What can an average JOE do to face the global food crisis?

[Husires]

We started reading more reports that talk about the possibility of a global food crisis, especially in poor countries.

• https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/05/18/world-bank-announces-planned-actions-for-global-food-crisis-response
• https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/may/22/britain-slashes-humanitarian-aid-by-51-despite-global-food-crisis
• https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/food-crisis-ukraine-war-1.6460194
• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61503049

Supply chain problems, war, inflation, fertilizers will set fire to the already high food prices.

What can the average middle-class person do to protect themselves from food problems?
Will buying more food and storing it solve the problem, or trying to start farming or investing and trying to increase his money to buy food at any price? Or what?

[hyudien]

Reduce excessive lifestyle and still use finances in moderation. Stock up on investing in Bitcoin and real estate for the long term. In this case, Bitcoin will be quite important as a support for anticipating a definite financial crisis when a food source crisis will have an impact on inflation which will experience a sharp decline. Avoid mass chaos as much as possible and do not get involved in certain political interests.


When a country like America experiences a crisis, of course we will surely see the impact of the invasion of other countries. Absorb the natural resource needs of developing countries down and beat them to maintain America's economic stability. Although to be honest this sentence is more appropriate for China, which is often at the forefront of invasions of natural resources than the US.

Turning to a Middle Eastern country with limited oil supplies, raising the price per barrel is one of the surefire strategies that has allowed it to survive the global crisis.


The question is: will it really happen and hit the average economy of every country?

[kryptqnick]

The food crisis is happening because of Russia's war against Ukraine, and currently the most pressing matter is that a lot of grain is blocked in Ukrainians ports in the Black Sea by Russia, so it just can't reach its destination, reach those who most need it. So if there's anything an average Joe can do to stop the war, they should (protests against the war, against the Black Sea blockade, against trading with Russia). Also, if we're talking about middle-class people, they aren't the ones who'll be hit by the crisis the most. But still, if it's possible to afford it, I'd stock up on flour, dry pasta, yeast (to bake the bread if there's none), non-perishable goods. Not much, no need to go crazy, but just some of it in case there's a severe food shortage and you need to survive.

[CaVO32]

Tend your own garden if you have space, even set-up a hydroponics outside your terrace. Some people can optimize their space and plant whatever they need. Start evaluating your lifestyle. As hyudien said, reduce excessive lifestyle. Some people are just wasting food inside their fridge. Better buy some long-lasting stocks like fluor, corn starch, dried beans, rice, canned goods and others. If you feel some of your foods are just going to the trash bin, better change your menu and look for more long term food stocks.

[mk4]

I'm not a food crisis expert, but on the top of my head:

1. Buy a good amount of preserved goods. Canned goods that has years before expiration, and the like. Don't over-hoard though, don't forget that other people need food too!

2. Try planting food that is quite low maintenance and that grows quickly. Afaik spinach and carrots grow decently fast enough. Also probably buy a few hens? I don't know crap about farming eggs tho.

3. Do as much as you can to increase your income, and stop spending money on trivial stuff for now.

[Lucius]

What can the average middle-class person do to protect themselves from food problems?
Will buying more food and storing it solve the problem, or trying to start farming or investing and trying to increase his money to buy food at any price? Or what?

If you live in the city and have no opportunity to produce your own food, you have only two options - to come to terms with the situation and start buying less expensive food in smaller quantities. Another option is to consider relocating to a place where food can be grown, which would mean relocating to a smaller urban area. This has its advantages, not only because of the production of your own food, but also because of a healthier life due to less pollution and less life stress.

1. Buy a good amount of preserved goods. Canned goods that has years before expiration, and the like. Don't over-hoard though, don't forget that other people need food too!

Cans are very common for food storage, but like plastic they have one very negative feature - they contaminate food with BPA (bisphenol A). This is not something we do not know, but it should be borne in mind that such packaging is harmful and poisons food, although producers do not care about it, and the authorities are not too interested in tackling this problem. An ordinary person will always choose not to be hungry, no matter how unhealthy the food is.

[niceli]

Lets be honest, we are not going to do anything at all. Pandemic was rampant and there were people who didn't do anything regarding the pandemic as well. Millions of people all around the world, and not just in one place, all ended up ignoring everything regarding pandemic, many died. If people are seeing that clear threat and ignore it, then what makes you think that they will care about food crisis before it happens. I guarantee you that I can find a person who will say that a food crisis is not coming at all. All in all I will end up with something that none of us will be ready enough and the whole world will suffer very soon and will be unprepared.

[YOSHIE]

or trying to start farming or investing and trying to increase his money to buy food at any price? Or what?

Global food threats have become a serious concern of the world including the United Nations, if you want to do an agricultural strategy that is the best step and many countries and research suggest agriculture.
In some cases producing land, livestock and fish farming could potentially yield substantial economic benefits and could overcome the food crisis, in the management of agricultural land in the next 2-4 years can produce such as: green beans, soybeans, sorghum, millet, rice, wheat, cassava, corn and many others, all of this income can be saved in the long term to cover the food crisis.


In other methods can also be done to overcome the global food crisis.
For example:
Carry out energy-saving methods while planting trees that are useful for the sustainability of human life and methods of maintaining cleanliness and not littering, that waste can hamper agricultural production, if the waste contains toxic elements, most of the water for agriculture is taken from rivers that flow into agricultural land.

[mm2543363580]

Go grow your own food little joe. grow mushroom in your store room and grow vegies in your balcony. Use lesser water and do rainwater harvesting in your home. what else you can do. Don't waste food. It will be helpful for others

Yes - that is a very good suggestion. I once met a group who was working on edible organic garden franchise in the world around.
That was one perfect project to get rid of inorganic food - they prefered to have your food grown and make the earning through that garden. Wonderful project it was.

[Hydrogen]

I think chickens might be a good option. They can feed on termites, insects and other random things found in the environment. And produce a decent number of eggs every week. They bypass current issues with inflating costs of natural gas and fertilizer. With a good amount of productivity and short term returns for little effort and knowledge base. Chicken populations might grow and scale quickly enough to fill gaps left behind by other food sources.

People may have to abandon cities to migrate to more rural areas where self sufficiency is a more achievable goal.

Keeping milk cows, milk goats and other livestock could be other options. But I do not think that we have the population numbers necessary for that to scale. Or that those population numbers be reached quickly enough to make a difference.

There are some who claim microgreens and sprouts can be used as a food source quickly although I'm not certain how sustainable that is.

Plants and crops might be other options. But I think the shortest turnaround for that is around 90 days with potatos and tomatos.

The value of seeds could inflate if demand rises. Although I do not know if many would pursue that option.

[uneng]

It's not easy to run an animals or crops farm. It requires a lot of spare time, effort and care from the farmer. You need to work all day long to earn too little in return, because it's not only about planting the seeds, watering them or feeding the chickens once in a day. You need to check everyday (probably more than once) the crops to see if there are any diseases or parasites attacking it, you need to clean the chickens' spots, water and food trough, because it becomes dirty really fast, you need a very strict routine to not miss any daily task.

For most people it's not practicable, especially for those used to the life in the cities.

What people can do is to invest in a countryside property and rent it for now to local farmers or something like that. And if someday a chaotic crisis starts and food supplies become low and expensive, their jobs stop being profitable, they have already a plan B in mind, that is to live in the countryside full-time, producing their own basic goods to survive. It looks romanticized, but in fact it's a harsh life or better saying, a survival experiment.

[gweb1996]

We started reading more reports that talk about the possibility of a global food crisis, especially in poor countries.

• https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/05/18/world-bank-announces-planned-actions-for-global-food-crisis-response
• https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/may/22/britain-slashes-humanitarian-aid-by-51-despite-global-food-crisis
• https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/food-crisis-ukraine-war-1.6460194
• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61503049

Supply chain problems, war, inflation, fertilizers will set fire to the already high food prices.

What can the average middle-class person do to protect themselves from food problems?
Will buying more food and storing it solve the problem, or trying to start farming or investing and trying to increase his money to buy food at any price? Or what?

Survival hunger tips

1.Eat horse / donkey meat
2.Find out when humanitarian aids are coming in town
3.Snakes taste like chicken
4.Chew rubber / chewing gum helps with the hunger
5.If your a beautiful women don't worry you will survive
6.Better to hang yourself then to eat human flesh
7.Process food from garbage ,boil it and reuse it
8.Parks ,roads ,forests etc have trees with  fruits and eatable plants
9.Some Insects are eatable ( grasshoppers ,some ants,crickets,flower maggots,silkworms ) ,fry them before you eat them
10.If the chicken gives eggs don't eat the chicken,if she does not give eggs you can eat it
11.If 2 birds (male/femele) are in a confined space they will lay eggs
12.If you have free space with sun ,use it to plant veggies...no matter where the space is ( balcony )
13.Pumpkins are eatable
14.Cereals can be expanded ( similar to popcorn )
15.If you don't use it preserve it ( in salt,in vinegar,smoke it ,can it,dry it)
16.Never eat raw animals / insects
17.Dog and cat food i heard it has a good taste
18.Oat cereal is cheap
19.Don't throw away pasta wate ,reuse it ( it has starch in it )
20.Spicy plants you can make them in to pesto sauce for pasta / noddles
21.Process left overs or preserve it  ( ex: milk 3.5% can be turned in to cheese )
22.Eat lard with bread
23.Avoid using your energy for useless stuff
24.Rice / Bananas / Peanut butter / Honey / Chocolate with high content coconut butter  are superfoods
25.Eat corn porridge with lard and onion
26.Drink beer ,wine ,beer is a food
27.In some parts of the world rats are considered a delicacy
28.Eat cats and dogs
29.Drink tea with hard tacks
30.Mushrooms grow easy if they have humidity and nutrients
31.Algae grows easy in salt water
32.Pasta takes a long time to expire
33.Drink cow blood with milk , sting the cow to get the blood but don't kill it
34.Use condensation to drink water from your urine or animal urine.
35.Eat garden snails they are called Escargot or frog legs
36.There are eatable plants that you consider them weeds ( mostly in places where food is abundance,example most french don't eat corn ,they use it as animal feed )
37.Eat digested seeds from animal dung ( example Bear Grylls )
38.Eat the seeds from brooms
39.Hunt or fish even if they tell you it's not allowed ( it's survival ,your not hunting for fun )
40.If you can freeze meat bellow - 40 degrees celsius it will last a very long time in the freezer ( never refreeze meat )
41.Brake a window ( make sure there are cameras around ),beat the politician that got you in to this mess or a cop,and hope they arrest you and sent you in jail ( 3 meals per day free + free health insurance )

Be human and live with dignity until the end ( don't eat your kid ... in some places ,like Russian famine or ancient times they did that )

[Darker45]

The average person cannot contribute to solving the problem by simply buying. Neither will hoarding or even increasing his/her purchasing capacity address the problem, unless the only cause of the crisis is inflation.

But since there are a number of causes, there should be a number of approaches also. Supply chain problems, war, rising prices of fertilizers and other related products need different solutions.

In my country, there is a need for the government to put more focus and priority and funds, too, on agriculture and food production. Strengthening local agriculture is the key. Decreasing dependence on imported fertilizers will help. Subsidizing farmers is also needed. Fighting against ruthless middlemen is also important.

To the average person, however, little efforts as planting and raising their own food is of much help. Make every idle piece of land productive in some way. This will make us less dependent on the market which will hopefully lower down the demand and therefore price. In the long run, this might even significantly bring down the demand to import. The local produce might suffice. It would also help if we stop being wasteful.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Well I still have farm land in some provinces so I will just continue what I'm doing for the last 10 years, take advantage of it.

It's a combination of rice (staple food for us Asians), and other veggies. And as I have said, it keeps me going and happy to make money out of it and then have some for you throughout the year in the table for your family. And perhaps I was just lucky to invest on it when I have the money and developed it as a business.

[adaseb]

Right now, in my country at least I don’t see a food shortage.

However I can see all these “food shortage” warnings all over the place are going to start a shortage when there might not be one like with toilet paper.

Here in Canada we didn’t have a baby formula shortage. However with all the US scares, I see people buying them in bulk. And stores had to finally start to limit the purchases.

The same will happen with many canned goods and products like rice with all these headlines.

[Kakmakr]

The same principle applies to the global food crisis as any other business that were influenced by the war or even Covid-19, namely :

Pivoting

A pivot means fundamentally changing the direction of a business when you realize the current products or services aren't meeting the needs.

In World War I&II .... large manufacturing companies pivoted their business models to stay in business. Factories that manufactured cars, started to manufacture vehicles for the army or ammunition for the war.

People should see the possibility in every crisis and they should pivot their business to adapt to the changing needs. (Food and Water should be their main focus now)    

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Will buying more food and storing it solve the problem, or trying to start farming or investing and trying to increase his money to buy food at any price?

Stockpiling food isn't a bad idea for people in countries that might be the most affected by a possible food shortage (and damned if I know exactly which countries those are), but if everyone started doing that all at once it might be more of a problem.  When COVID hit, it seemed like everything was flying off the shelves--and that was before the supply chain issues hit.  I remember the cat food aisle being almost bare two years ago, so when panic buying happens it leaves a lot of people without the things they need.

Farming is a great idea, but the problem is that not everyone can do it, either because they don't have enough land or knowledge or money to invest in setting up a garden.  There are a lot of very poor people in the word, you know.  And I have a feeling that they're the ones who'll be the hardest hit if there comes a food shortage.

That's a big "if".  In the US it seems like there's plenty of food to go around, and the government is one of the ones that helps out other countries when they get hit by disasters (never mind all the horrible things they otherwise do).  But who knows?  I could be one of the people planting tomatoes and living off of salad until the world re-equilibrates.  I hope it doesn't come to that, but these days nothing is off the table as far as possibilities.

[Reid]

A change in lifestyle would be the better cure.
If before you eat chips while watching a movie or Netflix at home then try just drinking water. Lots of it.  
I am the one buying groceries for the family and of course I know the prices of everything. From cooking oil (20% up) to biscuits and snacks for the kids, every price is written in my memory and I can feel how sudden the price changes are.
Not wasting food also saves you some money and whatever can be repaired should be done so to avoid buying something new.
We will be going back old school.

[Poker Player]

Looking at some of the responses, I think you are talking more about a Mad Max type scenario than food shortages.

If we had a moderate food shortage scenario, nothing would happen. Just that some products would no longer be available and others would be less in quantity, so the price would go up. But people would be able to eat.

If we were to reach an extreme situation where there was no food available in supermarkets, having stockpiled a couple of months' worth of food could help, as could having a plot of land with chickens and being able to plant something.

But in that scenario, apart from the lack of food, we would have to take into account the insecurity: if you go to the country with your chickens and plant tomatoes, make sure you have a shotgun too because you will be an easy target for thieves.

[blockman]

What can the average middle-class person do to protect themselves from food problems?
Will buying more food and storing it solve the problem, or trying to start farming or investing and trying to increase his money to buy food at any price? Or what?

All of this, once an announcement is sudden and the government tells the media that there's a food shortage in your local area, there's a panic buying and prices of food and goods will also increase due to the demand. At that time, cash is king, and make sure that you have enough budget for it that's really to be spent for the food and survival. And, what I did years ago, I've bought around a thousand square feet of lot just for any plan that I might do. My parents planted some herbs and vegetables there and we're just picking them up at any time we want to eat.