All Famines Are Man-Made
BY Herschel Smith
2 years, 6 months ago
Via Instapundit, NPR discusses the upcoming famine beginning in Ukraine.
The day after Russia invaded Ukraine, Lebanon’s economy minister announced the country of 6.8 million people had enough wheat reserves to last just one month.
Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of agriculture, which Lebanon depends on. Ukraine alone exported more than $27 billion in agricultural products to the world last year. About 80% of Lebanon’s wheat comes from Ukraine.
So when the war started, so did worries of food shortages and price hikes.
“You could say the majority of the Lebanese population is living in survival mode,” said Maya Terro, founder of the non-profit organization FoodBlessed Lebanon, which feeds vulnerable people in Beirut.
Weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, food prices soared. The invasion sent ripples beyond the immediate conflict zone, breaking supply chains and creating food shortages as two of the world’s biggest food exporters went to war.
In response, Egypt’s prime minister fixed bread prices, Bangladesh launched a nationwide food subsidy program, and consumers in Indonesia noticed a favorite instant noodle dish went out of stock.
It’s too late to salvage the situation now. This famine was man-made.
China is doing it too. It’s now too late for China too.
If you think your elitist betters aren’t capable of such a thing, think again.
CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF), a leading global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products, today informed customers it serves by Union Pacific rail lines that railroad-mandated shipping reductions would result in nitrogen fertilizer shipment delays during the spring application season and that it would be unable to accept new rail sales involving Union Pacific for the foreseeable future. The Company understands that it is one of only 30 companies to face these restrictions.
CF Industries ships to customers via Union Pacific rail lines primarily from its Donaldsonville Complex in Louisiana and its Port Neal Complex in Iowa. The rail lines serve key agricultural areas such as Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and California. Products that will be affected include nitrogen fertilizers such as urea and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) as well as diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), an emissions control product required for diesel trucks. CF Industries is the largest producer of urea, UAN and DEF in North America, and its Donaldsonville Complex is the largest single production facility for the products in North America.
“The timing of this action by Union Pacific could not come at a worse time for farmers,” said Tony Will, president and chief executive officer, CF Industries Holdings, Inc. “Not only will fertilizer be delayed by these shipping restrictions, but additional fertilizer needed to complete spring applications may be unable to reach farmers at all. By placing this arbitrary restriction on just a handful of shippers, Union Pacific is jeopardizing farmers’ harvests and increasing the cost of food for consumers.”
On Friday, April 8, 2022, Union Pacific informed CF Industries without advance notice that it was mandating certain shippers to reduce the volume of private cars on its railroad effective immediately. The Company was told to reduce its shipments by nearly 20%. CF Industries believes it will still be able to fulfill delivery of product already contracted for rail shipment to Union Pacific destinations, albeit with likely delays. However, because Union Pacific has told the Company that noncompliance will result in the embargo of its facilities by the railroad, CF Industries may not have available shipping capacity to take new rail orders involving Union Pacific rail lines to meet late season demand for fertilizer.
The application of nitrogen fertilizer is critical to maximizing crop yields. If farmers are unable to secure all the nitrogen fertilizer that they require in the current season because of supply chain disruptions such as rail shipping restrictions, the Company expects yield will be lower. This will likely extend the timeline to replenish global grains stocks. Low global grains stocks continue to support high front month and forward prices for nitrogen-consuming crops, which has contributed to higher food prices.
CF Industries intends to engage directly with the federal government to ask that fertilizer shipments be prioritized so that spring planting is not adversely impacted.
This is happening, if I’m not mistaken, because the unions have been told to delay and curtail shipments.
Is it too late for America now?
Michael Yon discusses Panfawar. Pandemic, war and famine all go together, are all related, and are all man-made. Never forget that. Famines are man-made. Your betters apparently want you to starve to death.
This is warfare as surely as artillery strikes.
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On April 22, 2022 at 1:02 am, PGF said:
Berkshire Hathaway currently owns significant stakes in BNSF Railway Co., Norfolk Southern Corp. and Union Pacific Railroad.
Remember when I told you: “Oil is another. Ok, we’ll name some interests. By shutting down the pipeline from North Dakota to the refineries in Texas, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates (Yes, Gates is in the railroad biz with Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway) cornered the market on the transport of crude from the upper tier to the Gulf Coast refiners. They own the railroad needed to move the crude. In fact, after shutting down the pipeline through government action, they got another law passed that tightened the regulatory requirements of oil rail transport cars. You guessed it; Buffet and Gates had the only rail cars that complied with the new specification. No, they don’t actually care about the “environment.”
https://www.captainsjournal.com/2022/03/20/artificial-scarcity/
The same people that want you vaccinated to death, and population reduction to below 1 billion, are now in on the plan to starve you. Buffet and Gates own the north-south railroads that service those states mentioned in Herschel’s article.
On April 22, 2022 at 7:19 am, ragman said:
Exactly! Suspicious fires at fertilizer and food processing plants, government paying farmers not to grow food and food cost inflation will result in mass starvation. All part of our elite’s plan.
On April 22, 2022 at 9:47 am, ExpatNJ said:
If “all famines are man-made”, then how would the Irish Potato Famine be explained?
On April 22, 2022 at 9:51 am, Herschel Smith said:
Ah, I knew this would happen.
So the potato blight occurred, of course, but pictures of foods being exported while the Irish starved caused outrage among the Irish. Ireland continued to produce enough food to feed itself.
As for that matter, America could produce enough food to feed the whole world, times several (2 or 3 or 4).
Famine is always caused by interruptions in the flow of food from one place to another.
On April 22, 2022 at 10:54 am, Fred said:
These coming shortages seem ripe for claiming overpopulation as the root of the problem. There are just too many of you useless peasant eaters.
On April 22, 2022 at 11:01 am, PGF said:
All famines are spiritual famines!
Behind every famine is a managerial, fascist for profit, class desiring control. Perhaps you’ve heard; the desire to control others is the signal pathology of the wicked.
On April 22, 2022 at 11:11 am, blake said:
Instalanche!
On April 22, 2022 at 11:12 am, blake said:
Does anyone have a handle on why unions have decided this is a great time to stage a work slow down?
On April 22, 2022 at 12:22 pm, Milwaukee said:
ExpatNJ
To elaborate, the Irish potato blight only affected the potatoes. The Irish were still exporting wheat, beef, pork, dairy products, wine, and everything not a potato. The Irish tenement farmers were allowed to eat potatoes and surrender the other foods. The English, by refusing charity were determined to protect the character of the Irish. Who doesn’t know accepting charity maybe character destroying? My guess is the Irish would have been happy to eat, and live, and worried about their character later.
On April 22, 2022 at 12:29 pm, Pillage Idiot said:
I assume unions are involved now because they have reached the point of “maximum leverage”. When you are unfireable, there are no consequences to pissing off the majority of the public.
Any company with a competitor could not engage in behavior like that.
I do hope someone chimes in with more info that specifically addresses your question.
On April 22, 2022 at 12:29 pm, Charles Thompson said:
ExpatNJ – Ireland exported food throughout the potato famine. There was plenty of food, the poor just couldn’t afford it. They depended primary on one crop for sustenance and when it failed due to phytophthora infestens the poor were well and truly screwed. Potatoes aren’t the only plant that propagate through rhizomes, bananas do to and it’s only a matter of time before a blight hits the Cavendish variety and so long banana splits.
On April 22, 2022 at 12:48 pm, Red Man said:
Granted there is a war going on in Ukraine, but has it affected the farm lands far from the various fronts? Has the whole of the countries agriculture been shut down? Inquiring minds want to know.
On April 22, 2022 at 12:54 pm, markedup2 said:
Does anyone have a handle on why unions have decided this is a great time to stage a work slow down?
You mean other than the obvious “time of maximum leverage”? One doesn’t call a strike when no one cares if you strike.
It also helpful if the powers-that-be support unions. Can anyone even imagine Biden breaking a strike (ala Reagan and air traffic controllers)?
That seems sufficient without any conspiracy theories.
On April 22, 2022 at 12:54 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@Red Man,
I suspect that most farmers are fighting or serving in some other way. Men of military age (that’s currently defined up to 62 in Ukraine) cannot leave the country and have been drafted.
On April 22, 2022 at 2:16 pm, Steve Kellmeyer said:
The Irish Potato Famine was caused by the British. Sure, the blight killed the potato crop, but grains being grown in Ireland could have been used to replace the missing potato.
Instead, the British deliberately shipped ALL of the grain abroad. They deliberately starved the Irish. Jewish charities in London tried to pick up the slack by donating food, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
The British actually have a long history of starving subjugated nations. Check out the Indian famine caused by the East India Company immediately prior to the American Revolution. The EIC essentially controlled the British Parliament, and deliberately starved the Indian subcontinent in order to ship grain for sale abroad (exactly as they would do to the Irish a century later).
The starvation of an entire subcontinent was one of the reasons American colonists revolted against the British. Even though the Tea Act *REDUCED* the tax on tea, the design was to empower the EIC’s control over the American colonies. Pamphlets at the time pointed out to the Americans that if the EIC got economic control, the Americans would be starved to death just as the Indians were.
The threat of corporate-sponsored starvation is why, despite a reduction in tea tax, the Boston Tea Party happened.
On April 22, 2022 at 4:29 pm, Sisu said:
Red Man,
I cannot at present recall / find the article(s) or analysis(ses) from earlier this week I was reading, but (as I recall) – While Russian forces initially avoided damage and destruction to agricultural lands, the continued conflict now suggests for a variety of reasons that agricultural production would be 2/3rds or so of pre-war years. Lebanon, Egypt, and others are most directly impacted.
Regardless, as emphasized above “supply” and “demand” require more than a graph to “meet”; the logistics have been negatively impacted, if not shut down.
On April 22, 2022 at 5:31 pm, Georgiaboy61 said:
Re: “The same people that want you vaccinated to death, and population reduction to below 1 billion, are now in on the plan to starve you. Buffet and Gates own the north-south railroads that service those states mentioned in Herschel’s article.”
Attacking the food supply of a population with the intent of starving that population to death is – under international law (to say nothing of laws higher and more-definitive than those) – an act of war.
The British Royal Navy blockaded Imperial Germany during the Great War, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people.
In the Second World War, in retaliation for the Dutch underground resistance aiding Allied efforts to free Holland during Operation Market-Garden, the Nazi regime cut off most of the food supply of Holland during the winter of 1944-1945.
Also in the Second World War, the German forces encircling Leningrad (today, St. Petersburg, Russia) in the old USSR, caused starvation to such an extent during the more-than-year-long siege that people were eating their horses, dogs and cats, and sometimes one another. And one of the means by which the Red Army compelled the surrender of the encircled German 6th Army at Stalingrad was to cut off its food supply. His forces hungry, frozen, and out of ammunition and other critical supplies, Field Marshal Friedrich von Paulus had no choice but to surrender.
Given that this attack upon humanity by the globalists is being waged for “all the marbles,” i.e., they are waging war with intent to kill – when does humanity begin to fight back?
Re: “This is warfare as surely as artillery strikes.”
Indeed it is. War waged by means other than bombs, bullets and rockets is still war. A city population wiped out by an intentional famine is just as dead as one killed in a bombing raid or strategic missile strike.
On April 22, 2022 at 8:05 pm, Bradley A Graham said:
“First and foremost, We will use food-aid to change behavior”…….
Catherine Bertini , Executive Director UN World Food Program
September 1995…..Beijing,China
On April 22, 2022 at 9:17 pm, Levi Garrett said:
“Indeed it is. War waged by means other than bombs, bullets and rockets is still war. A city population wiped out by an intentional famine is just as dead as one killed in a bombing raid or strategic missile strike.”
I agree wholeheartedly. But will people wake up, recognize it as such, and fight for their lives? The elites are waging this war all the while making it look as if these terrible circumstances are simply an unfortunate series of events that are springing up organically.
On April 23, 2022 at 2:30 am, Dan said:
Famine is a tool of control. One favored by the more subtle tyrants. Most morons believe the lies that lack of food is due to external factors like draught and pests….because occasionally those factors play a part in famine. But famine is a means of controlling people and eradicating people. So it ALWAYS has a human factor of tyranny involved.
On April 23, 2022 at 5:43 pm, Jack Aubrey said:
Found this at Conservative Treehouse the other day:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/04/17/union-pacific-rail-line-begins-restricting-u-s-fertilizer-distribution/
Sundance implicated Blackrock and Vanguard as major stockholders in CF and UP. Something doesn’t smell right….
On April 24, 2022 at 10:49 pm, Georgiaboy61 said:
@ Jack Aubrey
Re: “Sundance implicated Blackrock and Vanguard as major stockholders in CF and UP. Something doesn’t smell right….”
Larry Fink, the billionaire leftist, globalist and hater of the United States of America, is a mainstay of the World Economic Forum, so your suspicions have a firm basis in fact.
Blackrock is arm-twisting in the transportation and logistics sectors just like it is throwing its weight around in the RE and housing markets.
In the unfolding war of the globalist elites against the rest of humanity, Fink has certainly planted his flag, hasn’t he?
On April 25, 2022 at 7:18 am, Daniel smith said:
It’s hilarious listening to all the politicians talk about farming, and not a single one actually has ever farmed a day in their life. The problem is, most Americans are dumb as hell and believe the drivel coming from their mouths. Russia very well may hold a huge wheat reserve or sell the majority in the market, whatever it is; but that’s just because we sell the majority to the international market. Right now (last year and subsequent years rather) it’s soybeans. Every farmer is growing soy. That’s because each year what dictates what they grow is 100% driven by the market value. It will be clearer for people to understand thisbyear, it’s going to be wheat. I’ll wager most every farmer, if capable, will be growing winter wheat; because that’s going to be the cash crop for the next few years. That and corn. It really doesn’t matter what some random country is doing. One year they can export something and the next they will be consuming it. Farming market is like one of the most evolving markets in existence. But of course politicians use it as a talking point and fear tactic.
On April 25, 2022 at 7:45 am, Herschel Smith said:
In this post, and in the sources linked (cited) not a single politician has been quoted.
The citations are all of manufacturers and distributors.