5 Reasons there WILL be a Food Shortage 2022

Throw away your tin foil hats ladies and gentlemen! Food shortages are moving from conspiracy theory to a fact. 

Everyone is screaming it from the top of their lungs. 

From the Wall Street Journal to Louder with Crowder, everyone is actually in agreement on this subject.

With good reason. 

It's gonna happen!! 

How bad is it going to be? 

I have my suspicions, but the truth is, no one really knows. 

The goal of this article isn't to speculate, but to educate. 

That said, I want to give the top 5 reasons “Why” the food shortage is going to happen. 

“The Why”

1.) Covid Supply Line Problems:

Remember how that ship got stuck in the Suez canal and everyone freaked out? Then shipping was backed up for weeks? 

That’s kind of like what is happening now, but with a TON of Suez canals being blocked. As an official infomaniac, I have actually put a lot of time into research looking for that “one problem.” The truth is there are many issues going on all at the same time. 

Each one, can and does, take up their own articles and reports. Simply put: it’s one big mess. That mess will test our global supply chains and probably push more traffic back to local market relationships. 

Like the one between you and me! 

2.) Oil & Gas Supply Disruption:

I’m not about to go all Biden on you and simply blame Russia, though that is a problem for Europe specifically. 

Like it or not we are fully dependent on oil. It’s in all plastics. It is in all our transport of goods. It’s integral to commercial AND regenerative farming. Both to farming and to ranching. 

Therefore, ANY disruption in the oil supply will see a sharp increase in cost for anyone associated with agriculture. That means you, the end consumer, too. 

We have enough oil from various onshore oilfields in the lower 48 states to supply our own demands for the next 400 years.

What is stopping us?

It's a mix between big oil taking in record profits, and the current administration’s bottle neck on domestic drilling. 

 

3.) Fertilizer Shortages & The Russian Conflict:

Between Ukraine and Russia they make up 40% of the total commercial fertilizer globally. This means all farmers growing commercially will be affected. This will in turn affect beef producers that feed out any grain. 

My extended family runs an auto parts store in our home town with two main demographics. Commercial Farmers and Oilfield Companies. There are many large, commercial farmers who are simply not planting between the oil and fertilizer crisis.

 It’s cheaper to do nothing than it is to be busy and lose money. 

If they are doing it we KNOW other farmers are as well. 

Another fun fact is both Ukraine and Russia were  top 5 wheat producers in the world before the war. Ukraine specifically supplied a lot of African countries like Ethiopia & Somalia with up to 90% of the grain they used. 

 

4.) Intense Weather Conditions: 

Many parts of our country are in the middle of drastic weather conditions. Some crops in the midwest have been flooded out. We lost over 1,000,000 of acres of corn last year.

 

In places like South Texas we are going through the worst drought we have seen in a decade. There has been less than 6 inches of rainfall since November 2021. 

 

I’m not about to touch on the macro topic of climate change. Everyone and their dog has an opinion. I want to focus on events we can verify in the here and now.

 

Right now, we KNOW there are strange weather patterns happening and have been for the last few years. 

 

5.) The U.S. Economy & Recession: 

I’m no expert here. I don’t have an economics degree, but I don’t need one to understand the prices of everything sky rocketing. 

 

Inflation has been going on for a year. In fact, it got kicked off with printing 40% of our money supply with all of the stimulus money being written out to everyone with a pulse. 

 

Now the Fed is trying its best to stop the inevitable inflation through raising interest rates. 

 

The truth is that’s a long term strategy. We won’t feel it for quite awhile. In the meantime we are staring down soaring prices everywhere.

 

This includes your food. Your gas. Your electricity. Home pricing. Everything! This includes all of your farmer’s costs as well! 

 Am I missing anything?

 There are other factors, but that is what I see on the horizon as the most influential.

In the next article we will go over the “What” in what to do about it. 

That’s where we will go over how our family is preparing and how we feel like you can ensure you are not a victim as well! 

Until Next Time,