Food security and the coming storm • Hacker News Board

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#331

Post by lobocinza » Mon, May 30, 2022, 3:39 AM UTC

convolvatron wrote: post #253

bosie wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If it isn't balanced it can lead to health issues on the long term.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#332

Post by fy20 » Mon, May 30, 2022, 4:00 AM UTC

csydas wrote: post #85

devchix wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> especially with food: it takes a lot of time to source, prepare, serve and clean up Absolutely! You can't just buy a slab of chicken breast, it needs to be trimmed and put away until ready to be used. Hardest of all: planning, what to do with it, what else goes with it. Pointless to buy broccoli and kale if you don't know what makes it tastes good, and when the inspiration strikes you, there's an ugly head of brocc…

I disagree at large, but give exception to at least the US due to how cities are built. I am not a chef by any means or even a cook, but I learned how to cook in University due to being unbelievably poor and got tired of "low budget fast meals". Quotes because I don't think that the meals that fall into this category are at all better than their "proper" counter parts. Prepping a quick pasta with béchamel does not ta…

> I didn't want to be indebted always to food delivery

I'd also suggest to actually calculate how much food delivery costs. I live in a relatively cheap European country, but even here getting two good meals delivered (i.e. not pizza or McD's) is close to 25€. Over a month that adds up to a not insignificant amount of my take home pay. Plus I find cooking is a really good way to forget about work and de-stress.

Some of the sister comments say you need a Dutch oven, knife sharpener, etc. This is honestly nonsense (see other comment threads about American culture over complicating recipes). The main tools I use are a knife and non-stick pan I got from a supermarket a few years ago (probably 15€ each) and they are perfectly fine. You don't need anything fancy to get started.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#333

Post by rfrey » Mon, May 30, 2022, 4:13 AM UTC

vkou wrote: post #240

colechristensen wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In theory, you are correct. In practice, hedging for increases in fuel prices means buying something like oil futures. Which requires you to be at terminal at some port city 6 months down the line to physically collect the oil/gasoline/whatever that you bought. And then store it for the months before you use it.

Why? Wouldn't a farmer just buy the futures contract (or an option on it), then liquidate and use the profit to offset the loss on the spot purchase? I was under the impression that hedgers never take delivery.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#334

Post by rfrey » Mon, May 30, 2022, 4:14 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #301

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…

You blamed the speculators, but when a farmer locks in long term prices, he is also speculating in futures.

If you lock in both your costs and your profits, it's the opposite of speculation.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#335

Post by copperx » Mon, May 30, 2022, 4:15 AM UTC

lobocinza wrote: post #331

convolvatron wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If it isn't balanced it can lead to health issues on the long term.

Nutrient deficiencies are associated with a longer lifespan, so I'm not sure there's a real reason for concern.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#336

Post by ALittleLight » Mon, May 30, 2022, 4:37 AM UTC

giantrobot wrote: post #326

ALittleLight wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know anything about the safe DIY manufacture of baby formula, but, even if I assumed what you are saying is true, and I'm pretty confident you're wrong, that isn't even an argument. We should deny people good instructions, forcing those who want to try to use bad instructions, because some people might incorrectly follow the good instructions?

You can't provide "good instructions" for something that needs high levels of control in the manufacture. The process is as much a part of the recipe as the ingredients. It's much more rational to put resources into fixing the shortages rather than having people get their babies sick because they didn't completely sterilize a pot because it wasn't explicitly outlined in the recipe.

I see two parts to your comment.

The first part is obviously wrong. You can provide good instructions for things that need a high level of control. Baby formula is not made by magic and I doubt very much that it needs some impossible level of precision to create.

The second part of your comment is simply a false dichotomy. Releasing high quality instructions would not affect the rate at which the baby formula shortage is addressed.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#337

Post by DeathArrow » Mon, May 30, 2022, 4:55 AM UTC

Viliam1234 wrote: post #151

Throwawayaerlei wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You left out the part about turning to fascism." Why do you think people "turn to fascism" in the first place??

> Why do you think people "turn to fascism" in the first place?? Seems to me it is often a combination of dissatisfaction with some problems and a charismatic leader that promises an easy fix (if you only give him a lot of power and allow him to silence the opponents). Sometimes the original problem isn't fixed at all and may even increase, sometimes it is replaced by more serious problems. But at the beginning it se…

>Sometimes the original problem isn't fixed at all and may even increase, sometimes it is replaced by more serious problems. But at the beginning it seems like things have improved, because the criticism has been silenced. Later, people who perceive the problems are afraid to speak up.

Sounds like what is happening now in most of the Western world.

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#338

Post by Sylveste » Mon, May 30, 2022, 4:59 AM UTC

SkyPuncher wrote: post #325

Sylveste wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Of course, if your child is literally starving, you should look to a less than ideal, short term solution. Yes. That's the issue we're having here. People are encountering that situation of being unable to find formula, meaning that their children are literally at risk of starving, asking for alternatives and being told 'there's just no viable alternative' by the media as though that information will make formula ap…

> 'there's just no viable alternative' by the media This isn't the media's job. Their recommendation is to talk with your doctor. This is realistically the only safe suggestion since all of the alternatives are bad. > Famine relief, missionary and other charities do have reliable and nutritious recipes for baby formula alternatives that can be made in bush conditions and over open fires in metal pots. Please, please,…

> This isn't the media's job.

I think maybe this is the problem both specifically here and more widely, there's a major outbreak of 'not their jobitis' going on. The media are 'not my jobbing' this and ignoring the fact that distributing health information has very much been the job of the media in the past.

Maybe a similar issue with the FDA who 'not my jobbed' the inspections of the facility and 'not my jobbed' the reopening inspections of the facility and 'not my jobbed' other things they could have been doing, such as distributing safe formula-replacement recipes.

Maybe - to take a tangent - a similar issue with the Uvalde police who 'not my jobbed' actually interacting with a scenario. Seems to be a whole rash of people forgetting you have to actually interact with the world and take actions if you want things to happen, not just observe and write reports.

> Their recommendation is to talk with your doctor.

That's purely because of liability.

> This is realistically the only safe suggestion

No, that's point of the contention here.

> Please, please, please, cite your source on this.

The recipes for infant milk start on page 93.

https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10...

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#339

Post by eszaq » Mon, May 30, 2022, 5:16 AM UTC

anm89 wrote: post #225

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…

The bigger players hedge all of this in the futures markets. I think this is an understated reason why smaller players struggle to compete in modern agriculture. Maybe a cool startup idea? Managing agricultural hedging for owner operators?

Interesting idea! Reminds me of a podcast I was listening to:

>...if we want to understand the economic geography and political paths and political stability of a country, we need to understand what commodities they started out with. What this led me to do, and how I got started on the path of studying war, actually, is by realizing that some commodities are just hugely volatile in price for various circumstances, and some are not.

>So, if we wanted to understand long-term paths of development and why some places weren’t prosperous, it’s because they lost the commodity lottery, and they got a volatile commodity rather than a stable one.

https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/chris-blattman-w...

When I heard this, I immediately thought: "Why don't countries selling volatile commodities just hedge?" I wonder if "commodity hedging for the masses" could be one of those things like mobile money which has a transformative effect on the global poor.

(Of course, you could also imagine the government of a country that exports something volatile hedge that commodity and buy the production of its people in lean times in order to keep things stable)

Re: Food security and the coming storm

#340

Post by Sylveste » Mon, May 30, 2022, 5:24 AM UTC

somedangedname wrote: post #307

deamanto wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Yep. I'm from a region that grew sugarcane historically but is moving to tree crops like nuts. Local 'big name' family is voracious in their consumption of government grants. They're not struggling by any means but they've got application writing down to a fine science.

Grants are for claiming. Why leave money on the table? Your competitors won't.