Update on Food Supplies 2010

February 02, 2010 Comment

A few weeks ago I posted concerning the emergency California farmers have faced the past three years as the Federal government has shut off water to farmers. There have been a few changes since that posting.

First, a federal judge ordered pumping to begin pumping for a two week period. This was seen as a huge triumph, and farmers will take all they can get at this point to help with the dire situation. However, after three days of pumping a few smelt were discovered near the pumps and the judge had no choice, due to the Endangered Species Act, but to order that they be such off again.

The government has since issued the water allotment for this year and set the water ration at between 0 and 10% of normal flow. Awful news!

Diane Feinstein, Senator from California, has introduced an amendment to a jobs bill which would allow for the water to flow again for the next two years while a solution, acceptable to all, or at least most, is found. The reason for attaching it to a jobs bill is because that is the next bill to be debated in the Senate. Time is of the essence. This also makes sense in another way as it is estimated between 40,000 and 80,000 jobs could be lost if the pumps remain silent, forty thousand farmers and the rest in other areas of the economy. I was told today that a seed/chemical company in the valley has laid off 200 people due to this crisis, and this is only the beginning. Think of all the movies that won’t be seen, pizzas that won’t be ordered, clothing that won’t be purchased because of those farmers out of work. Stores, restaurants and theaters will have no choice but to reduce their work force.

If you think this doesn’t affect you in Ohio or New Jersey you are wrong. You may not know that half of all fruits and vegetables grown in the United States come from California farms. Ok, so half are still available, right? No, not when you consider that:

99% of all almond and walnuts come from California–93% of broccoli–89% of carrots–94% of tomatoes–95% of apricots–90 % of strawberries–93% of nectarines–100% of olives–93% of plums–78% of lettuce–84% of avocados–82% of dates–98% of figs, 97% of kiwi,89% of lemons, and the lists goes on and on.

Still not concerned enough to take a stand, get involved, and start or increase your efforts to establish a General Store in your home? Let’s consider tomatoes for a minute. If tomato farmers are forced to stop planting then those who work at the canneries will lose their jobs in large numbers, but that still may not affect you. Tomato products will get much more expensive if we are forced to import tomatoes. That mean spaghetti may no longer be the meal you cook when you are trying to save a few bucks. Our favorite fast food, pizza, will become more expensive because a key ingredient is…tomatoes. You know that ketchup you love on your fries, hamburgers and hot dog? Guess what, tomatoes, so the price of ketchup will go up. That means the price of a burger will go up. Don’t like burgers? The price of tacos and enchiladas will go up, yep salsa, is tomatoes.

Bottom line, you will have less produce to chose. Prices on everything that uses produce, or nuts, as ingredients will rise.

No water to California farms will impact you!

As much of a concern as there is about higher prices the bigger concern is once we have given up farming for ourselves we will have no choice but to import our food. This means feeding foods to our family which will have been grown using chemicals outlawed in the United States. It will mean picking fruit before they have reached their full nutritional value so they will survive the additional time needed to transport them to stores. It will means produce grown without regulations. It will mean other countries will control the quality, quantity and price of our food supply. They will get rich as we are forced to rely on their food in the same way OPEC countries have gotten rich because we are dependent on their oil.

This can happen to you too. The government controls much of the land in this country as well as the water resources. Your state could be next. We must learn to balance environmental concerns with human concerns.

This will impact your family. What can you do?

Write to your Senator and tell them you are concerned. Ask them to support legislation to turn on the pumps in California and also ask them to reexamine the Endangered Species Act. Write to Sean Hannity and ask him to revisit California, now, before planting decisions are already made for the year. Contact anchors at the major media outlets and ask them why they aren’t covering this issue. Contact your local TEA party groups and ask them to take up the cause. Support candidates who will commit to balancing environmental needs with the needs of families. Avoid any candidate who accepts money from environmental groups who will then have power over their votes. If nothing else, pass along this post and the links below to everyone you know.

People did not take up the cause of jobs and housing until there was a real crisis. Now we are paying the price. Let’s do what we can to try to avoid a food crisis which will take us years or decades to correct.

Do something today and report back!

I appeared on the Halli and Friends blog talk radio show today discussing this issue. If you would like to hear more listen at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/idahotalk/2010/02/12/halli-friends There is a five minute intro so just keep listening.

Join Our Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TotallyReady/

Hannity interviews:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twd59PrqCNg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwhGkiPfPzo&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InelCf0tMFI&NR=1

Hannity in California:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFJfviDPVrc&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjWPGg4fhKg&feature=related

Congressional hearings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PykWODgPwIA&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrUAgHbkkrk&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV9Es0sc2Ig&feature=channel