It is now being projected that global demand for food will more than double over the next 50 years.  Right now there are over 6 billion people on earth.  Around 2040 or so there will be 9 billion people on earth.  By the 2060s, there would be over 11 billion people on earth.  So where in the world are we going to get the food to feed all of those people? 

A global food shortage is coming.  There is no possible way that the world can produce enough food for that many people under the current system.

Already 1 billion people in the world go to bed hungry every single night.

Already somewhere in the world someone starves to death every 3.6 seconds and 3/4 of them are children under the age of 5.

Already approximately a third of all children in the world under the age of five suffer from serious malnutrition.

And the bad news is that the world simply does not have enough water to grow much more food.

Just consider the following quote from IWMI director general Colin Chartres....

"Current estimates indicate that we will not have enough water to feed ourselves in 25 years time, by when the current food crisis may turn into a perpetual crisis."

Not only that, but because of overfarming and pollution, we are rapidly losing farm land.  Today almost 25% of the world’s farm land is affected by serious environmental degradation.  That is up from 15% two decades ago.

In some of the biggest countries in the world the environmental situation is absolutely nightmarish.

For example, it is estimated by authorities that 75 percent of India's surface water is contaminated by human and agricultural waste.  The truth is that there is over a billion people in India, but sanitation is still only just starting to be developed in many areas.  So many people there just "use the toilet" wherever they can.  In fact, according to a UN study on sanitation, far more people in India have access to a mobile phone than to a toilet.

But it just isn't places like India where rampant environmental degradation is a problem.

It is happening in the United States too.

It turns out that many big American cattle farms actually feed chicken manure to cattle because it is so inexpensive and because we produce far too much of it to properly dispose of as fertilizer.

So are you eating beef that is from cattle that were fed chicken manure every day?

How would you know?

Not only that, but the world cannot get much more food out of the oceans either.  29 percent of world fisheries are in a state of collapse according to Canadian scientist Boris Worm, and in the years ahead the world fishing industry may actually produce less food rather than more food.

But much more food will be needed in the years ahead.

The really sad thing is that we waste so much food right now.  In developed countries we throw away anywhere from one-third to one-half of all food produced.

Considering the fact that so many people in the world are suffering from a lack of food, that is absolutely criminal.

In the years ahead we won't be wasting that much food.  That is for certain.  We will look back on these days when there was plenty of food with longing.  These are still good times.  Even though the world economy is starting to spin out of control, the truth is that we haven't seen anything yet.  A devastating world economic collapse is on the way, and a global food shortage will follow shortly thereafter.

Are you ready?

So just what has been so bad about the winter of 2009/2010?

The truth is that for many areas of the northern hemisphere, it has been the most brutal winter in decades.  Record-setting cold temperatures and devastating winter storms have been sweeping North America, Europe and Asia with no apparent end in sight.  In fact, 877 snowfall records were set or tied in the United States in just one week in December alone.

At one point, 50 percent of the U.S. was already covered in snow in December.  That is extremely unusual for so early in the winter.

But things are not any better in Europe.  The death toll from brutal winter storms across Europe has risen to at least 80 people, as arctic temperatures and heavy snow continue to plague the continent.

Asia is feeling the effects of this harsh winter as well.  More than 30 people died in cold-weather related incidents in Northern India recently in just one 24 hour period.  Record setting snowfalls have been plaguing China and South Korea as well.

So what does all of this brutal winter weather mean for agricultural production?

Problems.

Big problems.

The U.K. has been experiencing the worst winter that they have seen in decades, and the extended cold temperatures there are absolutely destroying agricultural production in many areas as the Guardian recently reported....

"Sub-zero temperatures have made it impossible to extract some vegetables from the ground. Producers of brussels sprouts and cabbages are all reporting problems with harvesting. Cauliflowers are said to have turned to mush in the sustained frost."

In fact, the Guardian is reporting that the prices for some types of produce have already begun to spike in many areas....

"Greengrocers in some of the worst-hit areas are reporting shortages, with the price of carrots and parsnips reportedly rising by 30% in some small shops."

The unusually cold temperatures are having a particularly harsh impact on areas that are not accustomed to seeing below freezing temperatures.  For example, citrus crops throughout the state of Florida have been absolutely destroyed in many areas by the recent string of cold weather.

The New York Times describes the situation there this way....

"This was not the standard winter chill. For nearly two weeks, the Sunshine State felt like a meat locker with record lows north and south. Economists said the total cost to agriculture alone could reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars, adding another bruise to Florida’s beaten-down economy."

So what will the weather in Florida mean to our food bills?

The agriculture expert quoted by the New York Times was very grim in his assessment....

"Tomatoes were down around $14 for a 25-pound box; now they are up over $20," said Gene McAvoy, an agriculture expert with the University Florida, who predicted $100 million in vegetable losses. "Peppers — just after New Years they were $8 a box; now they’re up around $18."

This all comes at a time when a U.S. government report is revealing that the nation's farmers planted the fewest winter wheat acres in any season since 1913.  According to the report from the Department of Agriculture, the total acres of winter wheat planted for 2010 is 37.1 million acres, which is down 14 percent nationwide from last year.

So what does all of this mean?

It means that there is going to be a lot less food grown.

A basic law of economics is that when supply goes down, prices go up.

That is exactly what is going to happen.

All over the world agriculture is being devastated this winter, and that is going to result in higher food prices all over the globe.

There will even be food shortages in many areas of the world.

So exactly how bad are things going to get?

Well, nobody knows for sure yet, but food isn't going to get any cheaper. 

You might want to run out and buy a few extra (or a few dozen extra) cans of vegetables.

So just how bad are things around the world?

*India has announced that it has suffered its worst drought in 37 years, with total rainfall 23 percent below average at the end of that nation's four-month monsoon season.  Approximately 65 percent of India's farms are unirrigated and depend on rainfall during the monsoon season, so the lack of rainfall is hitting those farmers particularly hard.

*In east Africa things are even worse.  The drought there has reached its fifth year, and it is estimated that 23 million Africans in that region are on the verge of starvation.  In a statement, Paul Smith Lomas, Oxfam's East Africa Director said this about the situation: "This is the worst humanitarian crisis Oxfam has seen in east Africa for over ten years."

*The drought in Australia has gotten so bad that it is being called the new "dust bowl" and a recent dust storm in Sydney was so severe that it actually turned the sky red.

*In Texas, farmers and ranchers are desperately hoping for rain as the extreme drought has cost the agricultural sector billions of dollars.

*The water crisis has gotten so bad in California that the Obama administration has urged California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to call state lawmakers into a special session just to deal with it.

*Saudi Arabia had been producing enough wheat to be self-sufficient for over 20 years, but in 2008 they realized that the non-replenishable aquifer they had been pumping for irrigation purposes was nearly depleted.  So in response that nation decided to reduce their wheat harvest by one-eighth every year.  Wheat production there is scheduled to cease entirely in 2016.  After that they will be importing all of the wheat that their entire nation depends upon.

So what does all of this mean?

It means two things.

#1) The world is running out of water.

#2) The world is running out of food.

If things don't turn around dramatically very, very soon millions of people are going to starve.  There simply will not be enough food to feed everyone.

Those who are able to buy food for their families will notice much higher food prices.  That is what happens when demand continues to go up while supply drops like a rock.

Even in our technologically advanced society, extreme drought means famine.

We are facing a true global food emergency.  The world demand for food is going to be much higher than the world supply of food in 2010.  Not everyone is going to make it.

Are you ready?

Even in such technologically advanced times, the reality is that the food supply is not immune to droughts and plagues.  Even the United States has been dramatically affected.  Just consider the following examples.....

*All time record breaking heat and drought continues to plague the state of Texas. In fact, extreme drought conditions can be found in many agricultural areas throughout the United States this summer.

*If the drought conditions were not bad enough, a disease known as "late blight" is absolutely devastating tomato and potato plants in the eastern half of the United States. The prices for those two staple foods could shoot through the roof, hitting already hurting American consumers really hard.

*In addition, farmers all over the United States are reporting very disappointing harvests. For example, the very weak wheat harvest this year is seriously disappointing farmers across the state of Illinois.

But it is not just the U.S. that is experiencing serious agricultural problems. In fact, the news from the rest of the world is even more troubling.

*Agricultural scientists fear that Ug99, a devastating wheat fungus also known as stem rust, could wipe out over 80 percent of the world's wheat crop as it spreads out from Africa.

*Harvests all across the globe are frighteningly low. Just check out the following troubling reports from the Market Skeptics blog.....

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1) Bulgaria harvest will be around 20% lower than last season's output.

2) Argentine farmers will plant just 2.6 million hectares of winter wheat for the 2009/10 season, a stunning 2.1 million less than was planted in 2008/09 (down nearly 45%).

3) Part of the reason behind lower plantings is a two fingered salute to the government and their export restrictions.

4) Brazil, the world's third largest wheat importer, bought 51,000 MT of US wheat last week, more than it bought in the entire first six months of the year.

5) With the Brazilian real strengthening against the dollar, Brazilian millers that are being forced to look for supplies are finding US wheat fitting the bill quite nicely.

6) Canadian crop development lags with 60% of winter grains are behind normal development. Spring grains development is even further behind, with 75% of crops affected.

7) Ukraine will only produce 35 MMT of grain this season, 35 percent less than last year.

8 ) 3.3 million hectares of the Russia’s spring crops have been badly damaged by drought. Production this year is seen lower at around 55-60 MMT from 63.7 MMT in 2008.

9) Sugar hit it's highest in three years last week.

10) The lack of monsoon rains in northern India was the main driver of the rally in sugar. World demand is outstripping supply by over six million tonnes at the moment, and India is set to potentially become the world's largest importer this year.

11) Spanish wheat output is now projected 32% lower this year at 3.8 MMT.

12) Rain is damaging crops in the UK and across Europe.

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When you add up all of the recent agricultural news stories it means one thing: a massive food crisis is on the way.

Harvests around the world are going to be much smaller at a time when world demand for food is at an all-time high.

In other words, there are going to be food shortages.

Very serious food shortages.

Are you all starting to get the point.

In just a few months, the world is going to have a lot less food than what it needs.  When people around the world find that they can't feed their families, there will likely be food riots that will make the food riots of 2008 look like a walk in the park.

In the United States, there will not be shortages of food - at least at first.  But what this will mean is that there will be dramatic price increases at the supermarket.

Are you ready?

Now is the time to ensure that you and your family are prepared for the food crisis that is ahead.

We encourage you to take advantage of the low prices on emergency food that are out there right now while you still can:

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