Author ScotShot Scott is an NRA and USCCA certified Instructor and Training Counselor in a range of firearms, and home and personal defense disciplines. In an Alternate Universe, he is a husband, father, grandfather, scientist, musician, educator and grumpy old professor. Just your average reactionary, short, fat, old, bald guy!

Over the last wee while, we’ve been discussing the coming price increases and possible shortages in food that may be experienced here in the USA over the rest of this year. It’s important to realize that, while the USA does produce an enormous amount of food here, there are many things that happen in the rest of the world that impact us either directly or indirectly.

For example, Russia produces a huge amount of the Sunflower oil and fertilizers used all over the world. This will impact us here directly (as costs go up and availability goes down), and indirectly (as other countries compete for the same resource). Of course, poorer countries will be unable to compete and this may cause increased migration into the US and Europe, not to mention famine and possible continental destabilization in Africa.

It is really important for each of us to think about how we are going to deal with this in our own ways. Do we stock up? Do we start a garden? Do we form a local membership-based food-commune/food-bank? What ideas do we have?

Here are some interesting points from a variety of countries, summarized from this post.

• The American and French governments are warning that “Serious” food shortages are on the way. Global food shortages, especially of wheat, are predicted to be a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• Grocery store prices in Germany are thought to be rising by as much as fifty percent.
• Food rationing has begun in Spain and Greece. This is affecting everyday items such as flour, and sunflower oil.
• Fertilizer prices have tripled since this time last year. This will hit poorer countries, particularly African countries, hardest. This isn’t just because Russia is one of the largest global suppliers of various fertilizers. Fertilizer production requires a lot of energy, so it is directly impacted by the price of oil.
• Access to wheat is going to become a major issue. Between them, Russia and Ukraine have been the main source of this staple for many countries – Turkey and Egypt for example, as well as smaller countries such as Eritrea, Armenia and Mongolia. The Russians are threatening to export only to “friendly countries” going forward. That should be fun. Other major producers such as the USA and China are predicting poor upcoming harvests.
• Here in the USA, avian flu continues to decimate meat and egg-laying chickens. Overall, this is what the total national death toll from this outbreak of bird flu stands at: “22 million egg-laying chickens, 1.8 million broiler chickens, 1.9 million pullet and other commercial chickens, and 1.9 million turkeys”.

So, as we said last week, we can’t put off thinking about how we are going to deal with this, Tigers. What are your ideas?