ED Noor: In the early 1960's I remember standing in the foyer of our home taking in an editorial cartoon that I have never forgotten to this day. This is when I was also studying and writing about dystopian novels in Grade 12, specifically Brave New World and 1984, so I was already beginning to think as I do even today a lifetime later.
But I never forgot that cartoon. It was black and white and simplistic, thousands of starving skeletons. Not scary or ominous looking, just sad and looming. And here we are today. Sometimes I wonder if that is partly why I have a weight problem! 'Get it while you can.' (Lousy excuse for bad habits I know, I know.)
Anyhow, this piece by Mr. Snyder is quite serious. If you are concerned, I also recommend The Ice Age Farmer. His link is in the blog roll to your right and he is always apologetically honest. Harsh listening.
The
information that I am about to share with you is extremely alarming, but I have
always endeavoured to never sugarcoat things for my readers. Right now,
there are shortages of certain items in grocery stores across the United
States, and food supplies have gotten very tight all over the globe.
I
have repeatedly warned that this is just the beginning, but I didn’t realize
how dire things have already gotten until I received an email from a farming
insider that I have corresponded with over the years. I asked him if I
could publicly share some of the information that he was sharing with me, and
he said that would be okay as long as I kept his name out of it.
According to
this farming insider, dramatically increased costs for fertilizer will make it impossible
for many farmers to profitably plant corn this year. The following is an
excerpt from an email that he recently sent me…
“Things
for 2022 are interesting (and scary). Input costs for things like fertilizer,
liquid nitrogen and seeds are like triple and quadruple the old prices. It will
not be profitable to plant this year. Let me repeat, the economics will NOT
work. Our plan, is to drop about 700 acres of corn off and convert to soybeans
(they use less fertilizer, and we also have chicken manure from that
operation). Guess what? We are not the only ones with those plans. Already there
is a shortage of soybean seeds, so we will see how that will work out. The way
I see it, there will be a major grain shortage later in the year, especially
with corn. I mean, we are small with that. What about these people in the Midwest who have like 10,000 acres of corn? This will not be good.”
Once I
received that message, I wrote him back with some questions that I had.
In response,
he expanded on his comments in a subsequent email…
As for the farming, I see it getting
bad. Things like fertilizer and liquid nitrogen have tripled and
quadrupled in price. Yes commodity prices are up, but that certainly
wont cover the new increased input costs. We are in NC, so while
certainly not like the Midwest, we still grow grain. The Midwest of
course will have these same higher input costs as well.
Corn for example, typically takes about
600 pounds of fertilizer per acre, plus 50 gallons of liquid nitrogen.
Times that by many acres and that's a lot of money. Soybeans take much
less. The plan for us, and most others around here, is to drastically cut
corn acres and switch to soybeans. Problem is, there is apparently a
soybean seed shortage because others have this plan as well. We were
lucky enough to pre buy enough to do it. However, most people, especially
younger farmers, or farmers where that is all they do, probably don’t have the
money to front like that.
The way I see it, a corn shortage will come. I guess there could
possibly be a glut of soybeans, but remember that could depend on the seed
being available. I guess there are other alternatives, maybe milo, oats,
or barley. Of course the corn market is much larger. Think animal
feed and ethanol. I mean for animals, soybeans are used too, but its a
mix. What happens to the animal producers who depend on reasonably priced
corn? I just don’t see how it can end well. I mean, even if we end
up with plenty of soybeans, even a glut, then you have a busted market for
that. I don’t know. There just isn't much history to base any of
this on. I just see it hurting both grain farmers, and animal farmers,
and also translating to more shortages and price increases for consumers who
buy the end products.
I was
stunned when I first read that.
Corn is one
of the foundational pillars of our food supply.
ED Noor: The up side of this would be the shortage of GMO corn syrup currently so disastrously laced into almost every food and drink in North America.
If you go to
the grocery store and start reading through the ingredients of various
products, you will quickly discover that corn is in just about everything in
one form or another.
So what is
our country going to look like if a severe corn shortage actually happens?
I don’t even
want to think about that.
Of course
fertilizer prices are not just going through the roof here in the United
States.
Enlarge to read.
In South
America, high fertilizer prices are going to dramatically affect coffee
production…
Christina
Ribeiro do Valle, who comes from a long line of coffee growers in Brazil, is
this year paying three times what she paid last year for the fertilizer she
needs. Coupled with a recent drought that hit her crop hard, it means Ms. do
Valle, 75, will produce a fraction of her Ribeiro do Valle brand of coffee,
some of which is exported.
There
is also a shortage of fertilizer. “This year, you pay, then put your name on a
waiting list, and the supplier delivers it when he has it,” she said.
If you love
to drink coffee in the morning, you will soon be paying much more for that
privilege.
Fertilizer
demand in sub-Saharan Africa could fall 30% in 2022, according to the
International Fertilizer Development Center, a global nonprofit organization.
That would translate to 30 million metric tons less food produced, which the
center says is equivalent to the food needs of 100 million people.
“Lower
fertilizer use will inevitably weigh on food production and quality, affecting
food availability, rural incomes and the livelihoods of the poor,” said Josef
Schmidhuber, deputy director of the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization’s trade and markets division.
Where in the
world are we going to get enough food to replace “the food needs of 100 million
people”?
“If
you’re hitting the grocery store to prepare for winter weather, please just buy
what you need and leave some for others! You may have noticed empty shelves in
some stores due to national supply chain issues, but there is no need to buy
more than you normally would.”
What would
have been unimaginable just a few years ago is now making headlines on a daily
basis.
Of course it
isn’t just our food supply that is under threat. As Victor Davis Hansen has aptly
noted, our country is now in the process of undergoing a
“systems collapse”…
In
modern times, as in ancient Rome, several nations have suffered a “systems
collapse.” The term describes the sudden inability of once-prosperous
populations to continue with what had ensured the good life as they knew it.
Abruptly,
the population cannot buy, or even find, once plentiful necessities. They feel
their streets are unsafe. Laws go unenforced or are enforced inequitably. Every
day things stop working. The government turns from reliable to capricious if
not hostile.
A lot of
people
are going to be caught off guard
by the pace of change.
Things are
shifting so rapidly that it really is hard to keep up with it all unless you
are paying very close attention.
Now that you
have been exposed to the information in this article, please don’t go back to
sleep.
This is not
a drill.
We really
are heading into a nightmare scenario, and I strongly urge you to act
accordingly.
Unbeknown to most, Bill Gates (ED Noor: From now on to be known as "a philanthrocapitalist) has been
buying up farmland across the U.S. through various subsidiary companies. At
present, he owns about 242,000 acres of farmland, plus another 27,000 acres of
nonagricultural land.
While many media outlets claim this
makes Gates the biggest farmland owner in the U.S.,1that may be an
exaggeration, seeing how there are at least 50 other families that own far
greater landmasses, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.2 According to a USA Today investigation3
published in November 2019, Bezos owns a respectable 420,000 acres, most of it
located in Texas.
Is Bill
Gates Too Powerful?
Either way, Gates certainly owns a
sizeable chunk of U.S. farmland, which places him, yet again, in a position to
have a significant impact on the direction of American agriculture and food
production. In the video above, Russell Brand reviews some of these
controversies.
~ Were Gates a proponent of organics,
his land ownership would probably be seen as a good thing, but he’s anything
but. On the contrary, not only is he a longtime proponent of GMOs and toxic agricultural chemicals, he’s also
gone on record urging Western nations to switch to 100% synthetic lab-grown imitation beef, and has railed
against legislative attempts to make sure fake meats are properly labeled,
since that will slow down public acceptance.4
He’s also in favor of transitioning to
other fake and unnatural food sources, such as a microbe found in a Yellowstone
geyser. Rich in protein, this microbe can “be turned into a variety of foods
with a small carbon footprint,” Gates says.5
Not surprisingly, Gates is financially invested in many of his proposed
“solutions” to the world’s problems, be it hunger, disease, viral pandemics or
climate change.
As noted in a long and detailed article
by The Defender about several of Gates’ more
questionable endeavors6:
“Thomas Jefferson believed
that the success of America’s exemplary struggle to supplant the yoke of
European feudalism with a noble experiment in self-governance depended on the
perpetual control of the nation’s land base by tens of thousands of independent
farmers, each with a stake in our democracy.
So at best, Gates’ campaign
to scarf up America’s agricultural real estate is a signal that feudalism may
again be in vogue. At worst, his buying spree is a harbinger of something far
more alarming ~ the control of global food supplies by a power-hungry
megalomaniac with a Napoleon complex.”
National vs Global farming
Master
and Commander of Failed Agriculture
The Defender goes on to detail Gates’
“long-term strategy of mastery over agriculture and food production globally,”
starting with his support of GMOs in 1994. Ever since that time, Gates’
“philanthropic” approaches to hunger and food production have been built around
his technology, chemical, pharmaceutical and oil industry partners, thereby
ensuring that for every failed rescue venture, he gets richer nonetheless.
“As with Gates’ African
vaccine enterprise, there was neither internal evaluation nor public
accountability,” The Defender writes.7 “The 2020 study8
‘False Promises: The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)’ is the
report card on the Gates’ cartel’s 14-year effort.
The investigation concludes
that the number of Africans suffering extreme hunger has increased by 30
percent in the 18 countries that Gates targeted. Rural poverty has metastasized
dramatically …
Under Gates’ plantation
system, Africa’s rural populations have become slaves on their own land to a
tyrannical serfdom of high-tech inputs, mechanization, rigid schedules,
burdensome conditionalities, credits and subsidies … The only entities
benefiting from Gates’ program are his international corporate partners.”
Gates
Is a Corporate Globalist, Not a Philanthropist
The technique of enslaving
local farmers, stealing their ancient wisdom, forcing them to purchase “terminator
seeds”, was part of ‘reconstruction” or Iraq. To rebuild the nation, the
farmers who developed these grains for millennia were forced to accept change
or be replaced by a farmer would. Monsanto was a major part of that activity.
AGRA was launched in 2006 with funding
from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.
However, while touting a “green revolution” approach to ease hunger in Africa,
it’s hard to imagine a less sustainable or destructive solution. As reported in
“False Promises”:9
“[AGRA] promised to double
the agricultural yields and incomes of 30 million small-scale food producer
households by 2020, thus halving both hunger and poverty in the focus
countries. To achieve these goals, AGRA received over one billion U.S. dollars ~
mainly from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but also from governments
like the U.S., U.K. and Germany.
The study issues AGRA a
decidedly negative report card: yield increases for key staple crops in the
years before AGRA were just as low as during AGRA. Instead of halving hunger,
the situation in the 13 focus countries has worsened since AGRA was launched …
AGRA in fact harms
small-scale food producers, for example by subjecting them to high levels of
debt. In Zambia and Tanzania, small-scale food producers were unable to repay
the loans for fertilizer and hybrid seeds after the first harvest.
AGRA projects also restrict
the freedom of choice for small-scale food producers to decide for themselves
what they want to grow. This has dramatic effects on crop diversity. AGRA’s
focus is on the one-sided cultivation of maize. Traditional climate-resistant
and nutrient-rich crops have thus declined …
Moreover, AGRA lobbies
governments on behalf of agricultural corporations to pass legislation that
will benefit fertilizer producers and seed companies instead of strengthening
small-scale food production and alternative structures.”
Rescue
Technologies That Aren’t
It’s these kinds of self-serving
endeavors that have earned Gates the unofficial title of the most dangerous
philanthropist in the world. As noted by AGRA Watch,10Vandana Shiva, Ph.D., and others, Gates’
philanthropy creates several new problems for each one he promises to solve,
and can best be described as “philanthrocapitalism.”
“… often expect financial
returns or secondary benefits over the long term from their investments in
social programs. Philanthropy becomes another part of the engine of profit and
corporate control. The Gates Foundation’s strategy for ‘development’ actually
promotes neoliberal economic policies and corporate globalization.”
In the featured video, Brand also
quotes Shiva, co-founder of Regeneration International, who had the following
to say about Gates’ efforts to improve farming in India:
“When Bill Gates forced his
‘rescue’ technologies on Indian farmers, the only one to benefit was Gates and
his multinational partners. He gave money to the government and a company
called Digital Green, and made extravagant promises to digitally transform Indian
agriculture.
Then, with the cooperation
of his purchased government officials, Gates put cameras and electronic sensors
in the homes and fields of Indian farmers. He used their cell phones, which he
gave them for free, and his fiber optic and 5G installations, which he
persuaded the Indian Telecom Company to finance ~ to catalogue, study and steal
farmers’ crop data, indigenous practices and agricultural knowledge for free.
Then he sold it back to them
as new data. Instead of digitally transforming farms as he promised, he
transformed Indian farmers into digital information. He privatized their seeds
and harvested the work of the public system.
He ripped out their
knowledge assets and heirloom genetics, and installed GMO seeds and other
ridiculous practices. His clear agenda was to drive small farmers from the land
and eventually mechanize and privatize food production.”
Sustainability
and Globalism Are at Odds
Again and again, Gates’ globalist
approach to farming has had devastating consequences for food and environmental
sustainability in general and local food security in particular. India and
Africa are just two of the most obvious examples. It just doesn’t work. It is
profitable for Gates and his corporate allies, though, and furthers the technocratic plan to control the world by
owning all the world’s resources.
The Gates-funded World Economic Forum,
founded by technocrat figurehead Klaus Schwab, is just one of the global
nongovernmental agencies that help promote Gates’ destructive agricultural and
fake food agenda. As reported by The Defender, the Great Reset was officially
unveiled during a World Economic Forum summit in May 2020:12
“It is a vision for
transferring the world into a totalitarian and authoritarian surveillance state
manipulated by technocrats to manage traumatized populations, to shift wealth
upward, and serve the interests of elite billionaire oligarchs.”
Every conceivable aspect of life and
society is scheduled to be “reset” according to their plan, including global
food policies. Leading that charge is an organization called the EAT Forum,
which describes itself as the “Davos for food.” EAT Forum is co-founded by the Wellcome
Trust, an organization funded by and strategically linked to GlaxoSmithKline, a
vaccine maker in which Gates himself is financially invested.
The EAT Forum’s largest initiative is
called FReSH, which aims to transform the food system as a whole. Project
partners in this venture include Bayer, Cargill, Syngenta, Unilever and Google.
According to The Defender, “The EAT Forum works with these companies to ‘add
value to business and industry’ and ‘set the political agenda.
“If sustainability and food
security is the goal ~ not to mention individual freedom and liberty ~ then we
must dismantle the globalist machine and return to historically proven methods
that are sustainable and productive.“
EAT also collaborates with nearly 40
city governments in Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America and
Australia, and helps the Gates-funded United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
create updated dietary guidelines.
“According to Frederic
Leroy, a food science and biotechnology professor at University of Brussels,
EAT network is working closely with some of the biggest imitation meat
companies, including Impossible Foods and other biotech companies, to replace
wholesome nutritious foods with Gates’ genetically modified lab concoctions,” The
Defender writes.13
Dismantle
the Globalist Machine That Undermines Success
If sustainability and food security is
the goal ~ not to mention individual freedom and liberty ~ then we must
dismantle the globalist machine and return to historically proven methods that
are sustainable and productive. As noted by The Defender:14
“African agricultural
practices have evolved from the land over 10,000 years in forms that promote
crop diversity, decentralization, sustainability, private property,
self-organization and local control of seeds. The personal freedom inherent in
these localized systems leaves farm families making their own decisions: the
masters on their lands, the sovereigns of their destinies.
Continuous innovation by
millions of small farmers maximized sustainable yields and biodiversity. In his
ruthless reinvention of colonialism, Gates spent $4.9 billion dollars to
dismantle this ancient system and replace it with high-tech corporatized and
industrialized agriculture, chemically dependent monocultures, extreme centralization
and top-down control.
He forced small African
farms to transition to imported commercial seeds, petroleum fertilizers and
pesticides. Gates built the supply chain infrastructure for chemicals and seeds
and pressured African governments to spend huge sums on subsidies and to use
draconian penalties and authoritarian control to force farmers to buy his
expensive inputs and comply with his diktats.”
The end result should have been
foreseeable, yet Gates forged ahead nonetheless. By replacing traditional
nutritious crops with industrial cash crops ~ staples in processed food manufacturing, such as corn
and soy ~ global commodity traders and junk food manufacturers profited while
locals had little to eat.
On top of that, the heavy focus on
chemicals destroyed the soils, resulting in a decline in both nutrition and
productivity. All the while, organizations that are actually succeeding in
furthering agricultural strategies with proven sustainability have not received
a single dime from Gates.
At the same time that Gates is
promoting the destruction of our natural climate systems with his foolhardy
agricultural policies, he has invested in a variety of climate change
technologies aimed at reducing the amount of sunlight that reaches the earth,15,16 the side effects of which have the
potential to wreak far more damage on global agriculture than anything we’ve
seen so far.
Regenerative
Food and Farming Is the Answer
As noted by Shiva,
“Regenerative agriculture
provides answers to the soil crisis, the food crisis, the climate crisis and
the crisis of democracy.”17
So, just what is regenerative farming?
In the words of Ronnie Cummins, founder and
director of the Organic Consumers Association:
“Regenerative agriculture
and animal husbandry is the next and higher stage of organic food and farming,
not only free from toxic pesticides, GMOs, chemical fertilizers, and factory
farm production, and therefore good for human health; but also regenerative in
terms of the health of the soil, the environment, the animals, the climate, and
rural livelihoods as well.”
A leading organization for this
movement is Regeneration International,18
which currently has 400 affiliates in more than 60 countries. They’re working
to identify “best practices” around the globe to facilitate the scale-up of regenerative farming everywhere.
Ultimately, the goal is to have
regenerative agriculture be the norm rather than a niche alternative to the
chemical-based degenerative food, farming and land use system that’s currently
dominating.
You can contribute to and speed this
process by being selective about where you buy your food and the kinds of foods
you buy, and/or by starting your own regenerative garden. For gardening tips
and general guidance, see “Regenerative Gardening and Living, an Online Program.”
Regeneration International has a handy regenerative farm map that can help you
find local producers of various foodstuffs around the globe. If you live in the
U.S., the following organizations can also help you find local sources of
farm-fresh foods.
~ Demeter USA
~ Demeter-USA.org provides a directory of certified Biodynamic farms and
brands.
~ Weston A.
Price Foundation ~ Weston A. Price has local chapters in most
states, and many of them are connected with buying clubs in which you can
easily purchase organic foods, including grass fed raw dairy products like milk
and butter.
~ The Cornucopia
Institute ~ The Cornucopia Institute maintains web-based
tools rating all certified organic brands of eggs, dairy products and other
commodities, based on their ethical sourcing and authentic farming practices
separating CAFO “organic” production from authentic organic practices.
~ American Grassfed Association (AGA) ~ The
goal of the American Grassfed Association is to promote the grass fed industry
through government relations, research, concept marketing and public education.
Their website also allows you to search
for AGA approved producers certified according to strict standards that include
being raised on a diet of 100% forage; raised on pasture and never confined to
a feedlot; never treated with antibiotics or hormones; and born and raised on
American family farms.
~ Grassfed Exchange
~ The Grassfed Exchange has a listing of producers selling organic and grass
fed meats across the U.S.
Biotech
Companies Gain Power by Taking Over the Government
There is no doubt in
my mind that GMOs and the toxic chemicals used along with them pose a serious
threat to the environment and our health, yet government agencies turn a blind
eye and refuse to act ~ and the reason is very clear:
They are
furthering the interests of the biotech giants.
It is well known that there is a
revolving door between government agencies and biotech companies like
Monsanto-now-Bayer. Consider the hypocrisy of the FDA. On paper, the U.S. may
have the strictest food safety laws in the world governing new food additives,
but this agency has repeatedly allowed GMOs and their accompanying pesticides
and herbicides like Roundup to evade these laws.
In fact, the only legal basis for
allowing GE foods to be marketed in the U.S. is the FDA’s claim that these
foods are inherently safe, a claim which is patently ridiculous. Documents
released as a result of a lawsuit against the FDA reveal that the agency’s own
scientists warned their superiors about the detrimental risks of GE foods. But
their warnings fell on deaf ears.
The influence of the biotech giants is
not limited to the U.S. In a June 2017 article, GMWatch revealed
that 26 of the 34 members of the National Advisory Committee on Agricultural
Biotechnology of Argentina (CONABIA) are either employed by chemical technology
companies or have major conflicts of interest.
You may be aware that Argentina is one
of the countries where single-crop fields of GE cotton, corn and soy
dominate the countryside. Argentina is also a country facing severe
environmental destruction. Argentines are plagued with health issues,
including degenerative diseases and physical deformities. It would appear that
the rapid expansion of GE crops and the subsequent decline in national health
indicators are intrinsically linked.
Don’t
Be Duped by Industry Shills!
Biotech companies’ outrageous attempts
to push for their corporate interests extend far beyond the halls of
government. In a further effort to hoodwink the public, Monsanto/Bayer and
their cohorts have been caught zealously spoon-feeding scientists, academics
and journalists with questionable studies that depict them in a positive light.
By hiring “third-party experts,”
biotech companies are able to take information of dubious validity and present
it as independent and authoritative. It’s a shameful practice that is far more
common than anyone would like to think. One notorious example of this is Henry
Miller, who was thoroughly outed as a Monsanto shill during the 2012
Proposition 37 GMO labeling campaign in California.
Miller, falsely posing as a Stanford
professor, promoted GE foods during this campaign. In 2015, he published a
paper in Forbes Magazine attacking the findings of the International Agency for
Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization, after it
classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen. After it was revealed
that Miller’s work was in fact ghostwritten by Monsanto, Forbes not only fired him,
but also removed all of his work from its site.
Industry front groups also abound. The
Genetic Literacy Project and the American Council on Science and Health were
both Monsanto-funded before Bayer bought Monsanto. Whether that funding
continues under Bayer is left to be seen, but other “trusted” sources were also
caught taking Monsanto money.
For example, WebMD, a website that is often presented
as a trustworthy source of “independent and objective” health information, was
exposed acting as a lackey for Monsanto by using its influence to promote
corporate-backed health strategies and products, displaying advertisements and
advertorials on Big Biotechs’ behalf, furthering the biotech industry’s agenda ~
all for the sake of profit.
But even with underhanded tactics to
peddle their toxic products, biotechs are now unable to hide the truth: Genetic
engineering will in no way, shape or form make the world a better place. It
will not solve world hunger. It will not increase farmers’ livelihoods. And it
most certainly will not do any good for your health ~ and may in fact prove to
be detrimental.
There’s
No Better Time to Act Than NOW ~ Here’s What to Do
So now the question is: Will you
continue supporting the corrupt, toxic and unsustainable food system that Big
Biotech, Monsanto/Bayer and their industry shills and profit-hungry lackeys
have painstakingly crafted?
It is largely up to all of us, as consumers, to
loosen and break their tight hold on our food supply. The good news is that the
tide has turned.
As consumers worldwide become
increasingly aware of the problems linked to GE crops and the toxic chemicals,
herbicides and pesticides used on them, more and more people are proactively
refusing to eat these foods. There’s also strong growth in the global organic and grass
fed sectors. This just proves one thing: We can make a
difference if we steadily work toward the same goal.
One of the best things you can do is to
buy your foods from a local farmer who runs a small business and uses diverse
methods that promote regenerative agriculture.
ED Noor: I am blessed to
have the above grocery across the street allowing me to eat only locally
grown produce, dairy, meats, fish, etc. It costs a little more but is so worth
it. My heart aches for those who are forced into Walmart for their needs! The Barn became known for its sustainably raised and cured meats, especially its bacon. (Dear lord but I have to show you the bacon! Local grown outdoors and cared for all of its life. Slaughtered and prepared on site. It is never humane but that is as good as it gets.)
You can also join a community supported
agriculture (CSA) program, where you can buy a “share” of the vegetables
produced by the farm, so you get a regular supply of fresh food. I believe that
joining a CSA is a powerful investment not only in your own health, but in that
of your local community and economy as well.
In addition, you should also adopt
preventive strategies that can help reduce the toxic chemical pollutionthat assaults your body. I recommend visiting these trustworthy sites
for non-GMO food resources in your country:
Monsanto, Bayer and their allies want
you to think that they control everything, but they do not. It’s you, the
masses, who hold the power in your hands. Let’s all work together to topple the
biotech industry’s house of cards.
Remember ~
it all starts with shopping smart
and making the best food purchases for you and your family.