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A Global Food Crisis Looms as the US Sanctions the World

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75 comments on A Global Food Crisis Looms as the US Sanctions the World

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Global Food Crisis image from NYT Tweet

US Effectively Sanctions the World

It’s rare that I agree with anything on the New York Times.

Yet, I follow many sources I disagree with because sometimes they express a view worth considering. 

This is one of those times.

“The United States thinks it has only sanctioned Russia and its banks. But the United States has sanctioned the whole world.”

Let that sink in, because it is a beautifully accurate synopsis.

Telling Russia that it cannot export wheat, nickel, aluminum, fertilizer etc., is the same as telling the rest of the world it cannot imports Russian wheat, nickel, aluminum, and fertilizer.

The amusing thing about all of this is that president Biden is doing exactly what Trump would have done.

And it highlights the Fed’s dilemma.

What Can the Fed Do About CPI Inflation?

The answer is nothing or next to nothing. Rates hikes will not impact inelastic items.

For discussion, please see What Can the Fed Do About the Price of Food, Medicine, Gasoline, or Rent?

This post originated at MishTalk.Com.

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Mike Shedlock

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blacklisted
blacklisted
3 years ago
…and I’m sure the coming global cooling and Dust Bowl have not been factored in, which will push food prices higher for the next decade, assuming the jab die off will not be as bad as expected.
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Jojo
Jojo
3 years ago
I brought a roasted chicken at Costco on Monday. With tax, the price was $5.47. I brought gas also while at Costco. The premium gas cost $5.749/gal!
A cooked chicken = 1 gal of gas?
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FrankieCarbone
FrankieCarbone
3 years ago
While I never underestimate the stupidity of public prostitutes (Corporations, monied elitists, and Wall St are their Johns) in DC, this is so beyond the sublime that I can only surmise that this is being done intentionally as a dollar collapse is mathematically baked into the cake and the morons want to control it so that they can spin the narrative.
To which 99% of dumb Americans (but I repeat myself) will easily buy into either the Red or the Blue version of the narrative as they so gullibly and readily digest any simulacra thrown their way and even beg for more.
Yes, I think this is on purpose. A plan to destroy the dollar.
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StukiMoi
StukiMoi
3 years ago
You’d think “the rest of the world” would have the brains to treat Biden’s “sanctions” with the level of scorn it deserves. If the senile guy don’t want Russian vodka, he should speak for himself. You’d have to be pretty hopeless to contribute to forcing your own countrymen to go hungry, just because some rank idiot in Washingtion, DC gets off on parading around pretending to be some sort of useful lifeform.
Whenever and wherever there exists a monopoly; which is what ultimately allows problems like this to become problematic in the first place; the immediate goal has to, always, be to develop means to route around it. That way, a failure by one service provider, causes no bigger problems than having to route traffic to someone else. Leaving all one’s eggs in one basket, is never a good idea.
With any luck, China, along with Belt and Road partners, will provide alternative trade settlement mechanisms, in not too long. There is no way Belt and Road will go anywhere, if arbitrary burps by idiots in DC is all it takes to stop something as important as payment mediation.
On a smaller scale, one could hope truly independent crypto markets will also gain foothold; in case both the current mechanism, and a more Chinese centric one; fails. Regardless, the more choices, the better. Always. There never has been, never will be, any exception to that truism.
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Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
3 years ago
Civil unrest in Third World on tap.
The FAO Food Price Index* (FFPI) averaged 140.7 points in February 2022, up 5.3 points (3.9 percent) from January and as much as 24.1 points (20.7 percent) above its level a year ago. This represents a new all-time high, exceeding the previous top of February 2011 by 3.1 points.
FAO Food Price Index | World Food Situation | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
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Call_Me
Call_Me
3 years ago
“The amusing thing about all of this is that president Biden is doing exactly what Trump would have done.”
U.S. head of state is more figurehead than most would like to admit.
GWB’s administration oversaw misguided military campaigns, droned innocents, and overthrew governments, while a series of economic events enriched a very privileged class. BHO’s administration added its own dubious military campaigns, accelerated the dronings, and bailouts/monetary policy continued to enrich a select group, despite some people believing/wishing that there would be hope and change. DJT wasn’t terribly different in any regard, despite some people believing/wishing that he would be. JRB has a 50-year political career, his administration should be expected to keep on keeping on.
Call_Me_Al
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Doug78
Doug78
3 years ago
A drop in grain supplies can’t be helped in the short term unless you can stop the war in Ukraine and we can’t so the only thing to do is what other countries are doing which is to plant more and bring in marginal land for cultivation. Higher prices will bring in more supply but the countries that are food-deficit will always be at risk even in good years.
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SAKMAN1
SAKMAN1
3 years ago
The sooner the world realizes that it can not be dependent on the outputs of tyrannical dictatorships and single party countries, the sooner they can start working to realize that independence. Otherwise, we willl need to continuosly assume that they might try to take over a random country with the gains they make from exports.
What has happened here is the repetitive playing of the prisoners dilemma has shown Russia to be a non cooperator. The science says that non-cooperators are normally exiled from the group.
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KidHorn
KidHorn
3 years ago
Reply to  SAKMAN1
So, should we stop buying oil from the Saudis and stop buying everything from China?
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SAKMAN1
SAKMAN1
3 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
If we can. Yes. We should always be working towards being able to simply not purchase their goods.
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StukiMoi
StukiMoi
3 years ago
Reply to  SAKMAN1
“The sooner the world realizes that it can not be dependent on the outputs of tyrannical dictatorships and single party countries”
One would have thought “the world” would have caught on after Iran. But now that it has become THIS obvious, that ONE tyrannical country has that much control over payment infrastructures depended on by others for which there appears to be no currently satisfactory alternative; I suspect “the world” will finally wake up. It wouldn’t be a a minute too soon.
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FromBrussels
FromBrussels
3 years ago
Reply to  SAKMAN1
…..CNN ‘TRUTH’ again …..Is that really your only source ? Pathetic! Russia has always economically cooperated with Europe …..the US didn t like it at all ….we are now enjoying the consequences…..and I am afraid we ain t seen nothing yet if the US of A is not willing to stop its dirty warmonging game…
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SAKMAN1
SAKMAN1
3 years ago
Reply to  FromBrussels
Keep defending Russia. Mariupol is destroyed. The Russians did that.
Throwing a fit because they cant compete economically, so they try to compete with military. Exactly the same play made by the Russians in WW1, they mobilized and would not demobilize therby forcing the war. All because Russia could not compete economically. War crimes are the response.
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FromBrussels
FromBrussels
3 years ago
Reply to  SAKMAN1
WAR CRIMES ?! Do you really want to talk WAR CRIMES ?!
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Jojo
Jojo
3 years ago
Like all things in the modern world, technology is pushing new paradigms for providing the food we need more efficiently and effectively with less pollution and climate dependencies.
Cultured meat is on the horizon and will eliminate the need to raise, feed and butcher animals.
Vertical farming will eliminate the need for huge swaths of land set aside for food growth. Strawberries and greens are currently being grown and many companies are moving into this space.
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StukiMoi
StukiMoi
3 years ago
Reply to  Jojo
And fairy dust will; always emphasis WILL, never emphasis does; eliminate all the world’s problems….
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Jack
Jack
3 years ago
Reply to  Jojo
Just cancel the meat and go vertical farming.
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ZZR600
ZZR600
3 years ago
Maybe a less painful approach is for the world to sanction the USA and just get on with its life?
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StukiMoi
StukiMoi
3 years ago
Reply to  ZZR600
Trade freely with all, entangling alliances with none……
Just as wrt tariffs: Even when someone economically illiterate levies tariffs on “your” exports; you are still always better off not “retaliating.” Every individual, in “your” country as well as any other country including the US, is ALWAYS better off being able to trade freely with as many others as possible.
Instead, people need to get better at routing around the US when the US steps out of line. IOW, the world needs to make the US irrelevant. The US is certainly doing its share speeding up its own irrelevance. But there are still areas where the US matters. International payment mediation obviously being one of them. SO, the task then becomes, obviously, to ensure the US becomes as irrelevant there, as it has already rendered itself in most other areas.
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lil_neezy
lil_neezy
3 years ago
Reply to  StukiMoi
“The world needs to make the US irrelevant”. Brilliant. Yes let’s make the richest country irrelevant. I sure hope you’re not from that country because you will suffer. Why can’t we be on the same side here? Let’s continue our US hegemony and dominance.
I never understood why so many here wish for the end of our dominance. Maybe to see the whole thing burn? But why? How does that help you? (Insert your reply of being from, for example Finland, which makes it GREAT that the US falls from all prominence and has no power on the world stage…trust me you are VERY strong without the US)
I’ll also posit: if the whole world just looks out for themselves (person by person), then the FIRST state that organizes would dominate. So, no, we don’t want to have every man for themselves trading with our enemy who advocates for our death. We have to band together and resist, even if that means some personal harm. If it’s every man for themselves then we lose to the first person who can organize others and defeat us.
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StukiMoi
StukiMoi
3 years ago
Reply to  lil_neezy
“I sure hope you’re not from that country because you will suffer.”
Monaco is irrelevant. Or, at least not all that relevant to most people who don’t live there. From what I’m seeing, they don;t seem to suffer unduly as a result.
“I never understood why so many here wish for the end of our dominance.”
Because there is no “our.” Those who suffered the most under Fidel, were Cubans. Under Stalin, Russians. Etc., etc. Ditto under Biden, Americans.
It’s never some scary bogeyman who send sexist child laborer terrorists to climb “our” (again, not mine…) border fences; who is confiscating half Americans income in taxes, half of what remains by debasement, while banning them from putting roofs over their heads, and banning others from having a place to sell them the food they need to avoid starvation. As always, the guys who do that, are the Junta that rules what you gullibly and well-indocrinatedly insist on referring to as “our.”
Continuing our US hegemony and dominance, takes resources. Lots of them. And, while this may seem surprising to some, resources don’t really spring into being simply as a result of some Dear Leader falling down airplane steps. Instead, they have to be created. By hard work and sacrifice. By Americans. THEN, those resources that Americans had to work hard for, has to be stolen by the falling-down-stairs-in-Orange-wigs self-promoter crowd. That’s what “continuing hegemony” means to all Americans, aside from a small clique of beneficiaries to the theft. Just so that those beneficiaries get to fall down stairs to private planes, rather than commercial ones.
“I’ll also posit: if the whole world just looks out for themselves (person by person), then the FIRST state that organizes would dominate.”
As long as “organizes” is rather low cost to those “organizing”, doing so may well be beneficial to all. That’s what the whole “Limited Government”, as opposed to a hard zero government, thing was about. But that only holds true as long as the level of organizing is limited enough for costs to remain low. That is a test which “continuing hegemony” over an entire world, will never even remotely pass. Instead, “continuing hegemony” requires a State so unlimited as to be completely totalitarian: Noone, in any country much less the US, can be allowed to trade in anything, say anything, do anything, organize in any manner etc., etc., unless some ruling clique in DC is first OK with it. And maintaining this clique-of-self-promoting-clowns’ ability to be that invasive, worldwide, has to be paid for by ever more preyed upon Americans. Who are, as a result, less and less able to produce anything at competitive prices.
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SAKMAN1
SAKMAN1
3 years ago
Reply to  StukiMoi
LOL – a whole country is “irrelevant” to you.
All “Empires” are rapacious. All Empires are the culmination of human progress. All.Empires come to an end, but only a goddamn fool should.want that to happen in their lifetime. You really have no idea what you are hoping for. Read a history book or two that cover the “global” infrastructure collapses that happen during major changes. Results are things like literacy rates go to 10%. Dont believe it can happen? Yeah neither did any of the people at those times either, before the infrastructure collapses.
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TheCaptain
TheCaptain
3 years ago
How do you know what trump would have done? You may not think some of trump’s moves were terribly beneficial, like renaming nafta to something else, etc. but what harm did he do? Trump might have understood the notion of cutting off one’s nose to spit their face.
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Jmurr
Jmurr
3 years ago
Reply to  TheCaptain

True we don’t know for sure what he would have done but we can all see the consequences of the idiotic policies of the Biden admin.

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lil_neezy
lil_neezy
3 years ago
Reply to  TheCaptain
TRUE. Trump would’ve been perfectly fine with this bloodbath (good people on both sides, of course).
The real truth is this would have never happened under Trump. “Everybody’s saying it but I said if first”. Very smart man, stable genius.
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Columbo
Columbo
3 years ago
So, a larger World food and then refugee crisis coming soon. This, on top of the effects of everything else from our Ukraine/Putin/Russia strategy that’s going to boomerang back to us.
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ILHawk
ILHawk
3 years ago
Waaay overdone on food shortages. Why?
1. 90 percent of food worldwide is produced and consumed locally.
2. US has reduced wheat production due to lack of demand. Bread is no longer that big of a deal.
3. Corn will become too expensive for ethanol production and the HUGE amount of acres we use to produce corn ethanol will be switched to food use….
4. But wait, people don’t directly eat corn grain much….where does it go? Livestock production. Meat will become more expensive in western nations. People will eat less meat and guess what? Meat production is a very inefficient use of grain as food.
5. Russians will complain. We easily forget that JIMMY, not Ronald had a lot to do with unhappy Russians when their meat driven culture couldn’t find….ummm meat.
6. In western markets, GRAIN is a miniscule part of the overall cost of how westerners eat food. It’s all packaged. Grain is a few pennies on the dollar for food costs.
7. What will go up is….. FUEL costs due to less ethanol (oh ya the heavy subsidies).
8. Ukraine has a history of bad drought in about 3 of 10 years or more due to weather patterns close to the middle east. Ukraine shuts off exports to keep supplies up for domestic consumption.
The bigger threats to food production are: wars and growing water problems. Too little and Too much. Don’t know about climate change, but agriculturally climate is changing. Production is moving more north worldwide and in the US, rains are making for HUGE production years.
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KidHorn
KidHorn
3 years ago
Reply to  ILHawk
Pretty sure from December->May, there’s not nearly enough local food production in much of the US to cover demand. At least for fresh produce.
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ILHawk
ILHawk
3 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
Really? Nobody went hungry. But read what I said. World wide. Most of the world doesn’t go grocery shopping.
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KidHorn
KidHorn
3 years ago
Reply to  ILHawk
Most of the world can’t grow crops year round.
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ILHawk
ILHawk
3 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
Yes, but this really isn’t a big deal. Most food worldwide is grown locally. Americans run to the grocery store and by cardiac killer junk for food.
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thimk
thimk
3 years ago
Take a peek at vertical farming , might have good investment potential . also
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Captain Ahab
Captain Ahab
3 years ago
Reply to  thimk
I’d post a photo of my NautiPonics system (high productivity and fully contained aeroponics in a 48″ x 24″ by 8″ box, energy efficient with an intermittent 12v DC 2 amp draw) ideal for growing indoors or outdoors, or even in a closet with the optional grow-lights; however, it is still in the testing phase, and not in production.
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Jack
Jack
3 years ago
Reply to  Captain Ahab
I googled NautiPonics and got no hits. What is this system?
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RonJ
RonJ
3 years ago
Reply to  thimk
The local Compton vertical farm should be open for production in a few months. Not familiar with Plenty, but i recently mentioned indoor growing of food as a means of creating food supply. Malthus must be filled with envy.
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RunnerDan
RunnerDan
3 years ago
Reply to  RonJ
Will the produce from that farm be labeled “Straight outta Compton”?
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Cocoa
Cocoa
3 years ago
Also, many children have disappeared when fleeing Ukraine. Probably kidnapped by Ukrainian and other Eastern European mobsters for trafficking. Maybe they will end up in Hunter Biden’s laptop too…lucky them. Freedom has it’s costs, and lucky the Biden’s don’t have to suffer any of the consequences
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Captain Ahab
Captain Ahab
3 years ago
Reply to  Cocoa
The storm is gathering behind Hunter’s laptop. I expect things might get interesting come mid-terms.
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TexasTim65
TexasTim65
3 years ago
Reply to  Captain Ahab
That laptop is 2 years ago news. There are so many other distractions (Ukraine/Russia + China + Covid when the other 2 aren’t front burners) that I doubt it receives any news coverage at all.
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Roadrunner12
Roadrunner12
3 years ago
Reply to  TexasTim65
Hunter Bidens laptop does appear to be gaining traction, how far it goes remains to be seen.
White House ignores its Hunter problem (nypost.com)
Basic journalism

The same media organs that ignored and traduced The Post’s laptop reporting still show no curiosity about the tens of millions of dollars that the Biden family has collected from oligarchs in Russia, Ukraine and China.

The Times didn’t need to rely on the laptop to do basic journalism on this scheme.
They could have asked Tony Bobulinski, Hunter’s former business partner, who made himself available to the media before the 2020 election. He gave the FBI emails, documents and WhatsApp messages that corroborate and augment material on the laptop.

In addition, the Grassley-Johnson inquiry provided an official money trail from overseas interests to bank accounts associated with the Bidens and their partners.

The refusal of the Times and the rest of the media to cover this story amounted to election interference.

Polls show that about 10% of Biden voters would have changed their vote if they had known about the scandal. That would have had a material effect on the result. Which, of course, was the point.

Republicans call for new probe into Hunter Biden laptop (nypost.com)

Hunter Biden is already facing a sprawling federal probe into his tax filings and business dealings around the world, the New York Times finally reported this week.

“Do I feel vindicated?” Giuliani told The Post Saturday. “I don’t need The Times to make me feel vindicated. Even if The Times wanted to apologize — which they wouldn’t — I would shove it right back in their face. They are a disgraceful publication.”

“This is just another example of the media being quick to silence anything that would shine a light on the corrupt Biden family,” Dr. Mehmet Oz, a leading GOP Pennsylvania Senate candidate, told The Post. “As Pennsylvania’s next Senator, I will support an investigation into the findings of Hunter Biden’s laptop and any efforts to cover it up.”

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KidHorn
KidHorn
3 years ago
Reply to  Captain Ahab
There’s no way the FBI is going to do anything serious regarding the laptop. They may give the appearance of investigation, but will do everything they can to never produce anything more than a wrist slap to the Biden’s.
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TheCaptain
TheCaptain
3 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
The FBI is self serving just like all big government agencies. IF they see the winds blowing right they will abandon the left because they have no convictions or morals. They just need to stick close to whoever is in power. Same with the court system and same with big corporations.
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KidHorn
KidHorn
3 years ago
Reply to  TheCaptain
The FBI, like the rest of the federal government, is left leaning.
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Roadrunner12
Roadrunner12
3 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
A book written by Miranda Devine would be a good read. “Noticed links arent showing up on this website” You can go to the Amazon website for this book and read a few excerpts.
Amazon.com: Laptop from Hell: Hunter Biden, Big Tech, and the Dirty Secrets the President Tried to Hide: 9781637581056: Devine, Miranda: Books
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Jack
Jack
3 years ago
Reply to  Captain Ahab
You guys are hilarious.
First Clinton hard drives and now Biden laptop.
Then you have Trump flushing paper down the toilet and complaining his toilet is over flowing.
Seems they all have dirt to hide.
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Cocoa
Cocoa
3 years ago
So many wealthy are posed to benefit from this. Gates etc. Crisis capitalism is on the move and this whole script was thought out to siphoned any wealth left in the middle classes and create a huge dependent class of serfs. And the more you try to cut off your dependence the deeper the new aristocrats go into your wallets and your face. And honestly there is nothing we can do short of another French Revolution to stop it. I mean, now they are creating a short squeeze on energy and next it’s basica.like food. Soon, as We all know, they destroy water supplies so we all have to buy bottled. Trump was a bonehead but he didn’t try to enslave us like the DNC
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davidyjack
davidyjack
3 years ago
“”The United States thinks it has only sanctioned Russia and its banks. But the United States has sanctioned the whole world.””

This is a simplistic statement. Trade is much more complex.

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StukiMoi
StukiMoi
3 years ago
Reply to  davidyjack
“Trade is much more complex.”
Complex enough that any “sanctioning,” at any scale, inevitably ends up affecting essentially the whole world.
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RonJ
RonJ
3 years ago
Gates bought up a lot of farm land. What does he intend to do with it? It is important to know, considering he invited Fauci to his home in 2000, to push his vaccine agenda on Fauci. What is he pushing now, with becoming one of the biggest farm land owners in the country?
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KidHorn
KidHorn
3 years ago
If Trump were president, I doubt this war would have happened. Trump was a jerk, but he was a peaceful jerk. Not a war monger like the democrats. He would have left Ukraine alone.
I also suspect that if the US just stayed out of this, there would have been a peaceful solution by now. Our government states they aren’t interfering with peace talks. I have my doubts. When was the last time our government pushed for peace? I don’t understand why we have had such animosity towards Russia. What has Russia ever done to us?
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Maximus_Minimus
Maximus_Minimus
3 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
I said this at the time when Trump had had assassinated Iranian general Soleimani: Trump may start a war with Iran, but the Biden neocons will incite a war with Russia.
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Carl_R
Carl_R
3 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
There was only ever one way where the war would be over by now, and that is for a swift Russian victory. Would that have happened under Trump? You might be right that there would have been a swift victory under Trump, but I have my doubts. Reading about the history of Ukraine, they have a proud heritage going back to the Cossacks, and have a long history of unhappiness at being controlled by Russia for the last 200 years, so I think they would have fought back just as fiercely under Trump as under Biden.
In the meantime, per news reports, the Russian army has been decimated. Report are that Russia still has 90% of it’s offensive capabilities, which is, of course, the the loss of 1/10. Russia may well win in Ukraine, in the end, but it may end up a Pyrrhic victory, coming at the cost of damage to their military, but even more, to their reputation.
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TexasTim65
TexasTim65
3 years ago
Reply to  Carl_R
Ukraine can only fight back because it’s being supplied by the West with arms, food, fuel etc. Without that support, especially the arms part they would have weeks ago had to surrender.
So the only question would be whether Trump would have done the same proxy war that Biden is doing.
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Carl_R
Carl_R
3 years ago
Reply to  TexasTim65
A very US-Centric answer. The US has certainly given arms to Ukraine, but they are far from being the only one, or even from being the majority donor. I don’t think that much would be different if they US had given nothing at all.
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Jackula
Jackula
3 years ago
Reply to  Carl_R
Also remember Vietnam, they did a lot of damage with Soviet equipment and funding
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KidHorn
KidHorn
3 years ago
Reply to  Carl_R
If Trump won the election, the war never would have started. Putin would have been much less threatened by Ukraine. Trump wouldn’t have pushed for them to join NATO. He might have even stopped funding the bioweapons labs.
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Carl_R
Carl_R
3 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
Another US-Centric answer. It’s clear that Putin has dreams of rebuilding the old USSR. Who the US President is, at any point in time, doen not seem to have any impact on that. He invaded Georgia in 2008, under Bush, Jr. He invaded Crimea 6 years later, under Obama. 7 years after that he invades Ukraine. Yes, he skipped Trump, but his 6-7 year cycle means he will skip a Presidential term now and then. He also skipped Obama’s first term, fwiw. I don’t think that it makes any difference who the US President is right now, it was just time for him to attempt another acquisition.
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Jojo
Jojo
3 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
Woulda, shoulda, coulda, mighta. None of this self-fellatio matters since Trump isn’t president.
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Jojo
Jojo
3 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
Your delusional. [roflol]
“What has Russia ever done to us?”. Really? How about cyber attacks? How about sponsoring and protecting cyber ransom gangs? How about interfering in our elections?
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KidHorn
KidHorn
3 years ago
Reply to  Jojo
Sounds a lot like what the CIA does.
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Jojo
Jojo
3 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
Tit for tat?
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Captain Ahab
Captain Ahab
3 years ago
While it is likely that Trump would impose sanctions on Russia, to be honest, we don’t ‘know’ what he would’ve done. A trade war is not a hot war. Perhaps Trump would’ve gone up a few ‘Defcon’ levels at the first hint of trouble in the Ukraine?
At the margin, Russia’s impact is a game changer in many things, not just food. What is missing in education, at all levels, is explicit recognition of different ways of thinking: critical, creative, and consequential. The result is the closed minds we see today, on all sides.
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Billy
Billy
3 years ago
Reply to  Captain Ahab
My guess is that when Russia started sending their troops to Ukraine’s border over a year ago, Trump would have made Ukraine several offers. Each would have involved levels of protection and all would come with costs that ultimately benefited the US. Similar to South Korea with our THAAD anti-missile defense systems. Maybe even communication jamming equipment, aircraft, ect.
I agree 100% that those forms of thinking is missing in our education. I’d like to add that it’s missing in our general population when it comes to government.
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thimk
thimk
3 years ago
Ya , just check the pasta/macaroni section of Walmart . Lookin lean , however there always seems to be a box of whole wheat available.
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LawrenceBird
LawrenceBird
3 years ago
Well, now is the time for American farmers to show how the US can become wheat and corn independent!    Oh wait.. Biden must be holding that back too..maybe he banned the Keystone grain silo? 😉
Mish expect China/India to take in the Russian grain.  Ukraine will be missed to the extent production drops and it can’t be exported.   But at least as big a problem is the more or less global drought in producing regions.   From late January: “In Kansas, the No. 1 winter wheat state, 31% of the crop was rated as being in poor or very poor condition.”  
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KidHorn
KidHorn
3 years ago
Reply to  LawrenceBird
We are corn and wheat independent. But if there are shortages overseas, farmers will be better off exporting instead of supplying the US. We’ll have to pay more to prevent grains from being exported.
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Jojo
Jojo
3 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
Or issue a law prohibiting the shipment of foods externally until all in-country needs are met.
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soupcon
soupcon
3 years ago
The US cares little about starving populations otherwise it would not have stolen the reserves of the central bank of Afghanistan nor supported the UN oil for food program in Iraq which starved many, many thousands of children It probably thinks that by starving the masses it can control even more countries than it does at present. I am sure it is shocked by the number of countries in the world representing the vast majority of the worlds citizens which have NOT sanctioned Russia
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Jojo
Jojo
3 years ago
Reply to  soupcon
I am sure that Putin is surprised at how many countries are joining in to sanction him & Russia. If he keeps up his agressions, there will be even more sanctions coming. When all is said and done, Russia will be decimated from the sanctions, its economy losing all the gains it has made sine 1991. Hopefully that will learn them.
————-
Russian economy set for biggest hit since Cold War
GDP is expected to plunge by 14pc, marking a bigger collapse than the pandemic or Russia’s financial crisis in the late 1990s
19 Mar 2022
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Webej
Webej
3 years ago
People disregard consequences.
With the Covid lockdown, nobody was up on the stage saying they were prepared to shaft the most precarious workers (no aid available), nor push a few hundred million of the globe’s poorest deeper into hunger. The same applies now in spades.
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Gimmiedajuice
Gimmiedajuice
3 years ago
I do not know how long it takes for harvested wheat to make it through the system, but on top of the coming reduction of crops from Russia and Ukraine, the North American outlook is also not rosy.
The 2021 Wheat harvest was down over 30% from 2020.  And from what I read, the upcoming winter wheat harvest in both Canada and the US is not looking very good.  Wheat isn’t the only crop that is down (mostly due to drought)
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Webej
Webej
3 years ago
Reply to  Gimmiedajuice
Not just wheat. Indeed. Cooking oils have also been on a tear, which represent a large part of the diet of the world’s poorest.
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randocalrissian
randocalrissian
3 years ago
“I follow many sources I disagree with because sometimes they express a view worth considering.”
Bravo. In the internet social age, we are driven to our filter bubbles. This warning came ten or so years ago. It has gotten bad. I spend well over half my time reading sources with which I usually disagree. There is no more healthy way to check and evolve your thinking than to give voice to opposition in your mind.
That’s one of the main reasons I read your blog, you’re all over the place with your thinking, meant as a compliment as your views are forged on their own merits and not through some tinted looking glass. 
Thanks for the content. May your food prices be as low as your blog acumen is high.
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Billy
Billy
3 years ago
Reply to  randocalrissian
Randocalrissian, I’d like to offer some advise. Have a few drinks with friends who have all sorts of views. Share your thoughts and encourage disagreements with constructive debates. But most importantly, make sure to listen. I think you’ll find it enlightening and come to a realization that we all are very similar.
I do this every 2-3 weeks and it opens a whole new way of looking at what’s going on in the world. It has also confirmed the insane amount of manipulation coming at almost every angle that many people who care to have their eyes open can see it.
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dbannist
dbannist
3 years ago
I’ve given a fairly thorough look at the claims of the food shortage  doomsday people.  I paid for college by working on a potato farm in Idaho.
What’s interesting is that the food shortage people have been beating that drum for decades now.  Every time they’ve been proven wrong.
I’ve ignored all their claims as nonsense rants of extreme fringe groups.  Not anymore.
Fertilizer is absolutely necessary to produce food.  If Russia and Ukraine are in fact taken out of the food production pipeline, along with Russia’s fertilizer then yes, the world is in fact in danger of a food shortage.  There is no way to replace that.
The big caveat there is “if” Russia and Ukraine are taken out of the food\fertilizer pipeline”.  That’s a very important “if” and everything really depends on that.
I’ve taken a very large position in Nutrien back when it was in the 80’s.  I already had a small position in it from two years ago and very pleased with the gains.  They are pretty much the only company in the world with significant enough ability to produce more fertilizer.  They are going to greatly benefit from all of this if it continues.  I fully expect the stock to double or even triple in the next year if this continues.  It’s already tripled in the last year, but it’s cash flow is up 700%.
The times are a’changing.  Time to change with them.
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