Methods of Coping with Food Shortages and High Prices

[Hydrogen]

Methods of Coping with Food Shortages and High Prices


Indoor UV Grow Lights



These can be acquired affordably on amazon and other global distributors. I have 2 that I've used for small plants. They work well, lights with lower power need to be a close distance from plants to be effective. A decent option for interior growers who lack the outdoor growing option.


Outdoor Grafted Fruit Tree



Most believe only big trees produce fruit. This is due to fruit trees requiring 4+ years of time to go from a planted seed to a fruit producing tree. However, this time scale can be decreased by grafting the branch from a mature tree onto the stem of a juvenile. This process can shave years off the maturing process, allowing relatively small trees to produce fruits in a smaller area. This could open the door to those with limited space having their own trees capable of producing fruits.


Stockpiles of Wheat or Rice



These are common staple foods for doomsdayers preparing for the end of the world. Which tends to give them a negative reputation, but they were and possibly still are a good solution. Stockpiled wheat can be ground up to make flour. Which can be used to make spaghetti noodles, bread, pizza dough, tortillas, etc. Wheat in cans or buckets for long term storage used to be very cheap and affordable. Rice is very similar except its not as versatile or diverse, in terms of it being used to make many different things.

Wheat used to be a very affordable option, recently prices over the past few years have inflated considerably.


Please share if you have other good information.

[timerland]

I just feel like real estate it way too risky to hold in the long term.

You are not owning the actual real estate but rather the piece of paper that grants you title to the land. Which can be obviously retracted from you at any given time if the government decides to do so.

Also, it's not accessible - there is no access for people with net worth of at least $100-200k in savings.

Cryptoassets and precious metals remain the strongest options in the inflation hedge category imo.


EDIT: This was before the edit, but still somewhat applicable.

I'm personally prepping canned some canned food but have not moved to full-on self-sufficiency.

Imo the problem is more with inflation and not supply chains, so if you have a few weeks/months of nonperishables prepped, a stable source of income, and inflation hedges, you'll be good.

[Hydrogen]

I just feel like real estate it way too risky to hold in the long term.

You are not owning the actual real estate but rather the piece of paper that grants you title to the land. Which can be obviously retracted from you at any given time if the government decides to do so.

Also, it's not accessible - there is no access for people with net worth of at least $100-200k in savings.

Cryptoassets and precious metals remain the strongest options in the inflation hedge category imo.

I posted that response in the wrong thread, it should have gone here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5391672.msg59678694#msg59678694

[OROBTC]

...

An easy way to play increasingly high prices are the below ETFs (exchange traded funds, buy & sell like stocks):

Ticker DBA:  Invesco DB Agriculture Fund (various ag commodities)
Ticker CORN:  Teucrium Corn Fund
Ticker WEAT:  Teucrium Wheat Fund

"Paper Food".  If you're OK with just betting on the price movements, the above are very easy assuming you already can buy stocks, and will work (I own some DBA).  Take a look at DBA recent price movements:

https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=DBA&ty=c&ta=1&p=d

[Moneyprism]

having your own plantation is one solution to overcome the problem of rising food prices ... in my own country our president in recent years has promoted actions for citizens to develop their own plantations in their yards, for example planting carrots, chilies, etc,, this raw material will be consumed by the residents themselves or sold back to the market

[Poker Player]

LOL. The best way to cope with food shortages is to fast.

With the amount of body fat that people around the world have left over, even in poor countries, they have enough reserves to last for many months, just by drinking water and salt.

Just in a post yesterday I was talking about something similar.

The amount of land you need to produce enough food for you for a year and in a varied way is enormous, and you could not work it all. Even less without machines.

There is an idyllic vision of the past that believes it would be wonderful to go back to living in the countryside and working the land and raising animals to produce your food. Those who think that have no idea how much it costs to produce the food they eat all year round, let alone with the variety available to us. And I'm not just talking about money or resources. I'm talking about the physical effort it would take to produce a small part of what you eat.

Growing a few plants indoors and some in small pots will give you two bites but if there is a real situation of serious shortage in the long term, it will not solve anything. And even less if you plant fruits, which will cut off your ketosis.

I don't pray, but whoever does should pray that there is not a serious and long term shortage situation because many people are going to have a very bad time; and planting plants indoors and/or in pots, or having an acre of land will solve little.

[adaseb]

Most of those suggestions are just not what everybody can do. If you got a large family and live in an apartment, where are you going to grow all those vegetables? And even if you got the space you probably won’t be able to grow it fast enough.

I agree with stock piling with bulk on some certain food groups. During covid many people bought tons of rice and flour and most are probably going to do that soon.

Making people eat less is not a good solution because even if someone is over weight and can eat less they will suffer in the process.

[Hydrogen]

There is an idyllic vision of the past that believes it would be wonderful to go back to living in the countryside and working the land and raising animals to produce your food. Those who think that have no idea how much it costs to produce the food they eat all year round, let alone with the variety available to us. And I'm not just talking about money or resources. I'm talking about the physical effort it would take to produce a small part of what you eat.

Growing a few plants indoors and some in small pots will give you two bites but if there is a real situation of serious shortage in the long term, it will not solve anything. And even less if you plant fruits, which will cut off your ketosis.

I don't pray, but whoever does should pray that there is not a serious and long term shortage situation because many people are going to have a very bad time; and planting plants indoors and/or in pots, or having an acre of land will solve little.

That's a good point. It normally could be expensive, cost cutting measures are important.

Rather than use plastic nursery pots from home depot, some use 2 liter soda bottles with holes drilled in the bottom. A solo bag of 80 plastic cups costs around $5.00. Those can be used as small planters. For larger sizes a 5 gallon bucket can be used, there are other options. Rather than buy mulch, grass clippings can be used after mowing the lawn. Some fruits like avocados contain good phosphorous content (and assorted minerals) can used as a natural fertilizer. Many items necessary for growing can be repurposed or taken from natural sources.

I think if a single acre of land were covered in tomato plants or something with a rapid production. It is possible to produce a yearly diet. For amateur growers. Professional farmers claim to grow 20 to 30 pounds of tomatos per plant. I am certainly nowhere near approaching those yields. I'm still learning and trying different things with my growing, so perhaps later I'll have a better idea of what the hard limitations are.

Even if its not possible to fully satisfy 365 days per year of diet. Being able to fill a few days or weeks per year can make a difference.

[Doan9269]

Another trending economy for food availability and affordability is the Vertical Farming and Semi Autotrophic Hydroponics (SAH), though they are both seminar in techniques and its capital intensive in practice, but promising a high yield of about 98% productivity, it is sometimes referred to as precision farming and done in a screen house.




source

This advance farming techniques were developed to increase food availability and ease of farming practice with maximum result and lessen the use of manual labour, thereby increasing food nutrition and eradicating hunger and diseases.

[TribalBob]

farming is an alternative in overcoming food shortages and high prices, but before we start farming, try to apply the existing risks, such as crop failure, pests, bad climate
wouldn't that be a waste of time?
but there is nothing wrong if we try to cultivate properly if it is enough for 1-2 days and the growth cycle can cover our need

hydroponic farming, in my opinion, which is very efficient compared to using land where hydroponic farming can be done in the garden of the house without having to look for vacant land

[fiulpro]

Food shortages and high prices are something inevitable. Farming like this not only takes time but you also have to develop the necessary skills . Therefore there are few things that you can do:

1. Instead of then big shops go to the local food markets
2. Go to the local farmers
3. Look for sustainable options, vegan and vegetarian one's can actually help the environment and prices in the long run
4. Curb practices of hoarding food, by the government and the organizations that exploit people using such tactics
5. There are government owned ration shops as well selling at low prices
6. Using the natural crops growing in that area, lowering the Exports as well

[Beerwizzard]

These growlights from Hydrogen's screenshot are complete garbage. There are so many people buying them on aliexpress and then wondering what da hell is wrong with their plants

Growing is a great hobby but in case with current situation in the world, most food shortages are happening due to demand deviation, not because humanity is running out of food. Seems like we can't avoid such situations.

[Hydrogen]

These growlights from Hydrogen's screenshot are complete garbage. There are so many people buying them on aliexpress and then wondering what da hell is wrong with their plants

I have 2 grow lights, which I've used for years.

The light has to be positioned as close to the plant as possible to be effective.

Many place the light 2 or 3 feet above the plant, which is too great a distance.

[Beerwizzard]

I have 2 grow lights, which I've used for years.

The light has to be positioned as close to the plant as possible to be effective.

Many place the light 2 or 3 feet above the plant, which is too great a distance.

What plants are you growing? Parsley? Dill? These light might be fine for vegetation but I can hardly believe that after flowering it may give a decent weight.
If you ever decide to buy new lights then consider buying a good samsung LED quantum board with dimmer. It would be better than both of these Chinese LED combined. Using them is a real pleasure.

The light has to be positioned as close to the plant as possible to be effective.

It could burn your plants to ashes if these lamps had real 600wt or 1000wt of power.
Did you try to measure the power or lm of these chinese lamps from the 1st pic? I'm curious what is their real power.

[el kaka22]

This should not even be a discussion. Think about it, the whole world is full of water and land, two of the most important things that you need for farming. If the world wanted to, we have the power to feed everyone twice, like twice more than what we need basically, and literally give everyone ANYTHING they want to eat. Why don't we? Because it is not profitable, why would we do something that would cost a lot of money without a proper return.

Farming is basically dying, even though it looks better in some places, the long story short is the fact that it is not growing as fast as the food needs and right now logistics is getting even worse because of oil prices. So here we are, talking about "coping with food shortages", it should not even be a thing.

[stompix]

Cope with food shortages and high prices...
Buy a 1000W junk lamp for 50$, wait 5 months for it to be delivered from China, and then ask yourself why are you paying twice more for electricity than buying the food directly.
Better buy an S9, it will definitely make you more money that the plant pot, unless you plant pot. 

Most believe only big trees produce fruit. This is due to fruit trees requiring 4+ years of time to go from a planted seed to a fruit producing tree. However, this time scale can be decreased by grafting the branch from a mature tree onto the stem of a juvenile. This process can shave years off the maturing process, allowing relatively small trees to produce fruits in a smaller area.

You can't graft trees younger than 3 years, you have to wait for them to grow that big,  besides, grafting is not for that, it's made to improve the plant or for reproduction, trying to get fruits from a young tree will simply put more stress on its growth reducing the overall amount of fruits you will get from it over his lifespan. You might be able to grow a small lemon tree in an apartment but you'll soon realize you paid 10$ for each of the 10 lemons it made a year.
The second problem is that you're basically forfeiting the advantage vegetables would have when growing them in pots, you restrain the combination of nutrients, so you either use supplements (again $) or you end with the same taste as industrial grown low-cost junk.

I have 2 grow lights, which I've used for years.
The light has to be positioned as close to the plant as possible to be effective.
Many place the light 2 or 3 feet above the plant, which is too great a distance.

Plants follow the light, feeding them light only from one angle is putting additional stress on their growth as sprouting more leaves upside will give them no benefit so they tend to have a thinner trunk, larger leaves, everything abnormal.

Another trending economy for food availability and affordability is the Vertical Farming and Semi Autotrophic Hydroponics (SAH), though they are both seminar in techniques and its capital intensive in practice, but promising a high yield of about 98% productivity, it is sometimes referred to as precision farming and done in a screen house.

Huge costs with equipment, water, electricity, manpower, that's why they all go bankrupt:
https://www.ft.com/content/0e3aafca-2170-4552-9ade-68177784446e

Farming is basically dying, even though it looks better in some places, the long story short is the fact that it is not growing as fast as the food needs and right now logistics is getting even worse because of oil prices. So here we are, talking about "coping with food shortages", it should not even be a thing.

Not really:

[Hydrogen]

You can't graft trees younger than 3 years, you have to wait for them to grow that big,  besides, grafting is not for that, it's made to improve the plant or for reproduction, trying to get fruits from a young tree will simply put more stress on its growth reducing the overall amount of fruits you will get from it over his lifespan. You might be able to grow a small lemon tree in an apartment but you'll soon realize you paid 10$ for each of the 10 lemons it made a year.
The second problem is that you're basically forfeiting the advantage vegetables would have when growing them in pots, you restrain the combination of nutrients, so you either use supplements (again $) or you end with the same taste as industrial grown low-cost junk.

I have avocados which are within the 18-36 inch recommended graft height, that are younger than 3 years.

If a small tree is in a bucket, with holes in the bottom, placed on soil. Earthworms will find their way into it to provide castings. There were many earthworms in the pots of things replanted. I supplement my soil with grass cuttings and other organic waste in an effort to provide a variety of nutrients.

"Organic" potting soil I bought in walmart hardens into a concrete like substance if it dries out. It is very necessary to mix other things in with potting soil for it to perform at a bare minimum.

Other brands of soil I got in stores have a strange water repelling trait. Water sprayed on the surface will bead and refuse to be absorbed by the soil. Which also needs supplements mixed into it.

[Poker Player]

I have avocados which are within the 18-36 inch recommended graft height, that are younger than 3 years.

Actually avocados, if you plant them on soil and they gets big over the years, would be a good way to cope with food shortages.

They get very big and you can be eating avocados for about 6 months. They give you high quality fat that will make you go without being hungry (or less hungry) if other foods are scarce. The only thing is that they require a lot of water, if you live in a place where it usually rains a lot it is not a problem, but if not you will have to water them regularly.

[xSkylarx]

This should not even be a discussion. Think about it, the whole world is full of water and land, two of the most important things that you need for farming. If the world wanted to, we have the power to feed everyone twice, like twice more than what we need basically, and literally give everyone ANYTHING they want to eat. Why don't we? Because it is not profitable, why would we do something that would cost a lot of money without a proper return.

Farming is basically dying, even though it looks better in some places, the long story short is the fact that it is not growing as fast as the food needs and right now logistics is getting even worse because of oil prices. So here we are, talking about "coping with food shortages", it should not even be a thing.

If the government were only supporting farmers very hard so that they could plant more. Imagine no accessible roads and also farmers are getting paid a very small amount or their produce is only bought for cheap prices. This makes farmers want to quit and just go to the city to find construction jobs. If we can just prevent this because this will lead to food shortages, as an individual, what is really the best way to cope with food shortages is to have our own backyard garden. I know most of the things mentioned here are like fruit trees, but this will take years, right, but in your backyard garden you just need to plant vegetables? This will take only a few weeks or months.

[so98nn]

This is way easier in India. Most of the houses have structure where there is terrace. This is according to weather. Since there is no snow, there is always plenty of space on the roof. We need to store the water in over head tank which is delivered by government supply once everday for few hours. This is the way it works here.

So most of them have water tanks, space, and plenty of sunlight. Easy to grow hydro-ponic farms are new trend in here.

The whole thing started in the lock down when peeps had nothing to do but sit at home. There was huge trend on the social media as everyone started taking the pics, making videos of how they are growing the little farm on the terrace.

Like zero investment here may be all because of the way architecture of the house is and weather is.

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This is also widely changes whether you are in the Tier 1 Metro cities or sub-urban cities. The first one has big tower housing so that wont be an option.
But for the rest of India, the houses are mostly with big rooftop so easy to manage for such work.


May be this would be more cheap in here. However, India being the agricultural country, most of the families here have their own Agricultural land. Not all but most of them!