WHAT ABOUT OUR FOOD SUPPLY?

[alma]

If i am not mistaken about the figure, i heard on t.v. the other night that only about 1.5 % of the billions of tons of food imported into this country from other nations is inspected.
If that is so, we are quite possibly wide open for a "terrorist" attack on our food supply, much like what happened to our animal food.
I believe that we really need an army of men available to inspect incoming food, and iraq may be a diversion.

Perhaps we need some good men here at home to take care of this problem, and others , like national guard available for all kinds of other possible problems.

We need men at the boarder to protect our econmic base from the millions of illegals that are invading our land, as well.

We need to be doing an indepth study to correct the probelem with our bee population that may be on their way to exctinction, and a another real threat to our food supply from another source.

There are many possible threats to our very existence as well. We are diverting too many men and too many of our precious resources to the war on terrorism.

Our wars to end all wars was a disaster; our wars on poverty, drugs, our wars on war and on sin are all totally bankrupt.

We keep on doing the same old thing and expect to get a different result, and that is the recipe for insanity, is it not.

We need to do some thinking for ourselves and not be led by "blind leaders of the blind".

Boy, do we need some serious soul searching. We can't help but be our brother's keeper.

We are not an island to ourselves.
None of us is an end-all and be-all in ourselves, but we need for the lame to help the blind, and visa versa.

My father in law had cancer and lost his vocal chords, so he drove the blind around and they talked for him years ago. They called themselves the "lost chords". love, alma

[CarolAnn]

Alma,
Your dad-in-law sounds like my kind of people. How cool to have known someone like that!

As far as the world's terrorists - we have as much to worry from the mega companies as we do from all of the near east crazies put together. As we kill the bugs, we're also slowly killing environment, and ultimately our selves with our own food because more money can be made with huge farms and lots of chemicals.

That's why so many folks here are learning how to grow their own food and make their own homes! We do what we can to provide our families with good, clean food, as untainted as it can be these days - - and hopefully, have the kind of spirit that your father in law did: help others even when things get seriously bad for ourselves!

[Mark_and_Nicole]

saw on cnn last week too that for the first time in american history we are now importing more food than we grow.
our nation is steadily becoming more vulnerable all the time.
i'm glad i have a few acres to scratch around on.

Mark

[edward_4576]

If you sit down and consider what has happened in the last year, we had two recalls on different produce because of ecolli, there was also a recall on peanut butter which is a manufactured product. Now there is this recall on dog food.

The dog food recall was caused by one company importing wheat gluten from three different companies in China.

If the most dangerous weapon in the world is the human brain then arming it would be knowledge.
In Iraq didn't they find these trucks that had what looked to be equipment for biological processing.

We know for a fact that Hussein was supporting terrorists both with training facilities and money.

Some vectors are easy to produce, have you ever watched a cooking show where they make anything out of chicken? They (the cooks) always talk about cross-contamination and such.

One person with a little money and know-how could cause serious problems with our food source.

[Ozarks_1]

The "importing more food than we grow" claim is only somewhat correct.

EXAMPLE: A typically spoiled US consumer market demands fresh bananas ... in January.
Further, because of the many diverse cultural groups in this country, there is a large demand for their "hometown favorites".

How else to provide what the consumer wants other than imports?

[Txanne]

We have become spoiled brats---lazy to boot--so what do we do --let'em eat cake?

It takes time to produce a garden--your at the risk of the elements--Mother nature in general.

what folks dont realize--it dont come in cellopane from the garden!!

Most dont have emergy seeds---no canned supply---beans etc etc.

you can go on and on--But no ones listening.

annie

[DV8]

yer so right Annie !! My Step Mom still cans stuff all year, & she allways has ALOT of stores of food up there (I live a few miles away)..

ALSO, she makes her own bread, & Muffins, etc, which is knowledge thats important if one finds themselves in a situation where it's rely on what you have & your own skills.

ALSO close by is a natural spring, that has GREAT crisp clean water, which is also important. I Think most country folk are geared towards kepping a supply of stores on hand, for hard times.

Of course around here there are hundreds of deer, wild turkeys, rabbits & squirrel to supplement those hard times or emergency times, but if there was a food shortage I could see the locals thinning out their population quickly, after all the cows are gone.. (We have ALOT of Cow Farmers Locally)

Good thread tho

[Mac_Muz]

Well you add in to Alma and think over the 1000 mex truckers and what the rest of OUR American truckers can do, you just might get really hungry..

Oh I forgot the Govt will step in and help huh ::)

If the bee's are gone we are too.... Or you better buy stock in Q Tips

[Ernie]

I've been working towards raising enough food for my entire family (wife and me and 4 hungry boys) and we're just about there. This year may be the first year we can satisfy all of our caloric needs from the farm. We still buy stuff, but it's odds and ends instead of the bulk of our diet. I just need to get better at preserving some of the stuff so we're not stuck eating beans, potatoes, and millet for 3 months in a row. :)

My worry isn't so much as to whether or not I can grow enough to feed us. I'm pretty certain I can. I get better at it every year. My biggest worry is what happens when the 5 million starving people in Chicago discover that there's a farm with food on it just a couple of hours west. I can shoot an intruder. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to shoot a half-starved mother and child poking around in my garden.

[333]

Peace,

Perhaps the mother and child could work the farm and help produce more, earn their keep. That is a tough scenario, cause one can only help so many. I fear the same when the cesspool called New York city empties out. When there are no more McDS and BKs to feed them, 8 million folks gotta eat.

333

[daphodil]

With all the recent food scares, no doubt government regulations will increase. . . reducing the profitability of companies, especially upon smaller businesses and niche markets.

[alma]

Heard on t.v. today that some pigs had eaten some of the contamined food, or whatever, and it was in some pork.
I think they caught it in time and took the pork off the market.
No pork for me for awhile.
Don't like it anyway.
Incidently, what are some of you feeding your pets, and i wonder about animal shelters. Maybe i will tele tomorrow to ask them what they are doing.
My vet told us to cook ground turkey and mix it with rice for our dog and add a little canola oil. love, alma

[creekside-angie]

After seeing so many documentarys on meat processing and what they do to chicken,I will only purchase any meat from our local meat market.We haven't had much chicken to eat 'cause they only carry smoked breasts,I refuse to buy even from our small town grocery.The thought turns my tummy.
If I can't get in before they close its canned venison for us!

The neighbors german shephards decimated my meat chicken flock 4 years in a row.They were to sneaky and quick for my shotgun!They also got all my turkeys and some of my ducks! The kicker is instead of turning them over to animal control the guy took @ least 400.00 in fines,went to court for when they cornered my daughter in the barn, and then his house got repo-ed and he abandoned the dogs there and is now saposed to go to court for that!

If the food shortage gets rid of people like that then bring it on,My family will be fed!!!!

[Txanne]

I've been working towards raising enough food for my entire family (wife and me and 4 hungry boys) and we're just about there. This year may be the first year we can satisfy all of our caloric needs from the farm. We still buy stuff, but it's odds and ends instead of the bulk of our diet. I just need to get better at preserving some of the stuff so we're not stuck eating beans, potatoes, and millet for 3 months in a row. :)

My worry isn't so much as to whether or not I can grow enough to feed us. I'm pretty certain I can. I get better at it every year. My biggest worry is what happens when the 5 million starving people in Chicago discover that there's a farm with food on it just a couple of hours west. I can shoot an intruder. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to shoot a half-starved mother and child poking around in my garden.


this has been my rant forever----its the them---that will not have a weeks supply of pop tarts.

annie

[blackpowderbill]

saw on cnn last week too that for the first time in american history we are now importing more food than we grow.

Mark

And what makes me feel even better is now all of our corn & beans will be turned into bio-fuel saving the enviroment...ya know so China can open another 750 coal fired power plants.

Bill

[blackpowderbill]

Creek side annie,
Get your self a few 220 body grip traps for that dog. A lethal snare will work also safer around the kids too.

Toss a chicken in a bucket place the trap in front. Have to keep you pets tied up or they will end up dead also.
Bill

[Suzy]

This is something I have been "preaching" for quite some time...thank you for this great topic Alma!

We all need to be growing as much of our own food as possible (even if people live in town they can grow things in flower beds, in flower pots, etc. etc. etc. You can grow tomatoes, sprouts, etc.) OR buy things from local farmers that you KNOW are growing organically....visit their farms, talk to other people, etc.

This is an IMPORTANT CRUCIAL topic in regards to ourselves and our families!

Alabama's Com of Agriculture and INdustry, Ron Sparks, used the pet food recall to show how important checking our own food is, in articles recently.

My dogs had eaten some of the contaminated food....but the good thing is, my two dogs only get processed purchased food about once a week....the rest of the time they get fried egg sandwiches or scrambled eggs and other stuff here from the farm (I feed them the eggs which are weirdly shaped, etc and which I don't want to sell in my farm store.)

One of the pet food companies came out last week and said that a dog fed only "homemade feed" would die within a year!!!! Folks around here have been laughing their heads off about that one. My husband had a dog who lived to be 19 (when it finally died he was an adult and had to miss work that day because it upset him so badly!) and that dog was RAISED on table scraps from his farm and NEVER EVER ate dog food.

I buy my other animal feed (for goats, chickens and bunnies) from our two local co-ops.....and that still worries me. My chickens are free range though so they get a lot of stuff and only have feed as a back up....the goats are on pasture so they eat lots of grass and hay....and the bunnies are getting things often (in small amounts) that I grow in our garden in addition to their pellets.

I am going down to plant more squash this morning in my little garden this morning before I have to go to another county to get electrical supplies for my husband and son....

So far in the garden I have about 20 tomato plants, some peppers, one eggplant, about four healthy cucumber plants which survived, a row of bush butter beans that are just coming up, a few banana pepper plants, a few bell pepper plants, and with okra and other crops still to plant....The heavy frost/freeze we had killed off my broculi and some of my head lettuce but the cabbage and leaf lettuce survived.

BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR FAMILY'S FOOD! Learn to can! Read Jackie Clay's articles on canning! If you can follow DIRECTIONS it is safe and boy does the food taste good! And I have managed to do it without blowing anybody up with the big pressure canner!

[Faye]

Right now I am reading a great book called "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle A Year of Food Life" by Barbara Kingsolver. *It is the story of her family moving back to the land and growing their own food or eating locally grown foods. *It is quite interesting.
Edited to correct spelling or rather typing.

[edward_4576]

The newest recall, 129,000 lbs. of meat. But the pigs that ate contaminated food products are safe for human consumption.

Yea...right

[WileyCoyote]

Don't Ya'll Think it is already tainted? First there was the story about China using antifreeze in medicines as sweetener instead of glycerin - because it was so much cheaper. But that was ok - it was only sold in Peru. Then it came out that it was in toothpaste - but that was ok, it was only sold in cheap stores like Family Dollar. Then it came out that it was also sold to hospitals, detention centers (jails and prisons), juvenile detention centers... Now it comes out that they are shutting down food processing plants in China because of health hazards.

But it is all purely accidental, and nothing to worry about - after all, it doesn't affect US, only THEM. Whomever "Them" might be.

[fishinhunter]

im just so worried about those CEOs of the big food companies.What will they do with out a 1/2 mil paycheck if we all start growing our own food?Poor CEOs.

[old_grump]

Dont need to be worrying over them CEO's The vast majority of people in this country will starve before the get off thier lazy backsides and do anything,like grow a garden. I grew a large garden-- 100% organic-- tried to give stuff away-- folks was too lazy to even come pick it--shameful

[Rancher]

I learned long ago to never believe anything I see and hear on CNN.
The United States is the worlds greatest Food EXPORTER. We produce more food with fewer workers on less ground per unit of area, than any other country. Furthermore, we have millions of acres of land that are set aside, (CRP land, etc) that can be put into production when needed.
Yes we import many foods that are not produced here (bananas mention above) but in total we export more food to other nations than does any other country.
We also have the most variety of food, of the best quality, than does any other nation. I know this to be a fact from my own experiences out of the U.S.
Less than 3 percent of our population produces the food in our country. This is a smalllest portion of population of any other country. We also have the best quality control on our food supply in the world. No other country compares to our quantity, variety and quality of food.
So, no, our food supply is not in danger, provided we keep terrorists at bay.