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From Spain to Germany, farmers warn of fresh food shortages

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

#501

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s what I’ve always said. If you smeared a bit of poop on your face or arm, you wouldn’t be content with just wiping it down with a thin piece of toilet paper. You’d probably shower! So why should your ass be any different?

It's different because I don't use my ass to open doors, type on computers, prepare/eat food, or scratch my eye. Your face and arms, however, get involved in those activities sooner or later. I don't care if my poop cannon has a bit of residue around the rim that paper can't quite remove, handling shit is literally what it does every day, and it's otherwise stowed away safely. Granted, I bet a warm-water bidet feels…

Well take a guess why the left hand in some regions of the world is considered dirty even there is water around to wash? Because toilet paper is seen as improper cleaning.

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

#502
post #361

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…

"Potatoes are easy to get started but can be a little finicky with soil conditions." mm have you tried fertilizing with poop?

Please do not recommend fertilizing plants for human consumption with human manure!!

It is a practice that has been abandoned for good reasons. The reasons are the propagation of pathogens right into your food chain. You can compost the manure and use that compost for fertilization of fruit trees in early spring. But please do not use it on vegetable plants, leafy greens and such.

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

#503
post #456
post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There are a lot of bacteria in the colon, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's safe to have them everywhere, even if they are your own.

It would be necessary to store poop dry, separate from urine, and to compost it to make it somewhat safe. Usually, a dry toilet is used for this. However, it might be difficult to install and operate the whole process if you're not living in the countryside.

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

#504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s what I’ve always said. If you smeared a bit of poop on your face or arm, you wouldn’t be content with just wiping it down with a thin piece of toilet paper. You’d probably shower! So why should your ass be any different?

It's different because I don't use my ass to open doors, type on computers, prepare/eat food, or scratch my eye. Your face and arms, however, get involved in those activities sooner or later. I don't care if my poop cannon has a bit of residue around the rim that paper can't quite remove, handling shit is literally what it does every day, and it's otherwise stowed away safely. Granted, I bet a warm-water bidet feels…

BTW: You can use something like a small washing towel (I do not know what the proper english word is - in German it is Waschlappen). So you do not have to touch your shit:)

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

#505
post #287
post #209

Since restaurants are one of the major sources of food going to trash, I was wondering whether the current crisis would not actually have an opposite effect with more food being on the market. Sure, not all types of food but on the other hand people have been buying a lot of nonperishable goods from what i have seen last few weeks which would also indicate lower demand in the near future.

>restaurants are one of the major sources of food going to trash Is that the case? I would have assumed that restaurant kitchens are a lot better at avoiding wastage and random spoilage than home cooks. I guess there's left-overs, but you'd also have that at home.

My sister used to be a cook for two one-star restaurant and a five-star hotel (now in a better paid yet more laid-back job). Your assumption is normal (i had the same) but its false. Even when they reduce some leftovers for sauce/juice, they trow away a lot of food to make it look good.

And its even worst for the "grande cuisine" where they throw away multiple dishes when someone at the table goes for a piss and the waiter forgot to tell the cooks.

Maybe in fast-food or with bar cuisine this is not the case, but from what i know, they are probable the most inneficient users of food.

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

#506
post #453

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.

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 pur…

In average around 100-150 people die in car accidents each day in the US.

Yesterday 520 people have died because of bat-flu.

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

#507
post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that probably that would make you and your countryfolk worse off. To try to illustrate, I'll switch the analogy to my own country, which is Canada, where we fly in Mexican labour to pick crops. If we didn't fly in migrant labour, we'd have to pay Canadians, who are generally a spoiled, lazy, picky bunch (at least compared to the sort of Mexicans who fly here to work, who obviously are not lazy nor excessively…

I think there's one thing missing in your picture: Those workers aren't necessarily unskilled. Those who come from my country(Poland) at least are often college graduates. How do they end up there? Well, the pay is obviously better - especially for a seasonal worker. After all, the GDP per capita difference between the UK and Poland is close to 3x. The unemployment rate here is(or was before the virus) considerably l…

> After all, the GDP per capita difference between the UK and Poland is close to 3x.

That's a shame it is still the case, as the promise of entering the EU was for wages to normalise across the Union. I guess it will take further integration for that to happen.

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

#508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost of picking fruit such that it being affordable is not coherent with the cost of living of Britain. Such is the case in a lot of places in the first world. You can keep having affordable fresh fruit, or you can pretend you can pay laborers local prices, driving up the price dramatically, reducing the total size of the market (because nobody's going to be able to afford the new prices), and having even less pr…

People should pay more for fruit and food if more money is required to fairly compensate laborers. The solution shouldn't be importing a disadvantaged population to exploit for cheap labor. If our modern economy is so weak we cannot afford fruits and vegetables we should confront and overcome that weakness rather than conceal it by importing an underclass.

So the solution you propose means higher consumer prices (which hurts the lower class the most) and to prevent poor people from other countries the opportunity for a higher quality of life

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

#509
post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't force people to stay in a country, but you can certainly prevent people from coming in a country.

I dont think we should - COVID does. People are forced to stay in their own countries due to travel restrictions. And it is likely this pandemic will last for a while, and with summer coming, people might just as well work locally until this nightmare is over.

how can they work locally when they're not allowed to exit their flats?

also the fear of gettting C19 in EE is much greater than in Western Europe.

I think EE population will be the last one actually going outside. and there were reports of people saying they will never go out again like before.

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

#510
post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for both having the foresight to plan(t) as well as the willingness to help those around you. Otherwise you could end up like my neighbor with a strategic reserve level of toilet paper, proud to hoard yet share with no one even when the stores are empty.

I really do not understand this toilet paper thing. I mean as long as there is water, why people do not wash their asses. It is cleaner anyway... When I was young and we visited grandparents, we used newspaper.

I had the same reaction at first, but after a bit of thinking I reached this:

You can do without it, sure, but if you don't have a bidet then it's inconvenient and annoying. Toilet paper is cheap, easy to store and it does not degrade (in a meaningful timeframe).

Basically, unless you are really space constrained, there are no downsides to having more than needed, so why not buy extra?

I say this as someone who had to go without a couple days because the stores had been cleared of any toilet paper.

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