Worldwide bacon shortage ‘unavoidable’

[lawren2]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow...223157784.html


Is it pork-ageddon? Britain's National Pig Association has sounded the alarm that the world should brace for an "unavoidable" bacon and pork shortage next year.

The cause of the trouble is high pig-feed costs caused by what it describes in a press release as "the global failure of maize and soya harvests."

The organization notes that new data shows that pig herds are declining at a significant rate, not just in Britain, but around the world.

The way out of this coming catastrophe is to subsidize pig farmers to stem the loss of their herds, says the industry group. The organization has also launched a "Save Our Bacon" campaign, which encourages consumers to buy British pork products.

It's not just Europe that will be seeing shortages: The U.S. will also face a bacon shortage. The Guardian reports that the cost of bacon has doubled since 2006, and record droughts are to blame. Consumption of bacon is falling as prices have been rising.

"It's not that people don't want to eat pork, it's just that they increasingly can't afford to," economist Steve Meyer told the publication. "We've been warning about this for years. Now that we are talking about bacon, we've really got everyone's attention."

Sure do.


The Twitter response was predictably massive, as commenters took to the microblogging site to bemoan the state of a future porkless plate. @TylerMachado posted, "Maybe we wouldn't be facing a bacon shortage if you twee hipsters didn't put bacon on cupcakes, in mixed drinks, etc." @AJackart added, overdramatically, "I am officially on suicide watch, this is tragic!"

And @ACabot88 wrote, "The Mayans were right, the world is coming to an end."

The Gothamist actually tried to suggest bacon alternatives—soy bacon, anyone?

Few bacon lovers on Twitter seem inspired to try a meat-free diet. Unless forced. Posted @billy_reid_atl, "World without bacon? Say it isn't so! Enjoy it now... while you can."

@Hilda was already thinking outside the grocery store: "All this bacon shortage talk has me thinking, if I can't have backyard chickens, maybe I can get away with a backyard pig?"


As if bacon wasn't already expensive.

[rapmarks]

some bars in Wisconsin advertise free bacon with drinks on certain nights. i am asured it is real bacon, rather than a bacon flavored shot. It is very popular. Now I can't imagine eating a strip of bacon while having a martini, but each to his own.

[ArtsieAng]

Bacon and sausage.........I know that they're not good for you, but I have to be honest, they're two of my favorite foods.

[bigfrank]

some bars in Wisconsin advertise free bacon with drinks on certain nights. i am asured it is real bacon, rather than a bacon flavored shot. It is very popular. Now I can't imagine eating a strip of bacon while having a martini, but each to his own.

I saw bacon vodka on line 2 weeks ago

[JLB]

Anyone wanna go together on a pig?

Got an extra one Melvin?

[Carolinian]

''Maize'' is what the British call corn, and much of it is grown in the US in regions that have just had a drought. It is quite correct that the resulting shortage will cause a variety of food prices to rise.

Faced with this it is absolute craziness to mandate that we add ethanol to gasoline since ethanol in the US in made almost entirely from corn. If our leaders had the good sense to dump the ethanol mandate, it would help stop a lot of coming food price increases.

[JLB]

Ironically, I saw an Internet blurb in the last few days saying the largest corn harvest ever is underway.

What about it, Melvin, got an extra pig?

[Hobbitess]

'
Faced with this it is absolute craziness to mandate that we add ethanol to gasoline since ethanol in the US in made almost entirely from corn.

Agreed. Hubby calls that whole policy "burning our topsoil." Not precisely eating your seed grain, but in the same family of foolishness.

Ironically, I saw an Internet blurb in the last few days saying the largest corn harvest ever is underway.

It's apparently much better than predicted -- with corn the smallest harvest in six years and soy the smallest in nine years, but that isn't anywhere near as bad as it was sounding for a while there.

http://www.weather.com/news/agricult...ances-20120918

[rapmarks]

my son in law has been working for the past two years on crews converting ethanol plants to bethanol, 12 hour days, 6 or 7 days a week.

[T. R. Oglodyte]

''Maize'' is what the British call corn, and much of it is grown in the US in regions that have just had a drought. It is quite correct that the resulting shortage will cause a variety of food prices to rise.

Faced with this it is absolute craziness to mandate that we add ethanol to gasoline since ethanol in the US in made almost entirely from corn. If our leaders had the good sense to dump the ethanol mandate, it would help stop a lot of coming food price increases.

Agreed. Hubby calls that whole policy "burning our topsoil." Not precisely eating your seed grain, but in the same family of foolishness.



It's apparently much better than predicted -- with corn the smallest harvest in six years and soy the smallest in nine years, but that isn't anywhere near as bad as it was sounding for a while there.

http://www.weather.com/news/agricult...ances-20120918

In the post WW-II 1950s Dwight Eisenhower warned about the military-industrial complex, in which private businesses and government defense agencies were building symbiotic relationships through donations, political favoritism, cronyism, influence peddling, and corruption. We are now also seeing the rise of a similar eco-industrial complex, in which private business and government environmental and energy agencies are building symbiotic relationships through donations, political favoritism, cronyism, influence peddling, and corruption.

Which just goes to show that neither end of the political spectrum has a monopoly on either morality superiority or moral malfeasance. If you give power to any people or any institution, that power will ultimately be used by the participants to secure their own personal advantages, regardless of political belief or persuasion.