You’ve probably been noticing how much your grocery costs are going up. Yes, you read the title of this article correctly, and honestly, I hope it only doubles. It could get much worse.
I’ll explain why. There are many unstoppable forces that are colliding and the result is that food prices will go up like an eruption from a volcano. I’ll highlight the three biggest forces in this article. By the end, you’ll realize that it is time to make some plans, take action, and get ready for a really ”new normal”.
The number one factor pushing up prices is simply the weather. It doesn’t matter what you believe about the cause of climate change – and who really knows? But the fact is that weather patterns are changing around the globe. We are getting more and more severe weather and the bottom line is that it is affecting crop production around the world. Here are just a few examples. Russia has had severe drought and went from being one of the largest exporters of wheat, to having to go out on the open markets to buy food for its people. Australia used to produce enough rice to feed millions of people, but due to heat and drought they have lost almost 98% of that production. Texas has been in drought for over four years now and the ranchers have been selling off their herds because they can’t afford to
feed them. In the short term, this has kept the price of beef low, but soon the last of these great herds will have been butchered, and the price of beef will skyrocket.
Do you remember the flooding along the Mississippi last spring? That was farmland being destroyed. And the tsunami that hit Japan? That not only destroyed local farmland, but the water table is now contaminated with radiation which is affecting a much greater area than the devastation in the videos we saw.
Next time you are watching the news and see those poor people stuck in airports because of severe cold, also think about the livestock and winter crops that are freezing to death. Remember that scorching heat this summer? Not only is it tough for you, but the corn and soybeans can’t handle it either.
Around the globe we’ve had droughts, floods, heat waves, cold snaps and worse. These losses have been going on for much of the last decade. To keep things stable, we’ve been eating our stored grains. We are now scratching the bottom of the bin. Even the conservative USDA is reporting our reserves are razor thin.
It is a simple supply and demand situation – the weather is destroying supply while demand increases.
#1 Severe weather is reducing global food production.
Are you getting used to the ‘new normal’ at the pump being somewhere around $3.50 to $4? Do you think oil prices will be going down? No, me neither.
All across the US you’ve seen those mega farms growing the corn, wheat, and potatoes that make up our basic food stocks. Every step in the process of growing that food involves oil and fossil energy. The planting, the chemical fertilizers, the harvesting, processing, and transportation are all processes that need massive amounts of energy (oil) to run.
As the price of oil goes up, so does the cost to produce food. I have a link to a video at the end of this article and in that video I’ll show you a graph of the direct correlation between oil prices and food prices.
#2 As the price of oil goes up, so do grocery prices.
Many Americans are surprised to find that we are no longer the ‘Bread Basket’ to the world. I certainly always believed that. I thought we produced two or three times what we needed and we were shipping it off to Africa, or India, or somewhere like that. The truth is we export only about 15% of what we grow. And, we import about that much. In fact, the US is almost a net importer of food.
So we saw above that almost all of the food grown in the United States is utterly dependent on oil and fossil fuels. Did you know that the US imports almost 65% of its energy? That means our food supply is largely dependent on foreign oil. The United States in not food self-reliant.
This gets us into the third biggest factor of why your grocery bill is going to double. The US Government has been issuing more and more money which is having two detrimental effects: inflation and the dollar losing value.
As the dollar loses value it becomes more and more expensive to buy the oil we need to grow food. The dollars that buy that oil are losing value – and with the possibility of the US defaulting on its debt, well, everything is going to get more expensive.
As the Government prints more and more money it is the textbook example of ‘too much money chasing too few goods’. You are probably already seeing inflation, what you may not realize is that hyper-inflation is right around the corner.
Another complication is that as this crisis unfolds there will be all sorts of governmental interventions – most of these will have the net affect of increasing prices. Already, over 30 countries have put export controls on food products to keep food in their country. Within the US, the increasing regulations for ‘food safety’ have put some farmers out of business. Price fixing and rationing are certainly possible, and historically have been shown to be ineffective. Price fixing was tried as recently as the 1970’s here in the US, and you can expect it to come up again.
#3 Government spending and interventions to the food crisis will push up prices.
Unfortunately, this is a very long-term problem. I definitely recommend you start stocking up on food supplies, but the real solution is to learn how to grow your own. The weather patterns, the price of oil, and the various world Governments are not going to suddenly change track any time soon. And there are a host of other factors that will push up prices which I have not written about here. You simply cannot store enough food to get you and your family through this crisis. It is one of the reasons why I am so passionate about growing food in my backyard – and encouraging everyone else to grow food too.
You can take control of your grocery bills and get immunity from the crisis we are facing by simply using what you’ve got right in your own backyard. It is really fun and easy to do. And you’ll be eating much healthier than ever before.
I read the comments section on the video webpage regularly and would love to hear from you.
Marjory Wildcraft is an Expedition Leader and Bioneer Blogger with The [Grow] Network, which is an online community that recognizes the wisdom of “homegrown food on every table.” Marjory has been featured as an expert on sustainable living by National Geographic, she is a speaker at Mother Earth News fairs, and is a returning guest on Coast to Coast AM. She is an author of several books, but is best known for her “Grow Your Own Groceries” video series, which is used by more than 300,000 homesteaders, survivalists, universities, and missionary organizations around the world.
COMMENTS(0)
All in all a great post with much truth, but here’s a few key points….
“The number one factor pushing up prices is simply the weather. It doesn’t matter what you believe about the cause of climate change – and who really knows?”
While the first sentence here is VERY true, I have serious issue with the 2nd one. First of all, I think IT MATTERS A HELL OF LOT what we all believe!!! We ALL need to seek and believe the truth for starters.
“-and who really knows?” There is a LOT of both very well researched and “leaked / whistle blower” information available on the topics of both GMO crops and Geo-Engineering of our global environment, especially on the specific topic of “weather modification programs” and “solar radiation management programs”. Go Google those terms and start digging deep…. like it’s a well and YOU’RE very thirsty!!
SEEK THE TRUTH – EDUCATE YOURSELVES!! Unless you’d rather just not know, in which case there’s plenty of sand on this planet in which people can bury their heads.
If ENOUGH of the 7+ BILLION people on this planet are truly educated on this subject, a lot of rather scary global science experiments with us as the guinea pigs could be stopped a LOT sooner!!
Supposing for a moment that various weather modification programs do actually exist around the world despite much “official denial”, let’s ask the question; Just WHO really stands to benefit?
It’s no secret (anymore) that the US military has been highly interested in weather mod. since the 1940’s Can you imagine what a weapon THAT could be if well developed?? Destroy an entire nation with floods or droughts, easily blame it on “an act of God” then big corporate military contractors make BILLIONS (US tax dollars of course) to go in and rebuild the country. … along with the original military / political objective of making sure it has a more “cooperative” leadership once rebuilt. I think they call it “installing a new regime”.
WHAT ABOUT… other big corporations that might benefit??
“Remember that scorching heat this summer? Not only is it tough for you, but the corn and soybeans can’t handle it either.”
OH YES THEY CAN!! If the corn and soybeans are grown from Monsanto’s latest and greatest “drought resistant seed”. Hmmmm wouldn’t THAT be a nice little monopoly to have??
WHAT IF… big commodity traders knew in advance about massive crop losses or bumper crops do to weather?? Wouldn’t that be a little like knowing which horse is going to win months before the race??
I know it’s “illegal”(wink wink) but have you heard of “insider trading” by politicians?? No wonder there’s so much denial or “playing dumb” about all this!
“As the Government prints more and more money….”
The US Government has not “coined money” as our Constitution calls it, since 1913 when “The Federal Reserve Act” was slipped through congress when all but about 25 of them where home for Christmas break.
STILL unknown to many many Americans, The “Federal” Reserve, despite it’s name, like Federal Express, is NOT “federal” at all. It is a totally private banking cartel of international bankers who literally control our entire economy. Their fiat money and debt based currency system is easily one of the greatest financial scams in history.
THEY are the ones who actually “print” the money and then loan it to the federal government at interest.
The BIG BIG SECRET here is… Let’s say it’s 1913, “the Fed” is now established and open for business. US Gov. says we need 100 Billion dollars, the “Fed” prints 100 billion and loans it to us at interest, we now owe them the 100 billion plus interest of say only 1% which is 1 billion. Since they only printed and gave us 100 billion, can anyone explain to me where we get that other billion dollars?? It doesn’t exist, it was never printed.
THIS is why paying off “the national debt” or “balancing the budget” is an absolute mathematical impossibility and eventual economic collapse is inevitable. But not before a small group of VERY crafty and elite bankers and their mega corporation CEO buddies have bought up most of the “hard assets” of the world INCLUDING a LOT of fertile farm land and other valuable resources for pennies on the dollar, as more and more farmers are forced out of business by ever increasing regulations.
Which by the way are handed down by the very same US Gov. who owes those same bankers all that money, and are also lobbied VERY heavily by giant agri-biz to pass regs. only they are big enough to comply with or get away with ignoring.
Have you ever heard the biblical saying: “The borrower is servant to the lender”??? Weren’t slaves often called “servants”??
“Within the US, the increasing regulations for ‘food safety’ have put some farmers out of business.”
SOME farmers?? How about a LOT of farmers!! But again, let’s ask that all important question; just WHO really stands to benefit? Giant agri-biz corporations for one. Can you say TOTAL monopoly? Not to mention tyrannical megalomaniacs at the highest levels who seek greater and greater control over the populations of the world.
“Food Safety”??? Notice EVERY time government statutes, codes, rules, regulations, acts or ordinances are passed that it is ALWAYS in the name of making us safer?? Well……
Does ANYONE reading this deny that the Constitution is STILL the law of the land?? or at least that “they” still tell us it is??
OK then, I challenge ANYONE to find for me in that document ANYTHING about it being governments job to “make us safer”!! GO ON… go find that for me PLEASE!! I can’t find it anywhere.
So far as I can tell, the government (at ANY level) is ONLY established to protect our rights & liberties, NOT to “make us safer”.
HUGE difference ladies and gentlemen!!
There’s a VERY good and long long standing historical reason (regarding the history of governments) that Ben Franklin STERNLY WARNED US ALL… “Those who would trade essential liberties for safety do NOT deserve and soon will not have either”.
So yes, growing all your own food is ABSOLUTELY a damn good idea these days, but please PLEASE educate yourselves further and STRONGLY encourage as many others as you can to do the same!!
Study the definition of “fascism” or “corporate fascism”!!!
Study the history going back a few thousand years on tyrants, tyrannical governments, and their habitual patterns. Study the history of money and monetary systems, purposely created “economic bondage” and the same basic things that have led to the fall of many many mighty empires that ALL thought they were “to big to fail”.
The ONLY thing new going on here is technologies. Seriously folks, how many governments can you find in history who wanted to dominate the known world? Do you HONESTLY think such tyrannical megalomaniacs just suddenly stopped being born?? Or that OUR government or the United Nations is immune to their infiltration?? Positions of extreme power and authority is where these freaks gravitate to 100% of the time throughout the entire history of the world.
Hi Jeff,
Wow,. you’ve really hit a lot of issues with that post.
Where to start to reply?
First of all, I am glad you understand that homegrown food on every table is the answer. That is how to completely side step big agri-biz and the medical system.
I was once a very successful money manager/ professional investor. I had been very passionate about / interested in money; how it is created, how it works, what is it?, and specifically how could I be rich? I mean, that would make my life complete, right?
Then I saw the documentary which is presented by uh, what is his name? The same guy who wrote “The Creature From Jekyll Island”. The documentary is called “The Money Managers” I think. Watching that and reading the “Creature” gave me powerful understandings of money that will never be taught in schools. And I decided I no longer wanted to spend my life energy on the pursuit and study of money.
So yes, I understand the Federal Reserve. Most lucrative, nothing down deal, ever pulled off in the history of mankind.
Is weather modification a fantastic weapon? Yup. Has it been developed. I wouldn’t doubt it, but I don’t know for sure.
The question of climate change gets people so inflamed and ends up being a huge waste of time and energy. Time that could be spent on working on solutions.
After the anger and upset. I’ve got a backyard and a hose. That is something I can deal with. That is something I can do. I can also teach neighbors. You can too. The system we live in is so corrupt and distorted the best solution I see will come as a grass roots revolution of people who simply start taking their own health and sustenance into their own hands. People who start building real community.
I am not saying to give up putting pressure on the system to stop the corruption such as laws for animal id, or gmo labelling. But you’ll do far more good by simply creating a garden bed and taking that one step towards reality and freedom. You’ll feel a lot better too.
Great article and very insightful follow-up on the economic issues that should be prompting people to relearn how to fend for themselves and their families. Thanks to the OP and to Jeff for helping to open my eyes a little more.
Thanks Tracilee
http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/
Yes, the HAARP project.
In the future, could you post some description of the link you put up? Like hwat is there and why we should click on it?
Thankd
Hurrah! At last I got a web site from where I be capable of truly obtain helpful data regarding my study and knowledge.
The ‘Gorw Your Own Groceries’ organization values authenticity, simplicity, sustainability, and synergy. Oh along with soil, sun, and water.
But yes, we work hard to keep the quality of information very high.