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Food security and the coming storm

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Re: Food security and the coming storm

#251

Post by dreinhardt »

tomp wrote: post #124
guerrilla wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the last wave, only one country (Hungary) handled the problem sensible (building a wall, encouraging locals having more kids). You left out the part about turning to fascism. Anyway, none of what you mentioned helped immigrants nor resolved the reason for their immigration, so it seems more like the least sensible being that it was a complete failure. > The rest of the governments mostly pretended the problem do…

> You left out the part about turning to fascism "Everyone I disagree with is a Nazi." [1] In the real world, Orban was just reelected with overwhelming majority (increasing his vote share). He didn't contribute to the causes of said migration and didn't set out to solve the problem either, he just made sure his country and the people that elected him were minimally impacted. > We housed, clothed, fed and educated mi…

With virtually all Hungarian mass media owned by Orban and his cronies he still had to resort to straight up burning opposition votes to win.

The only interests this wannabe dictator will secure are his own.

Go move to Hungary if you find autocracy so appealing.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#252

Post by IncRnd »

Nasrudith wrote: post #224
IncRnd wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, babies have been eating for an extremely long time, far longer than boxes and bottles have been around and filled with the "only way to feed the babies".

Babies have also been dying for a very long time too. I would be wary of citing it. Some people also have damned good reasons not to breastfeed like medication or diseases that would spread via milk.

When a mother doesn't want to or cannot safely breastfeed there is still actual food that a baby can eat. This isn't nearly as daunting or complicated as it may appear at first glance. People really have been doing this for a long time - safely without their babies dying.

I've seen people here say they have learned how to feed their babies on tiktok. For a place better than tiktok, there is a ton of information on WebMD showing how to quickly and safely make baby food.

google.com/search?q=webmd+baby+food+recipes

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#253

Post by convolvatron »

bosie wrote: post #216
convolvatron wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

very much so. i used to cook a couple times a week. big expensive protein. fancy sauces, a bottle of wine, and a nice salad. strangely, my gall bladder needed to be removed. while I was waiting for the surgery - it was brown rice and vegetables and maybe a little chicken. now its just brown rice (takes 30 minutes on an induction plate, edible for 48 hours), kimchi, and a little bit of this and that (tinned fish, frie…

I think I am misunderstanding something, how did you cut your cooking/cleaning up time down to 4 minutes a day? And, are you eating the same food every day now?

sorry, I just eat a little bit of something and cook rice once every 2 days. yes, I eat largely the same food every day. I assumed that would drive me insane, but I just don't mind it. started squeezing half an avocado into every bowl, and that has been a big upgrade.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#254

Post by colechristensen »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #249
DarylZero wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're spinning it like a matter of choice, but I would doubt that it is. The farmers probably can't sell their product any other way than as futures; and can't buy energy any other way than at the current market price. That would mean the actual choice involved is just the choice to go into the farming business. Not exactly fair to compare that to casino betting.

Does that mean this market is missing an entity that helps farmers buy energy futures?

It isn’t though this person is just guessing incorrectly that it does not exist. Like any business buying supplies, farmers can buy things ahead of time at fixed prices.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#255

Post by decebalus1 »

tomp wrote: post #124
guerrilla wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the last wave, only one country (Hungary) handled the problem sensible (building a wall, encouraging locals having more kids). You left out the part about turning to fascism. Anyway, none of what you mentioned helped immigrants nor resolved the reason for their immigration, so it seems more like the least sensible being that it was a complete failure. > The rest of the governments mostly pretended the problem do…

> You left out the part about turning to fascism "Everyone I disagree with is a Nazi." [1] In the real world, Orban was just reelected with overwhelming majority (increasing his vote share). He didn't contribute to the causes of said migration and didn't set out to solve the problem either, he just made sure his country and the people that elected him were minimally impacted. > We housed, clothed, fed and educated mi…

> In the real world, Orban was just reelected with overwhelming majority

His election results were so good, they were downright Putinesque. Not a lot of comments on hackernews made me laugh as intensively as yours.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#256

Post by dgfitz »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #222
Nasrudith wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Economies of scale strike again it seems, for #2. Cows are big. 20 kilograms is practically nothing and the efficency is low at very small scales. Consumers often operate under the delusion that cost is fixed per item in all locations, at all levels of demand and any increased prices are pure opportunism.

It's not just cows.. it's potatoes too... they pick up potatoes and have a warehouse full of them, you want to buy a sack (5, 10kg) from them, and they offer you a price, again, higher than aldi. And i'm talking about the same farmers who sell their produce to aldi and complain about how little money they get from aldi and how (relatively) high the price in aldi is. I understand that a cow is a logistic process, wher…

Whenever I buy a side of beef from a local farmer, I pay the farmer and then pay the butcher. I believe the butcher deals with the “not best parts” much more often than the farmer does, but I’m not an expert and this is an n=1 data point.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#257

Post by dontbenebby »

gadflyinyoureye wrote: post #13
dontbenebby wrote: post #5

Doesn't seem to factor in that cheap solar will make desalination much cheaper, but an interesting article for sure.

A large issue is where do you put the brackish or super-salted water? Desalination is great as long as you have the waste impacts managed.

> A large issue is where do you put the brackish or super-salted water? Desalination is great as long as you have the waste impacts managed.

We designed a whole thing to store nuclear waste (Yucca Mountain[1], couldn't you put brackish water in something similar but wayyyy less expensive since it's not radioactive?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Mountain_nuclear_waste_r...

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#258

Post by oneoff786 »

IncRnd wrote: post #252
Nasrudith wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Babies have also been dying for a very long time too. I would be wary of citing it. Some people also have damned good reasons not to breastfeed like medication or diseases that would spread via milk.

When a mother doesn't want to or cannot safely breastfeed there is still actual food that a baby can eat. This isn't nearly as daunting or complicated as it may appear at first glance. People really have been doing this for a long time - safely without their babies dying. I've seen people here say they have learned how to feed their babies on tiktok. For a place better than tiktok, there is a ton of information on We…

This is about babies that are ready to transition to solid foods. Not a replacement for formula.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#259

Post by oneoff786 »

guerrilla wrote: post #75
SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of us didn’t! Infant mortality used to be orders of magnitude higher, and malnutrition in babies who couldn’t be breastfed adequately was a big contributor.

Now imagine if they had cheap vegetables, milk and blenders.

This is very dangerous. Do not give advice on things you don’t know. It’s not just a vague nutrition profile you’re trying to hit.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#260

Post by deamanto »

colechristensen wrote: post #199
sdoering wrote: post #4

I recently had a conversation with an organic farmer. While he is able to pass on at least some of his increased costs for energy and fuel through direct sales and cooperatively organized distribution channels, his conventionally farmed colleagues have a bigger problem. They have long-term purchase contracts that fix the prices for milk, meat or vegetables. In the case of milk and meat in particular, production costs…

If you sold futures for your outputs and didn’t buy futures for your inputs, the results are on you. These are the kind of complaints you get from people who make market bets and end up wrong. You can use futures like insurance to insulate yourself from market fluctuations or you can use them like a casino.

I actually have a very specific story on this one from a friend.

In Australia, there's this stereotype of the "hard working Aussie battler farmer" and that we should all support our farmers. My friend's family business was one of these growing a type of nut. It was common for neighbouring farmers to make a good living selling their produce and using it for their own purposes and expect the government to bail them out with something like a tax break.

My friend's business wanted to prepare for water shortages and spent a huge amount of money setting up a dam or storage system of sorts. Lo and behold, a drought came some time after and they were prepared. A lot of other businesses did not prepare for this and instead spent it on other things. My friend mentioned to me that he has no sympathy for those types of people.

Disclaimer: This is a generic statement, I did not pry into the story and there could be a multitude of reasons why one didn't/couldn't prepare for such a thing

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