(The Economic Collapse Blog)—We tend to think of the global food crisis as something that is happening on the other side of the world. And it is certainly true that there are vast hordes of impoverished people that are desperate for food in other areas of the planet right now, because hunger is spreading like wildfire in poor countries. But the truth is that hunger is spreading rapidly in the United States as well. According to a report that was just released by the USDA, a whopping 44 million Americans now live in “food insecure households”…
The number of people living in food insecure households in the United States in 2022 increased to 44 million, including 13 million children, according to a report released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This is an increase of 31% for all individuals and 44% for children from the previous year, the highest rate and number of individuals and children since 2014 and the largest one-year increase in food insecurity since 2008.
So exactly what are “food insecure households”?
That is just a politically-correct way of saying that they don’t have enough food to eat.
As you can see from the overall rate of increase and the rate of increase for children, hunger has been absolutely exploding in this country.
According to this new report, one out of every five children in the U.S. now lives in a food insecure household…
“The USDA released data showing that 1 in 7 people, including 1 in 5 children, in the U.S live in food insecure households,” said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, Feeding America CEO. “This news is heartbreaking, but sadly, it is not surprising. People facing hunger have shared with us that the end of pandemic-era relief efforts and the high cost of food have impacted their ability to make ends meet. I see the long lines myself as I travel across the country. Food banks have been reporting that they are operating under increasing pressure from both sides: the growing number of people experiencing food insecurity and a diminished supply of nutritious food to distribute. Food donations and fundraising have decreased since the pandemic, and while we know the USDA has been working to help, it simply has not been enough.”
One out of every five!
After reading that, how can anyone out there possibly claim that we are not facing a food crisis? And it is important to keep in mind that this new report reflects conditions in 2022. How much worse will the numbers for this year be?
As I discussed last week, the Wall Street Journal has reported that homelessness in the United States is rising at the fastest pace ever recorded this year.
And demand at food banks all over the nation has risen to unprecedented levels. Sadly, it isn’t just the U.S. that is hurting. Right now, we are in the early chapters of the worst global food crisis in modern history.
According to the UN’s World Food Program, war, “economic shocks”, crazy weather patterns and soaring fertilizer prices “are all combining in a perfect storm to create a hunger crisis of unprecedented proportions”.
The situation is particularly dire in Africa. We have reached a point where at least three-fourths of the entire population of the continent cannot afford a healthy diet…
At least three-fourths of Africans cannot afford a healthy diet, and a fifth are undernourished due to an “unprecedented food crisis,” United Nations agencies said in a report released Thursday with the African Union Commission.
In Sudan, 42 percent of the population is now facing acute food insecurity, but most people in the western world don’t even know that this is happening…
Since the start of the conflict in April 2023, acute food insecurity in Sudan has strongly increased, further worsening an already alarming nutrition crisis.
Prior to conflict, food insecurity was at the highest levels in a decade, with 11.7 million people (1/4 of the population) facing acute hunger. Sudan had one of the highest numbers of people in the emergency level of food insecurity (IPC4), with 3.1 million people affected.
According to the Mid-Year Update of the Global Report on Food Crises, due to the conflict, an additional 8.6 million people in the Sudan are facing high levels of acute food insecurity.
This is a 74% increase since the 2022 peak, bringing the total to 20.3 million people (42% of the population) in IPC Phase 3 or above during July-September 2023.
If you have never watched “Alone”, I would encourage you to watch a few episodes in order to get an idea of what can happen to the human body after several weeks when there is not enough food available. Because it appears that the global food crisis is going to get even worse in 2024.
Rice is one of the most important staples for billions of people worldwide, and rice prices have been skyrocketing in recent months…
Rice prices are on the verge of hitting new 15-year highs as the damage effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon across Asia have damaged farmlands, leading to dwindling supplies.
Thai white rice 5% broken hit $640 per ton this week. These prices are back to levels not seen since October 2008. Prices are up over 50% since the start of 2022.
India had already severely restricted rice exports, and now they have decided to also restrict the export of onions…
India added onions to the nation’s expanding list of food staples slapped with sweeping export restrictions, as the government seeks to contain domestic prices ahead of a national election next year.
Overseas shipments of onions will be banned until March 31, although cargoes of vegetables that started loading prior to the notification can still be exported, the government said Friday.
Wealthy nations are running into very serious food production issues as well.
Here in the United States, beef prices are already at a record high, and the USDA is warning us that beef production continues to fall…
The USDA projects beef production to be down by 180 million pounds over a six-month period by the end of 2023, while the Insider noted that the average size of herds is at 61-year record lows as farmers struggle to feed their animals.
In the UK, “one of the lowest potato harvests on record” is creating a tremendous amount of concern…
UK farmers are struggling with one of the lowest potato harvests on record after an autumn of heavy rain, raising fears about supplies for this year’s Christmas dinners and beyond.
Experts are also warning that supermarkets could be forced to increase imports for vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower, pushing up the environmental impact of the Christmas meal. They could look as far afield as Egypt for potatoes from next year.
In France, authorities are sounding the alarm about a resurgence of the bird flu…
France raised the risk level of bird flu to ‘high’ from ‘moderate’ on Tuesday after new cases of the disease were detected, forcing poultry farms to keep birds indoors to stem the spread of the highly contagious virus.
The decision by the agriculture ministry was published in the Official Journal on Tuesday.
Avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, has led to the culling of hundreds of millions birds worldwide in recent years.
The bird flu pandemic has already wiped out more than a hundred million chickens and turkeys in the United States and Europe combined, and now it is back in a major way.
So what is the bottom line?
The bottom line is that global food supplies are going to get even tighter, and the devastating global food crisis that I have been warning about in my books has already begun.
One out of every five U.S. children already do not have enough food to eat, and that number will inevitably go even higher as this global food crisis slowly evolves into a true global famine.
Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.
