Is Food under Threat?

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OK-- maybe this is a stretch, but it really didn't fit in any other thread.

There SEEMS to be an unusual string of "disasters" happening to businesses and facilities related to food storage and production. So, is it actually a "normal" amount of fires, etc., but the media is just giving it more attention? Hmmm

Sounds an awful lot like a conspiracy theory-- and I have seen it linked to "the great reset" .... so just what is going on?

Here was the latest from overnight.

 

sebastiantombs

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I think the food supply is under threat or, at the least, in danger of falling far short of what is needed on a worldwide basis. The "industrial accidents" from fire at production and livestock facilities are just one factor. Throw in the wheat shortage as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Add in the shortages of fertilizers, on a worldwide basis, from that same invasion. Add in the increased cost of fuel for everything from farm equipment to trucks to deliver the food and it's starting to get "tight". Even the baby formula shortage has to be factored in, although that is unique to the US.

Not a very bright outlook at all.
 

rolibr24

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OK-- maybe this is a stretch, but it really didn't fit in any other thread.

There SEEMS to be an unusual string of "disasters" happening to businesses and facilities related to food storage and production. So, is it actually a "normal" amount of fires, etc., but the media is just giving it more attention? Hmmm

Sounds an awful lot like a conspiracy theory-- and I have seen it linked to "the great reset" .... so just what is going on?

Here was the latest from overnight.

“Tens of thousands” of hens isn’t a large number at all…..

I work maintenance at a chicken farm. Any modern building is around 100,000.

The avian flu has been the real kicker over the past few months and has been the big reason for high egg prices.

Fires are awful for any farmer, but if there is a silver lining at least they only lost one flock.
If you test positive for the avian flu that farm needs to immediately kill every single bird on the entire farm. (For modern producers that is between 1-3 million birds.). Then they need to go through each building and disinfect everything. All under the supervision of a 3 letter agency…. And until their swab tests come back negative you can’t begin to repopulate.
 

rolibr24

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With how cheap food is even right now, no

I just got a bunch of Chicken Thighs at Costco for 0.79c/lb

How can they even sell it for that cheap right now?
A year ago we were having to pay for the shipping to get our eggs out.

What we were getting paid for each load of eggs wouldn’t even cover the trucking…. Never mind the cost of actually producing the eggs…. (Labor, feed, cartons, box’s). We were getting under $0.05 a dozen at that time. Then in the stores you couldn’t find eggs for under $1.50.

A year or so ago, pork wasn’t available in stores, and if you could find it, prices were through the roof. Meanwhile, hog farmers had a so many hogs that they couldn’t get spots at the processing plants……
 

IReallyLikePizza2

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A year or so ago, pork wasn’t available in stores, and if you could find it, prices were through the roof. Meanwhile, hog farmers had a so many hogs that they couldn’t get spots at the processing plants……
Where do you live? I'm in Houston and never, ever, had shortages like that
 
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A year ago we were having to pay for the shipping to get our eggs out.

What we were getting paid for each load of eggs wouldn’t even cover the trucking…. Never mind the cost of actually producing the eggs…. (Labor, feed, cartons, box’s). We were getting under $0.05 a dozen at that time. Then in the stores you couldn’t find eggs for under $1.50.

A year or so ago, pork wasn’t available in stores, and if you could find it, prices were through the roof. Meanwhile, hog farmers had a so many hogs that they couldn’t get spots at the processing plants……
So-- is there some kind of market manipulation going on? -- or is that wacko conspiracy theory territory??
 

rolibr24

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So-- is there some kind of market manipulation going on? -- or is that wacko conspiracy theory territory??
I was having this discussion with one of the usda graders at our plant who used to work at a JBS beef kill plant.

I asked him why were pork and beef prices so high in the stores, and a lot of times in the stores they were limiting on how much meat someone could buy. But yet my dad as a hog producer would really struggle to get loads into kill plants.
normally they ship out a load a day. There was a while where they could only get in 2-3 loads a week because that was all the plants could handle. Farmers were taking contracts for next to nothing from kill plants, just to get their barns empty.

The USDA inspector said it was all labor. These kill floors can’t get the labor to do the work, so they are having to drastically cut down on what they can take.
 

rolibr24

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This whole labor shortage is really hitting us farmers.

We are one of the few industries where we can’t raise wages to high to draw people in.
Any commercial industry in our area has starting pay of $18-19 a hour for basic labor. Those industries to a point have the luxury of tacking on that added cost to the end product to offset their increased inputs.

Farmers don’t have that luxury. We get paid what the market is. Granted in our situation right now due to the avian flu, egg prices are very good. ($2.00-$2.25 a dozen). A year ago we were getting paid under $0.10 a dozen. And it takes around $0.75 a dozen to break even.
Sure, right now we could raise wages to get more people in our doors, but we know a year from now we could be seeing $0.10 a dozen eggs again.

It also takes special people who want to work with livestock. If your average city dweller has the option of working in a clean factory that is climate controlled. They can punch in, punch out and go on with their life after work.
On a farm you never know what day to day is going to bring. Usually it’s dirtier work, you get out of work and you smell like a cow, pig chicken etc. The work is by no means for everyone if it’s not work you are used to.
 

mat200

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This whole labor shortage is really hitting us farmers.

We are one of the few industries where we can’t raise wages to high to draw people in.
Any commercial industry in our area has starting pay of $18-19 a hour for basic labor. Those industries to a point have the luxury of tacking on that added cost to the end product to offset their increased inputs.

Farmers don’t have that luxury. We get paid what the market is. Granted in our situation right now due to the avian flu, egg prices are very good. ($2.00-$2.25 a dozen). A year ago we were getting paid under $0.10 a dozen. And it takes around $0.75 a dozen to break even.
Sure, right now we could raise wages to get more people in our doors, but we know a year from now we could be seeing $0.10 a dozen eggs again.

It also takes special people who want to work with livestock. If your average city dweller has the option of working in a clean factory that is climate controlled. They can punch in, punch out and go on with their life after work.
On a farm you never know what day to day is going to bring. Usually it’s dirtier work, you get out of work and you smell like a cow, pig chicken etc. The work is by no means for everyone if it’s not work you are used to.
Thank you @rolibr24


Appreciate the knowledge and experiences you are sharing, helps us understand much better more of what is going on.

wow .. $0.10 a dozen ..
 
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