(Article by Susan Duclos republished from AllNewsPipeline.com)
Lets take a moment to remind ourselves of those issues.
QUICK FLASHBACK
In 2019 there was the mid-west flooding, which reports at the time asserted the ramifications of which would last for years. That affected corn and soy crops. Ranchers also suffered the loss of their livestock, which indicated upcoming meat shortages and price spikes.
Then came the early freeze, which further affected the new corn crops that were planted late because of the flooding, as well as U.S. potato crops.
PANDEMIC SHORTAGES
Those earlier problems are something we rarely see spoken of anymore because the state lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 caused massive shortages of a number of products, first from panic shopping by MSM followers that had no idea what was coming until it was too late.
Cleaning supplies, sanitizers, masks, and toilet paper started seeing signs that limited the sale to (X) amount per person on store shelves.
Food because a serious issue as the closing of what state leaders deem "non-essential" businesses, which in turn shut down the large sized orders of meats and other foods as schools, diners, restaurants and other establishment that regularly ordered, no longer could.
Farmers were forced to destroy their own crops because they did not have any place to offload or sell their products, as ranchers euthanized millions of farm animals because they too had no one to process or buy them.
As stores stopped limiting certain purchases, we have seen the consequences of the previous problems in a variety of ways.
Lack of Choice: Many companies suspended the manufacturing of some of their products, leaving their brand limited in choice and/or selection. In other words some foods like pasta, would only offer a limited amount of the most popular cuts or shapes, while stopping production of others.
Dry pasta was one of the first grocery categories to see a huge jump in demand, which started as early as February, according to an article published by Slate Magazine in May. Carl Zuanelli, chairman of the National Pasta Association and CEO of Nuovo Pasta, told Slate that pasta producers had to increase their output by roughly 30% in order to keep grocery shelves stocked. Because of the huge increase in demand, they've had to make the type of Sophie's choice that befell most large food producers: temporarily retiring the production of less popular and more complicated products in order to pave the way for increased production of spaghetti and elbow macaroni.
Might be a good time to learn how to make your own pasta.
KitchenAid KPDR Pasta Drying Rack Attachment, 1, Silver
Or just stock up on pasta cuts and shapes of your choice.
Shrinkflation: Aside from the lack of choice, we are getting more and more reports of what is being referred to as "shrinkflation" where the prices of a product are the same or just a little higher, but the size of that product has decreased considerably.
An example of that was sent to ANP recently, along with a picture to show the change by comparing what used to cost the same as what they are selling now for the same cost.
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The message that came with the image shows income is not keeping up with inflation.
Susan,
Ok, here some real shrink-flation. Look at the two sizes of the cans!
So let’s say the soup costs $1.99 per can Old stock 1.99/18.8 ounces = .105 cents an ounce
New stock 1.99/16.03 ounces= .124 cents an ounce
(New price per ounce minus old price ounce )/old price per ounce= times 100 to get the inflation rate in percentage terms.
.124-.105= .019 .019/.105= .1809 .1809 times 100 to get the percentage that is an 18.09% prince increase while keeping the “price” we pay for the product the same but shrinking the can!
So my “old” can of Chunky Chili Mac was 18.09% cheaper than the new one I just got.
I promise you I am not making 18.09% more in income to keep up with this inflation so now I am poorer.
Stock up on your favorites now, before the packaging gets even smaller as the prices continue to spike.
The links above are specific Amazon search pages, since we all have our favorites, and some items we do not like, so this way folks pick their own links to their favorites.
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Price Hikes: Aside from using shrinkflation to raising prices in a stealthy manner, other products are seeing outright spikes. According to the consensus of reports these price hikes will continue for at least another year or two, and that is without any other complications arising, via weather, crop and livestock issues, or more lockdowns which would increase any type of recovery, if that is still even possible.
Food price inflation, on a 12-month unadjusted basis, is running at 2.4% and was up 0.4% in April, the largest increase since October 2020. Overall inflation is running at 4.2% the largest 12-month increase since a 4.9% increase for the period ending September 2008.
"Any animal that you eat is eating grains, and it's eating corn, soybeans, or soybean meal, and perhaps even some wheat," said Sal Gilbertie the CEO and president of Teucrium Funds, the company's ETFs track prices for corn, soybeans and wheat.
"We see the prices of these grains go as high as they've been literally since 2012, 2013," Gilbertie told Yahoo Finance Live.
Related: "Diners can expect menu substitutions, higher prices at restaurants as food costs rise " and "'Prices That We’ve Never Seen Before’: Rising Food Costs Hitting Restaurants Hard."
ReadyWise Emergency Food Supply, Freeze Dried Vegetables, 120 Servings
Augason Farms Vegetable Stew Blend 2 lbs 0.5 oz No. 10 Can
Mother Earth Products Dried Celery, Crosscut, 9 Ounce
Augason Farms Freeze Dried Peas 1 lb No. 10 Can
Mother Earth Products Freeze Dried Broccoli
Mother Earth Products Dried Potato Dices, Quart Jar
Mother Earth Products Freeze Dried Corn, Super Sweet, Quart Jar
Mother Earth Products Dried Sweet Potato Dices, 15 Oz
Mother Earth Products Freeze Dried Green Beans, quart Jar
Augason Farms Dehydrated Diced Red & Green Bell Peppers 1 lb 4 oz No. 10 Can
Augason Farms Dehydrated Diced Carrots 2 lbs 6 oz No. 10 Can
Augason Farms Dehydrated Spinach Flakes 8 oz No. 10 Can
Augason Farms Dehydrated Chopped Onions 1 lb 7 oz No. 10 Can
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WORSE DROUGHT IN 1,200 YEARS?
Adding to the already dire food circumstances is what is being billed as possibly the worse drought in 1,200 years. Top that off with a "plague of voracious grasshoppers" and we are looking at even more issues that will not only affect food, but water as well, and predicted blackouts.
This year’s outbreak will peak in roughly two months, when the insects reach 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.6 centimeters) in length and become so prevalent they’ll start to eat more plant matter than cattle can, Prather said.
The grasshoppers start to die down when there’s nothing left to eat, Prather said, “but at that point they’ve probably already … laid their eggs for next year.”
Added all together we are all looking at years of problems which in turn causes other issues to crop up, and so on and so on.
It is a viscous cycle and there is no end in sight.
Generators:
Heat and Cooking:
YILI Outdoor Camping Stove, Portable Tent Wood Stove with Pipe, Heating Burner Stove
England's Stove Works Survivor 12-CSS "Cub" Portable Camp/Cook Wood Stove 1.0 Cubic Feet
Portable Heaters: (If choosing electric, a generator may be handy...just sayin')
Mr. Heater MH9BX-Massachusetts/Canada approved portable Propane Heater
Mr. Heater Corporation F299730 Heater, One Size, White and Black
PDD Indoor-Safe Outdoor Butane Heater, Space Heater for Camping Tents, Portable Camping Stove (red)
Kero World Indoor Kerosene Heater, White
2-Units Portable Indoor Kerosene Heater, 23,800-BTU Convection Space Heaters
BOTTOM LINE
Between continuous events that have brought about challenges to the food supply chain, weather events such as flooding, early freezes and droughts, the pandemic lockdowns, and more, we are now seeing the start of the consequences from lack of supply, lack of choice and options, price spikes that have no end in sight, store shelves reorganized to look fuller and shrinkflation.
By the time the MSM decides to step back and finally report the big picture, millions will once again be rushing to the store to find empty shelves because everyone will be stampeding to "prepare," when they should already have learned from the last panic shopping shortages, yet they didn't.
Please contact us for more information.
