Preparing for Coronavirus?

[clean]

another article on the bad news for pig producers:

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2020/04/21/coronavirus-meatpacking-slowdown-force-iowa-pork-producers-euthanize-pigs-covid-19/5164368002/


With the processing plants shut down, producers may need to euthanize pigs (either piglets or market ready pigs).
Even IF China wanted to import the pork, there is not enough processing power to do so.

NOT in the article... When you are stressing the population of the herd by packing them closer together, you are opening the door for the animals to get sick and develop some other disease!  The fear is that the overpopulated herds in factory farms, that are making no revenue as they are unable to sell their pigs and must feed more and more of them will catch some bird flu or something else and wipe out the herds waiting for market. 

Also, with the states in budget crisis as well, will they be able to keep their health and safety inspections going at full force? 

IS a 'perfect storm' of events forming yet another catastrophe?

[Cheerful]

IS a 'perfect storm' of events forming yet another catastrophe?

A bacon shortage?!  A life without bacon is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

[Hibush]

NOT in the article... When you are stressing the population of the herd by packing them closer together, you are opening the door for the animals to get sick and develop some other disease!  The fear is that the overpopulated herds in factory farms, that are making no revenue as they are unable to sell their pigs and must feed more and more of them will catch some bird flu or something else and wipe out the herds waiting for market. 

People will have to pay more for pork if the herds are at lower populations. That said, ham was $1.49/lb last time I went to the store. So there is probably some upside pricing potential.

[clean]

People will have to pay more for pork if the herds are at lower populations. That said, ham was $1.49/lb last time I went to the store. So there is probably some upside pricing potential.

Yes, but not just for a few weeks.  You can not process what is not started.  So if the pork factories kill the piglets, then there wont be piggies going to market whenever piggies go to market. (I dont know what the 'production time' is from birth to market is for a pig).

So Today there is less pork because the processors are shutting down.  Later there wont be pigs TO process.  So prices will be heading up.

Switching to other agricultural interests discussed in some of those articles, NOW is the time that farmers would be planting corn and other grains that would be used to feed the pigs.  Prices for those crops are also near their bottom.  IF you were a farmer, would you plant if the prices were low NOW and there are fewer pigs going to need the seed?
OR If you are using the grain for ethanol, with oil at $11 a barrel (42 gallons in a barrel), and with so few people driving anywhere at the moment, WILL there be need to make alcohol (for driving)?   

[spork]

Ethanol regulations are a taxpayer-funded subsidy for corn farmers.

The whole U.S. agricultural system is a pile of sand.

[dismalist]

Absolutely, and it has led to starvation among some very poor [those who eat corn, but do not grow it] in the rest of the world.

Thus,  I wouldn't use "sand", rather a different word with the same first letter.

[Parasaurolophus]

All the food shortage talk here has been in terms of meat shortages. It's pretty hard for me to get exercised about that kind of first-world problem.

(I know there's spillover, and that other sectors are bound to be affected. It's just the framing of a meat shortage as "FOOD SHORTAGES!1!1!" I take issue with.)

[clean]

All the food shortage talk here has been in terms of meat shortages. It's pretty hard for me to get exercised about that kind of first-world problem.

(I know there's spillover, and that other sectors are bound to be affected. It just the framing of a meat shortage as "FOOD SHORTAGES!1!1!" I take issue with.)

Then you have missed parts of the discussion.
I included discussion of the farmers plowing under fields and the decision about whether to replant. I believe that I mentioned the Christmas Tree Shortage of 2019 caused by the 2008/9 financial issues hitting the growers at planting time.
The point is that agricultural prices are at lows.  Revenues are zero for a lot of farmers and ranchers.  Where will the money to replant come from, and will the planting cut backs lead to food shortages in the future?
It is one thing  to see empty shelves in the grocery store because of panic buying, and quite another to see empty shelves because there is nothing to stock them with!

[Parasaurolophus]

Then you have missed parts of the discussion.

My point was that it's not part of the discussion here (where I am, not in this thread!) at all. All I'm seeing are articles about food shortages that tell me about troubles in the meat-packing industry. No other foodstuffs are making it into the discussion.

[Aster]

Yeast is in critical shortage. The suppliers of the stuff simply cannot keep up with sudden, massive demand.

[downer]

Yeast is in critical shortage. The suppliers of the stuff simply cannot keep up with sudden, massive demand.

And so is flour of course, although maybe not so much.

[nebo113]

Yeast is in critical shortage. The suppliers of the stuff simply cannot keep up with sudden, massive demand.

My understanding is that there is plenty of yeast, but in commercial quantities, and that producers are having trouble downsizing for consumer use.

[Puget]

Yeast is in critical shortage. The suppliers of the stuff simply cannot keep up with sudden, massive demand.

My understanding is that there is plenty of yeast, but in commercial quantities, and that producers are having trouble downsizing for consumer use.

Right-- people aren't actually eating more (I don't think), they are just cooking and eating (and using the bathroom) at home instead of out. The supply chain is having trouble adjusting to this.

As someone who's been making all my own bread in my bread machine for the past 10+ years (same bread machine remarkably!) I find all this newfound interest in bread making both amusing and charming. Maybe this will finally end the gluten-free craze (for those who are not actually gluten intolerant/celiac)?

[ciao_yall]

Yeast is in critical shortage. The suppliers of the stuff simply cannot keep up with sudden, massive demand.

My understanding is that there is plenty of yeast, but in commercial quantities, and that producers are having trouble downsizing for consumer use.

Same with toilet paper. Unless you want to buy a pallet of those giant commercial-sized rolls.

[apl68]

Earlier today I went on one of my periodic scavenger hunts to find cleaning supplies for work.  At the local Wal-Mart the cleaning supply section just keeps looker barer and barer.  Now even supplies of things like Fabreze that are really more perfume than anything else are thinning out.  Are people trying to use those in lieu of the bleach and such that they can't find?

I found better stocks of cleaning supplies at local dollar stores.  Either I had the good fortune to arrive right after a shipment, or people are overlooking those stores in the ongoing rush to Wal-Mart.