May 04, 2008

Well, now we've seen everything. Welcome to Sh*tPANIC


But what should we have expected? When you give farmers taxpayer money to grow food to put in Hummers, and then create hyperinflation to mask an epic housing crash, all kinds of bad thing happen...

Shortages Threaten Farmers’ Key Tool: Fertilizer

Some kinds of fertilizer have nearly tripled in price in the last year, keeping farmers from buying all they need. That is one of many factors contributing to a rise in food prices that, according to the United Nations’ World Food Program, threatens to push tens of millions of poor people into malnutrition.

Protests over high food prices have erupted across the developing world, and the stability of governments from Senegal to the Philippines is threatened.

In the United States, farmers in Iowa eager to replenish nutrients in the soil have increased the age-old practice of spreading hog manure on fields. In India, the cost of subsidizing fertilizer for farmers has soared, leading to political dispute. And in Africa, plans to stave off hunger by increasing crop yields are suddenly in jeopardy.

The squeeze on the supply of fertilizer has been building for roughly five years. Rising demand for food and biofuels prompted farmers everywhere to plant more crops. As demand grew, the fertilizer mines and factories of the world proved unable to keep up.

Some dealers in the Midwest ran out of fertilizer last fall, and they continue to restrict sales this spring because of a limited supply.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

So what you are saying is that my sh!t has more value today than six months ago?
Hey ,SH!t is Limit UP!

I'm up 300%! WOW!
Lessee,300% of sheitt is .........Sh!t.AHhhh SSSh!!t.

Anonymous said...

It was interesting reading up until:
“according to the United Nations’ World Food Program,”

1)Given that the most corrupt and unethical, organization says we have a food problem.. I am now 100% certain that there is NO real food shortage.

2)No one organization is more responsible for keeping the poor, down and hungry then the UN.

Devestment said...

Ranches pay to have it removed. This is total BS except for the petro based fertilizers that are polluting are water.

Anonymous said...

Overpopulation

Anonymous said...

Why don't farmers use poop instead? Why are they even relying on having to buy fertilizer? For eons, fertilizer was poop and compost. And hey, you can find that & make that right on the farm, using "waste" and such...

Anonymous said...

high food prices as a result of diversion to biofuels is bullshit- come on Keith do ur f'in research. It's just a red herring so - the real culprit is again, high gas prices and devaluation of the dollar.

Anonymous said...

Good news! Obese Americans produce more sh*t than anyone else. Now how can we capitalize on this huge $hit-vantage and convert this to fuel ?

I can see the foundations for $hit based economy round the corner.... new products for producing, storing, transporting, treating and converting useless sh*t into energy and fertilizer.

Anonymous said...

Plenty o' Shit coming out of the halls of Congress.....


business as usual!

Anonymous said...

Isn't a lot of fertilzer actually made from petroleum?

Anonymous said...

Natural selection is a beautiful thing. Don't fight it. I'm cheering for nature. F*ck humans!

Anonymous said...

If food is too expensive and you just figured out that natural resources are limited, don't breed like flies. Do you hear me, Obama's base?

Anonymous said...

if oil is the residue of dinosaurs then why can't we use cow poop to power cars, ever been down interstate five in california where they store the millions of cows for mcdonalds, burger kings, and your dinner plate (there are miles of cows just standing there waiting). It stinks so bad that you can drive through at 100 mph with the windows up air conditioning going and you still gag, cough and have shortness of breath and it stinks 5 miles before you get there and 15 miles after you pass it. And dear god don't let it be a wind day. That alone ought to be able to keep a fleet of airplanes going for a year.
If I keep stealing from peter to pay paul then at some point peter is going to have a short account and comes around for his cash (bill collectors) or he will break all the bones in my hands if he doesn't get it. Seems to me that this is what this is all leading to. The oil companies are laughing all the way to the bank but at some point everything is going to crash because everything is intertwined, the government has given over control of this country to exxon and chevron and it is going to kill us. (notice how few trucks you see on the freeways these days), a grand a week on gas maybe more would keep me from driving. They bring us everything food, supplies, toys, booze, cigs and if they can't afford to drive do we go get our own beer from the distributors? Now I wish I worked closer to home even though I have had the same job for 30 years in the same town and have lived where I live since 1965. I would get a bike and screw them all.

Anonymous said...

"Natural selection is a beautiful thing. Don't fight it. I'm cheering for nature. F*ck humans!"

It's coming. This planet has reached it's limit.

Anonymous said...

"the fertilizer mines and factories of the world proved unable to keep up"

Fertilizer is made from oil not mines. We use oil in the machines to plant, harvest, deliver, process and package the produce.

Look up peak oil and learn that we are all doomed.

If you thought the threat of nuclear war ended with the fall of Russia, think again. What will happen when tensions excalate over the resource grab that is coming?

What will China do with all our debt dollars that they have happily accepted from us for their goods?

Buy all of the oil that we can no longer afford.

Anonymous said...

Phosphorus (see Nauru) and Potassium (see Saskatchewan) fertilizers are mined.

Nitrogen fertilizer is produced using a whole lot of natural gas (see Haber process)