A farmer speaks
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https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1101313916898598912
In their panic, the idiots in our government are creating a famine. From a farmer acquaintance:
"It’s been confirmed that large scale euthanasia of market ready hogs will begin in earnest this week. I’m estimating one million within 100 miles of me... worst case 10 million total nationwide. Poultry numbers will be much higher. Some people think beef could start in a month.
"The shut down and slowed down packing plants are the reason. I don’t know what to do to get them back online. Some workers aren’t coming in. Some truly are sick. To maintain social distancing they had to “slow the chain”.
"Last weekend, [name redacted] and some friends and I processed 5 pigs in my garage. This was a huge undertaking. Small locker plants/butchers are running 6-7 days a week and are still booked for 3-7 months out. The Heartland has done all we can. It’s time to start the dozers, dig the pits, and embark on one of the most horrendous undertakings the American farmer has had to, in history.
"I know of one farm wife who bought a hardware store out of .22 ammo (8,000 rounds) because they have 7500 market ready pigs and no outlet for them.
"They cannot 'hold' them. Plants aren’t designed for over fat pigs. Buildings aren’t, either. First the gates and feeders will be wrecked.. the the slatted floors will start collapsing into the pits below. There’s simply no other way.
"Expect wide spread meat shortages in the next 10 days. This could extend for months.
"Our food supply chain is broken. The whole system is broken. And today, I feel very broken.
"'Cheap' and 'convenient' food supply is not necessarily a reliable one."
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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This is what I was getting at in my farmer thread. The small processors cannot handle the quantities of livestock that are ready for slaughter. People are going to see shortages, and it's an awful waste of resources.
If you have any way to reach out to a farmer, try. -
Article was good, except for the first line. Not sure why he is blaming the government. An article that begins with a bias like that always biases me against what the rest of the article may contain. LOL Anyways.....
I have always been interested in small scale/family farming and see a lot of same things in the US as other parts of the world.
I agree with Brenda to support the local family farm. Large scale farming has allowed the world to be fed, but there is still a very significant place for a smaller farm.
A friend of a friend has a family farm Green Fire Farm, which may be up by Mark house. Right now, he is busier than a "one arm paper hanger" and just can't keep up with demand.
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The food supply chain is breaking
The board chairman of Tyson Foods is warning that "millions of pounds of meat will disappear" from the national food supply chain as the coronavirus outbreak forces food processing plants to shutter.
"The food supply chain is breaking," John Tyson wrote in a full-page advertisement published Sunday in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
"There will be limited supply of our products available in grocery stores until we are able to reopen our facilities that are currently closed," he wrote in the advertisement, which was also published as a blog post on the company's website.
In recent weeks, the major poultry producer has temporarily suspended operations at plants across the country. The company halted operations Wednesday at an Iowa plant that is crucial to the nation's pork supply.
“The food supply chain is breaking,” Tyson Foods warns in a full page ad in NYT today pic.twitter.com/5cyusH6L9V
— Ana Swanson (@AnaSwanson) April 26, 2020
"In addition to meat shortages, this is a serious food waste issue. Farmers across the nation simply will not have anywhere to sell their livestock to be processed, when they could have fed the nation," John Tyson wrote."Millions of animals — chickens, pigs and cattle — will be depopulated because of the closure of our processing facilities," he added.
Four employees of Tyson's operations in rural southwest Georgia died earlier this month after becoming infected with the coronavirus, a company spokesman told The Associated Press.
Tyson has told NBC News that it is taking steps to protect its workers, including installing dividers between workers and relaxing its attendance policy to allow sick workers to stay home.
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I just hope we as a society don't prevent the price system from solving this problem.
Not holding my breath. We seem to like shortages.
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Completed my beefalo order today because of this. I added a bit more on for friends, bought about 25 lbs of various pork, but chicken was already low. No whole birds to be found, I bought 3 lbs of breast and pre-ordered a half dozen birds for June. I’m going to miss chicken...
Think I will get a couple more packs of ribs tomorrow.
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Also signed up for a 18 farm fresh eggs a week.
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@kluurs said in A farmer speaks:
@Larry said in A farmer speaks:
I've got tons of beef.... fresh too.
BBQ at Larry's this summer.
You'll have to shoot the cow...
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@Larry said in A farmer speaks:
@kluurs said in A farmer speaks:
@Larry said in A farmer speaks:
I've got tons of beef.... fresh too.
BBQ at Larry's this summer.
You'll have to shoot the cow...
IOW, you'll have to invite Jolly.
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Cuomo launched an initiative just today to buy dairy products from NY farmers that lost their markets and distribute it to food banks downstate.
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Probably going to have to bypass a whole bunch of safety regulations...
