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From Spain to Germany, farmers warn of fresh food shortages

bloomberg.com

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Re: From Spain to Germany, farmers warn of fresh food shortages

#451

Post by scollet »

grumple wrote: post #341
Zenst wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Undocumented migrants have for all effect become the modern day equivalent of slavery without the associated compasion. Many happy to lambast such people and yet, be first to complain if their avocados go up in price or out of stock. Hopefully, some level of amnisty and clean slate is driven here as currently without that, will only shoot themselves in the foot on many levels. After all, many live day by day, kinda h…

I suspect that the groups of people that lament undocumented workers and those that enjoy avocado toast don’t overlap much. The former are conservatives, the latter are generally young, city dwelling liberals.

This may not apply here but you can't have your cake and eat it too. Exploitation doesn't have to be active but can emerge from perverse incentives, ignorance, and malicious opportunism. I imagine a large faction of people espousing more liberal viewpoints are at worst willfully disingenious or at best optimizing for the emotional/time investment of supporting ethical behaviour.

My opinion, not taken as fact: young, city-dwelling liberals have been some of the most corrupt in this regard. This includes idly participating in second-hand exploitation, but also actively reinforcing exploitative practices because they align with a personal economic incentive.

Re: From Spain to Germany, farmers warn of fresh food shortages

#452

Post by nine_k »

qqssccfftt wrote: post #438
kspacewalk2 wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a month or so, once the daily deaths subside, people will risk it with the coronavirus rather than having a recession turn into a depression. This will be the correct choice.

Human civilisation has reached the point where keeping our fake paper moving is more important than staying alive. How exciting!

Without paper moving, other things, like goods, can't move efficiently enough to feed 8B of the population.

Re: From Spain to Germany, farmers warn of fresh food shortages

#453

Post by nine_k »

downrightmike wrote: post #401
kspacewalk2 wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a month or so, once the daily deaths subside, people will risk it with the coronavirus rather than having a recession turn into a depression. This will be the correct choice.

ennnnnnnnt. That's the buzzer, signaling that this is some bullshit. No one wants to die period. full stop. Greedy to the very end.

More people die daily from car accidents than from the pandemic. People don't abandon cars just yet.

The danger of the pandemic is that it can grow much bigger if we fail to throttle it. But when the number of daily deaths from the pandemic will stabilize at some low enough level, or, better yet, will be falling with time, people will again consider the risk acceptable, and will go on with their lives and further pursuit of happiness, not mere survival.

Re: From Spain to Germany, farmers warn of fresh food shortages

#454

Post by prawn »

jdmichal wrote: post #434
xtacy wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try the paper towel trick: wrap the seeds in a moist paper towel (not too wet, or it will encourage fungus growth). Then, keep them inside a ziplock bag in a warm place for a couple of days, checking on them every day. I keep them on top of the refridgerator where it's nice and warm. Beans sprout super fast! For very dry seeds (lentils, beans, peas, edamamme) you could soak them in water overnight and just use the se…

Ditto. The only downside to this method is having to transplant twice: once to soil pots after sprouting, then to the ground.

If the seeds are in paper towel, wouldn't you just plant it as is and let it decompose?

Re: From Spain to Germany, farmers warn of fresh food shortages

#455

Post by jagger27 »

ogn3rd wrote: post #444
jagger27 wrote: post #309

Got a butternut squash in your pantry? Maybe a couple of tomatoes? Cook it up for dinner and save some seeds! Wash off the pulp and dry them out on a paper towel. It's not too late to start some seedlings, and it's a nice way to pass the time. I've also been experimenting with different dried beans that we stocked up on, and most of them have a pretty high germination rate. Roma beans are super tasty and high in prot…

Start with greens, many only take 4-8 weeks before their ready. Some radishes are ready in 30 days. The rest you mention outside of Chard take 90 days or so.

Yes, I'll also be directly sowing radishes, beets, and climbing green beans. I hoping for multiple crops of greens throughout the year. I will say though that my peppers and tomatoes were probably started a little early for my zone. Some are already bearing fruit in my brighter areas.

Re: From Spain to Germany, farmers warn of fresh food shortages

#456

Post by 6510 »

yiyus wrote: post #412
bluGill wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That might make things worse, you can have too much fertility. Depending... Potatoes like sand soil. Beyond that I'm not a potato growing expert.

I guess this was not a serious suggestion, unless you're in Mars.

There is very little written on the use of vegan poop. One argument against human poop is that it can transfer disease. If it is your own that doesn't seem all that harmful. It might even help convince other humans not to eat your crops.

Re: From Spain to Germany, farmers warn of fresh food shortages

#457

Post by sologoub »

pascalxus wrote: post #217
sologoub wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SF Bay Area is not really representative of California as a whole. Most people outside of the dense cores have a place for a small garden. State is large and diverse. Los Angeles is a lot less dense and most people have at least a balcony on which you can grow stuff in pots. Won’t sustain you as the only source, but will provide greens and some variety. Yards are pretty common and usually green. Water shortages have…

You can drive out as far as fairfield, about 70 miles outside of the bay area and still see housing communities packed together like slums with nothing but yellow and green for miles in every direction.

The lots in those communities (including Fairfield) look to be reasonably sized - some pools even. That’s plenty to have a few beds of greens. It’s not acre-sized, but that’s hardly a requirement.

What do you propose then, Los Altos or Atherton-sized lots?

Re: From Spain to Germany, farmers warn of fresh food shortages

#458

Post by balola »

jajag wrote: post #275
nitrogen wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes rice poisonous, and how is it made safe for use in snacks?

Possibly referring to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice#Bacillus_cereus

Rice with heavy metal such as cadmium, it's pretty common so many don't even test it, those that are unfortunate to be tested can still be sold to rice snack factories.

Re: From Spain to Germany, farmers warn of fresh food shortages

#459

Post by 6510 »

drstewart wrote: post #427
downrightmike wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ennnnnnnnt. That's the buzzer, signaling that this is some bullshit. No one wants to die period. full stop. Greedy to the very end.

Guess what? Everyone dies. And every day is a choice between things that increase that risk. Saying "no one wants to die, stop being greedy!" as if you can eliminate all deaths through a simple action is a nice low effort slogan that doesn't make any sense in the real world.

I don't know, an all out war on death could potentially work? We won't know until we try? It would have to involve a lot more than "just" living longer. We already have a lot of that effect. So much that migrants have to produce our food. shrug

Re: From Spain to Germany, farmers warn of fresh food shortages

#460

Post by Spooky23 »

beerandt wrote: post #424
Spooky23 wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have friends who are locomotive engineers, none of them have been called out for 3 weeks. Everything is stopping. I think the US is going to learn why it’s dangerous to centralize food supply. Most of the local farmers in my region (upstate ny) are bankrupt, and much of our production or processing of food is from far away. The half and half from my grocer is processed in Virginia.

A bit off topic, but regarding the railroads: A big chunk of US rail traffic demand over the last decade has been oil, which was already dropping as pipeline construction caught up with demand under the new administration's pipeline policies. (Tangent: For those not familiar, check out Buffet's meeting/deal with Obama admin re: pipeline policy after Berkshire picked up UP stock for cheap.) The railroads enjoyed a vir…

These guys aren’t doing oil runs. In this area, the rail traffic for oil pretty much died last year.
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