’t let go of the western half of the country, the total size of the U.S. cattle herd has shrunk for seven years in a row, and it is now the smallest that is has been since 1951. But back in 1951, we had less than half the number of mouths to feed. And a devastating pig virus that has never been seen in the United States before has already killed up to 6 million pigs in this country and continues to spread like wildfire. What all of this means is that the supply of meat is going to be tight for the foreseeable future even as demand for meat continues to go up. This is going to result in much higher prices, and so food is going to put a much larger dent in American family budgets in the months and years to come. (Read More...)
The Drought In Brazil Has Gotten So Bad That 142 Cities Are Now Rationing Water
Did you know that the drought in Brazil is so bad that some neighborhoods are only being allowed to get water once every three days? At this point, 142 Brazilian cities are rationing water and there does not appear to be much hope that this crippling drought is going to end any time soon. Unfortunately, most Americans seem to be absolutely clueless about all of this. In response to my recent article about how the unprecedented drought that is plaguing California right now could affect our food supply, one individual left a comment stating “if Califirnia can’t supply South America will. We got NAFTA.” Apart from the fact that this person could not even spell “California” correctly, we also see a complete ignorance of what is going on in the rest of the planet. The truth is that the largest country in South America (Brazil) is also experiencing an absolutely devastating drought at the moment. They are going to have a very hard time just taking care of their own people for the foreseeable future. (Read More...)
Due To Extreme Drought, The Number Of Cattle In The U.S. Is The Smallest It Has Been Since 1951
The last time the number of cattle in the United States was this low was 63 years ago. But back in 1951, there were only about 154 million people living in the United States. Now, there are more than 313 million people living in this nation. The size of the U.S. cattle herd has been shrinking for seven years in a row, and we are rapidly heading toward a beef shortage unlike anything that this country has ever experienced before. Of course the primary reason for this is the extreme drought which has been plaguing the western half of the country. As I noted recently, 2013 was the driest year that the state of California has ever experienced, and due to the lack of water ranchers across the western half of the nation have been selling off their cattle to be slaughtered. If you check out the U.S. Drought Monitor, you can see that almost the entire state of California is officially experiencing “D3 Extreme Drought” right now. If this drought does not end, we will eventually be facing a food crisis in the United States that is greater than any of us have ever seen in our entire lifetimes. (Read More...)
The Worst Drought In The History Of California Is Happening Right Now
Did you know that 2013 was the driest year ever recorded in the state of California? And did you know that so far this is the driest January that the state of California has ever experienced? The worst drought in the history of California is happening right now. Just check out the current conditions on the U.S. Drought Monitor. About two-thirds of the state is experiencing “extreme drought” at the moment, and Governor Jerry Brown says that it is “not likely to rain for several weeks“. Unfortunately for California, the truth is that the weather in the western half of the country is simply returning to historical norms. Scientists tell us that the 20th century was the wettest century in the western half of the United States in 1000 years, and that extremely dry conditions are normally what we should expect for most areas from the Pacific Ocean to the Mississippi River. If long-term conditions truly are “returning to normal”, then the state of California could be heading for a water crisis of unprecedented magnitude. (Read More...)
22 Signs That Global Weather Patterns Are Going Absolutely Crazy
Global weather patterns seem to get stranger and stranger with each passing year. Almost every day now, the news is telling us about some bizarre weather event that hasn’t happened “in 100 years” going on in some area of the globe. All over the planet, we are seeing torrential rainfalls, unprecedented flooding, extreme drought, nightmarish wildfires, record setting tornadoes and very unusual blizzards. Record high temperatures and record low temperatures are set so frequently now that nobody really seems to even notice anymore. So exactly what in the world is going on here? Why does our weather seem to be going absolutely crazy? Perhaps even more important – can we expect our weather patterns to become even more erratic? Some meteorologists are suggesting that these unusual weather events are just an “anomaly” and that things will get back to normal soon. But what if they don’t? (Read More...)
Why Are Giant Sinkholes Appearing All Over America? Is Something Happening To The Earth’s Crust?
Where are all of these giant sinkholes coming from? Of course there have always been sinkholes, but over the past few years it seems like both the severity and the number of giant sinkholes has been increasing dramatically. So exactly why are so many giant sinkholes appearing all over America all of a sudden? Is something happening to the earth’s crust, or is there some other explanation? The “experts” are blaming this epidemic of sinkholes on things like loose soil, acidic groundwater, new construction, leaky water pipes, coal mines, fracking, long periods of drought followed by rain, and depletion of underground aquifers, but do they really understand what is going on? On Thursday, a 37-year-old man named Jeffrey Bush living near Tampa, Florida died when the earth underneath his home suddenly opened up and swallowed him alive. His brother tried to help him when he heard Jeffrey screaming, but it was too late. The entire bedroom was sucked deep into the earth and the home had to be rapidly abandoned. Now authorities are admitting that he will probably never be found. So is this type of thing really “normal”? It would be one thing if this was just an isolated incident, but the truth is that giant sinkholes have been appearing with increasing frequency all over the planet lately. Could this be an indication that major earth changes are on the way? (Read More...)
Historic Drought, Giant Dust Storms And Massive Power Grid Failures – A Glimpse Into Our Future
This week has provided two very clear examples of why it is so important to keep on prepping. In the United States, the historic drought ravaging the central part of the country is absolutely devastating our crops. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, drought is affecting nearly 90 percent of all corn crops in America at this point. This is pushing the price of corn to levels never seen before. On Tuesday, the price of corn hit another new record high of $8.20 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. Over the past six weeks the price of corn has risen more than 50 percent, and it could go a lot higher as the drought continues to absolutely bake America. Meanwhile, the massive power grid failures in India are reminding us all just how incredibly dependent we are on electricity and technology. Power was cut off to nearly a tenth of the entire global population on Tuesday, and there was quite a bit of panic about that even though power is rapidly being restored. So what would happen to them (or to us) someday if the power went off for good? (Read More...)