The third link mentions Lester Brown in the article. I took a class and had to read one of his books, cover to cover. Every American should have to do so to get a better understanding on just how fragile our house of cards is.

Maybe we will all coast along like we have been, maybe not. The midwest is catching up with precip but it won't take long to go too far in the wrong direction. It seems every other year is flood/drought now.

 

Oh we have a food shortage crisis every second year, and every second year a few million people starve to death in 3rd world countries, but until a couple of billion starve to death in 3rd world countries the people that live in the UK have nothing to worry about......

IMO.

 

Not like this we don't. Our crop yield was right down last year because of the weather. It looks like it'll be the same this year, plus there might be a shortage of meat. I don't know what it's like in the rest of the world with regards to meat, but I do know that the crop yields are going to be about 400 million tons for grain, when normally it should be 650+ million tons. Yes it might be mostly the Third World that starves, but a lot of people here are struggling with inflation already. If the price of everything jumps up because of shortages, then there might well be people in the west starving too.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/nov/18/families-rising-food-prices-budgets

 

We burn food in our gastanks here. Idiotic.

 

Corn used for bio-diesel is not the same kind of corn we eat

 

Excellent post, Chops, thanks for that.

 

Nigel Farage says to get your money out of banks. Will you follow his advice?

 

Good luck @Chops249. Here we pay farmers not to grow too much and some of what we do grow is used for fuel.

 

Labdog: My money hasn't been in a bank for several years because I don't trust them. Seeing what happened (continues to happen) in Cyprus is just the beginning. I do think people should heed Nigel's advise.

About one year ago this March (in Michigan at least), we had warm weather and EVERYTHING blossomed as if it were late spring/early summer. Mother nature fooled everyone. When the weather turned cold again in April, EVERYTHING was lost. West/southwest Michigan was a disaster area for the orchard farmers. For the most part, the entire state of Michigan lost it's fruit crop. Many orchards owners didn't survive. Then in summer, there was a drought. Not enough hay for all to go around.

We know what you're going through or will be going through shortly. Wishing you the best and God bless you all....

 

I know--I live in an area with many orchards--plus I have my own fruit trees. I got about 20% of my usual apple crop

 

Our farmers are required to set aside valuable acreage for bio-diesel that could and should be used to raise corn for human and animal consumption. Go figure...

 

I've been beating this drum for some time not just food but the aggregate of modern life water, energy, rare earth metals, phosphorus all the that make modern life possible most are finite. Corn is a horribly exhaustive crop to grow in terms of water, fertilizers and pesticides per acre, it's not a viable large future commodity.

I believe in the future we will need to farm close to where we live and alter our lives to do so

 

Time to take an extended vacation with your colonial cousins...

 

Won't be holding our nose to Romanian horse meat anymore in the U.K. Sorry bad joke.

 

I read somewhere, that we have enough calories to feed every human on earth twice over. Every time a human being starves in some 3rd world country, it was an avoidable tragedy.

Now at the rate that the human race is populating, I doubt that number will be accurate in 20 years max.

 

I read somewhere, that we have enough calories to feed every human on earth twice over. Every time a human being starves in some 3rd world country, it was an avoidable tragedy.

I wouldn't doubt it... but the problem is the delivery. When I was a teen I worked at a fast food place, and I was shocked at the amount of food that gets thrown away - too bad there wasn't a way to get it to some starving family over in the third world.

In college I worked in the Dining Common, and I was also shocked at how much perfectly good foods got thrown away - trays and trays and trays! They did re-use the food, but I think most of it had to be used up in 3? days per the state, something like that. I asked once about why they didn't give the food to one of the homeless shelters in town and I was told that years ago they did but now they didn't dare because of someone got sick or something and sued...

 

I saw that on the ABC this morning. Crazy!

It's hot here. Still sleeping with the A/C on at night. We should be getting ready to have camp fires by now, but it's like the middle of summer.

 

I've just got back from an all night sheep hunt, they're probably all dead now. My farming friend has predicted an 80% loss. He's finished & so are a lot of others.
Horses & cattle are now dying, there's hardly any hay left, we've run out & it's still snowing!
During a rest last night, I heard on the radio that my stupid government are inventing even more green taxes to help combat global warming. I'd like to swear now!
The townies & city people are blaming farmers. They're saying that the sheep & other animals should've been brought in for the bad weather. They just don't get it, farming doesn't work like that in this country. Never mind the fact that it's more or less impossible to get planning permission to build more barns, due to strict planning laws in the countryside. The (I hate this word now) sheeple are in for a shock soon.

 

During a rest last night, I heard on the radio that my stupid government are inventing even more green taxes to help combat global warming. I'd like to swear now!

Actually, you will find most "climate change" believers believe that where you are should get colder with "global warming" due to the disruption of the gulf stream.....

 

Chops, I still hope it is turning springtime soon for you guys in the UK, but to be on the cautios side, better prepare for more unpredictable weatherextremes, as they seem to be incoming faster and faster.
Now you have the snow, next week might bring flooding from the meltdown.

This winter has been a tough one here, it still is, snow and below zero temps right now.
Our farmers worry too, springtime is a good 3 weeks behind, some crops need to be sown or planted now otherwise....go figure

Keep up the good work
Greetings WTG

BTW: I guess you were a very popular person with your Landy in the aftermath of the blizzard.
I was....as a member of the voluntary firedept. I got my share of Landy-duty :thumb:
My winterscore so far: 3 cars pulled out of snowdrifts, 1 fire emergency (our Gunrange burned to the ground) 1 medical emergency (bringing medication to a far off farm during a blizzard that scooped more than halve a meter snow onto the roads)

 

Unfortunatly banks seem to be more important to save than farmers that grow our foods.
This system is so warped, you could cry....

 

Thanks for the information OP. Unfortunately unless you look to alternative news media the only news you get in the USA is what they want you to know. Just this morning I was complaining to the BF that every time I turn the news on I feel like I'm being assaulted by the news cheerleaders. "Hey Hey the economies great, housing is up, manufacturing is skyrocketing, the stock market is exploding, Europe is fixed". It just about makes me want to bang my head against the wall. The only thing anyone (sheep) are talking about here is gun control and gay marriage, as far as the MSM is concerned there is no other news. Thanks for bringing an honest on the ground look at what is really going on across the pond. Please keep it up.

 

This is naturally very disturbing and I hope that the farmers of England will survive this tragic turn of events.

Luckily death by famine has pretty much disappeared from Europe with the creation of the steam engine, which allowed food to quickly be transported to where it was lacking. Nations like Germany have only been able to produce to supply about 80% of its domestic food needs for over a century now, hence the effectiveness of the blockade of WW1 in bringing it to the negotiating table. I would imagine that food prices will be awful in the UK this year, but I'm more worried about the farmers than the threat of anyone starving because of this.

Lets hope that this event becomes a wakeup call for nations to enhance their food security and for private individuals to take precautions for themselves and their families. With some of the more serious droughts that have hit Russia, Ukraine and North America's wheat growing regions in recent years, I certainly hope that they will occur in a staggered fashion and not hit too many places at the same time. Further to crop production, I further see this as a reminder of the significance of logictical and transportation networks, without which these events would have had catastrophic consequences by now.

 

I found a picture of the snow problem: here a farmer is burrowing under the snow in search of his stuck sheep: http://blogs.reuters.com/fullfocus/2013/03/27/editors-choice-18/#a=1

 

934 record highs temps recored this month Vs. 2,000 record cold temps in the USA


http://www.accuweather.com/en/weath.../weather-blogs/weathermatrix/1222-snow-records-broken-so-far-this-march/8834541



record cold sweeps Moscow making March the coldest since the 1950s

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/record-cold-sweeps-moscow-after-snowstorm/477498.html


record cold in florida
http://www.clickorlando.com/weather...-Florida/-/1636950/19469426/-/format/rsss_2.0/view/print/-/13e1c6v/-/index.html


INDIA & Bangladesh

http://www.northjersey.com/news/More_than_100_dead_as_cold_snap_hits_India.html

http://www.news24.com/World/News/Record-cold-kills-80-in-Bangladesh-20130110


south america
http://www.inlandnewstoday.com/story.php?s=15218

 

plant a garden all will be well

 

Chops, as bad as things could be, do you have what will be needed in your own home to ease your way through? Vegetable seeds, some space to plant them, and perhaps a stock of tinned foods to stretch whatever you will be able to buy?

Even if no one else is thinking about it yet, you may have time to build up a bit before price increases or scarcity become a problem.

 

How many people are ready? How many people see it coming? Are you ready and are you telling others to be ready?

 

Yeah, nobody ever listens, though. They probably think they're just going to sponge off of me...

 

This has been caused by the oil dispersant pumped into the water at depth durnig the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010. This highly toxic solvent, and the oil, changed the density of the water throughout the water column and disrupted the Gulf Stream. Same reason we have not had any significant hurricanes since the spill hot the Gulf or East Coast of the US. In the case f Sandy, that would have come inland much further south rather than turning north then getting sucked inland by a deep low.

The same will happen this year. Europe will have a growing season that is awful, but the US Gulf and Eastern seaboard will have another year of minimal hurricane events. Next winter will also be record cold for Europe.

 

UK faces electricity and heat rationing due to dwindling supplies of natural gas:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ews/britain-faces-the-prospect-of-gas-rationing-for-the-first-time-8544975.html

This on top of the food crisis, AND the weird cold and snow. I wouldn't be surprised if the UK faces starvation as early as this fall. To add to the situation, Queen Elizabeth is rumored by USA media to be near death, potentially setting up a power struggle for the Crown, Charles vs William, if she leaves the question of succession unsettled. The UK has millions of Muslims and Blacks who have nothing vested in seeing that the monarchy continue. If the monarchy disintegrates, the country could follow, seeing that Scotland, Wales, and NI have their own parliaments now. To make matters worse, there are rumors that an heir to the Stuart dynasty has come forward, and many Scots support making him King of Scotland. It's really a perfect storm over there, and seeing the once mighty UK descend into an Angola-type situation, with different groups vying for power amidst a grid collapse, would be truly a EOTW situation for Brits. What happens to UK troops overseas? Are they abandoned? Could it happen in the US?

 

UK faces electricity and heat rationing due to dwindling supplies of natural gas:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ews/britain-faces-the-prospect-of-gas-rationing-for-the-first-time-8544975.html

This on top of the food crisis, AND the weird cold and snow. I wouldn't be surprised if the UK faces starvation as early as this fall. To add to the situation, Queen Elizabeth is rumored by USA media to be near death, potentially setting up a power struggle for the Crown, Charles vs William, if she leaves the question of succession unsettled. The UK has millions of Muslims and Blacks who have nothing vested in seeing that the monarchy continue. If the monarchy disintegrates, the country could follow, seeing that Scotland, Wales, and NI have their own parliaments now. To make matters worse, there are rumors that an heir to the Stuart dynasty has come forward, and many Scots support making him King of Scotland. It's really a perfect storm over there, and seeing the once mighty UK descend into an Angola-type situation, with different groups vying for power amidst a grid collapse, would be truly a EOTW situation for Brits. What happens to UK troops overseas? Are they abandoned? Could it happen in the US?

that would be the Duke of Bavaria