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Earlier quoted context omitted.
How fungible are wheat and corn crops?
This is like asking how fungible are calories. People with the means to mill and cook with wheat flour can probably manage with corn too if the alternative is starvation.
Sounds like there's a big potential for upheavals similar to the Arab Spring. A fair number of countries subsidize food for their citizens, and if they can't get their hands on any, there's going to be issues. I wonder which countries are most at risk? I read somewhere that the Arab countries get a lot of Ukrainian wheat.
That’s probably mainly due to low shipping costs due to proximity (in the grand scheme of things). There is scope for substitution with supplies from elsewhere in the world, if those supplies can be freed up from their usual end use. Biodiesel, cattle feed, etc. Here in the UK restrictions on labelling sunflower oil now mean it’s acceptable to adulterate it with other oils. My family has switched to using rapeseed oi…
It is clear that Putin needs to go. By any means necessary.
…but be reallllll careful thinking through the consequences of “any means necessary”, because a lot of those means end in a huge escalation of the conflict which further reduces access to minerals and food. (And, like, human lives.)
This is Soylent's time to shine.
One of Soylent's primary ingredients is sunflower oil, for which the world's largest producer is (drumroll please) Ukraine. Guess who's #2, and under major international sanctioning? Between them, they're about 50% of worldwide production.
Tip from an old geezer: Plant Your Victory Garden Now! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden
Tip from an old geezer: Plant Your Victory Garden Now! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden
Your local zoning board might object. I live in PA, and one of the neighborhood vigilantes immediately ratted me out to the local government when I started growing corn, squash, and beans in my backyard while raising a couple of chickens for eggs.
Article photo is pretty badass.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Won't happen unless the fear of food shortage becomes an actual food shortage. Ethanol subsidies let farmers already invested in corn grow more corn than they might otherwise sell for food, and politicians get to say they're doing something for renewable energy. As with so many other things in politics, the good of society isn't the driving factor. Money and talking points are king.
Given the outsized impact the Iowa Caucuses have in presidential primaries, being pro-corn and ethanol is a necessity for any viable candidate.
Tip from an old geezer: Plant Your Victory Garden Now! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden
Your local zoning board might object. I live in PA, and one of the neighborhood vigilantes immediately ratted me out to the local government when I started growing corn, squash, and beans in my backyard while raising a couple of chickens for eggs.