The global food system is collapsing

Food Crisis 2019: It’s 

Looking Bad, Bad, Bad at a 

Global Level

StrangeSounds,

3 October, 2019

The global food system is collapsing.

Be ready for food and water shortages. Be prepared for food price dramatic increase. Here some recent shocks on the global food system.

Global food crisis engulfs the world.

As shown in an article by CNBC, China’s hog herd may drop by 55% from fatal swine fever. Knowing that China is the #1 pork producer. That’s a pretty devastating news. To add fuel to the fire, the deadly African Swine Fever has currently been testified in 36 countries around the world, spreading all over Southeast Asia, through parts of Europe, and has been found in Africa too.

Unusually long-lasting and deadly monsoons in India are leading to widespread crop failures in the nation. India is one of the top exporters of onions globally, selling 2.2 billion kilograms overseas. After the prolonged monsoon rains, India has decided to ban its onion export. The extended monsoon has also damaged key kharif crops, including pulses, oilseeds and cotton, as well as soy beans in India. Since September 2019, food prices have soared by more than 200% in the country.

Australia will be hit by unusually high temperatures and dry weather in the next 3 months. And this is really bad for its already struggling agricultural sector. Australia’s wheat exports are in real bad shape and the future isn’t bright at all.

And it is not looking better for Indonesia, where wildfires, smoke and drought are inflicting an increasingly painful toll on its agriculture, hurting everything from oil palm plantations to rubber trees and rice fields. Indonesia is the world’s top producer of palm oil and second-largest supplier of rubber.

The orange greening disease which is on track to destroy Florida’s orange crop (#1 citrus producer in the U.S.) has now finally reached California, the nation’s #2 citrus producer.

I am not sure about updates from the U.S. Midwest crop which was significantly delayed in planting because of flooding this spring, but the rare October heatwave in the Southeast and Midwest threatens crops, with some total losses reported in South Carolina. Meanwhile, the price of soy bean soars in the U.S.

If you missed this one, there is a fatal banana fungus that which will inevitably wipe out Cavendish banana crop likely within 10 years.

Of course, none of these issues will spell food shortage on their own. But when taken together, they are a really bad omen for 2020, and it could/will worsen in the next decades if nothing is done.

Maybe, governments aren’t focussing on the important issues right now. The real threat isn’t sea level rise in 2100, but the collapse of our agriculture system, of our food system and how big companies fool producers (low prices) and consumers (high prices).