‘Food security timebomb’: a visual guide to the Gulf fertiliser blockade | Strait of Hormuz
Posted by Creepyfaction@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 24 comments
Calm_One_1228@reddit
This was an unforced error only Donald Trump could commit. He will cause yet more death and misery …
flriverlivin@reddit
US alone throws away about 133 billion pounds of food a year. Globally, there is roughly 1B tonnes of food waste a year. Trump may be an idiot, but this could be a blessing in disguise both forcing more environmentally friendly (non-fossil fuel based) options for fertilizer, and conservation of food.
RandomBoomer@reddit
So Americans won't die of famine, but many other places import food. They'll be hit by both higher costs of the food itself and higher costs for the distribution of that food, or eventually no food to be had at any price because counties that have the food will keep it for themselves.
As always, it's the poorest of the poor, at the end of that broken supply chain, that will suffer the most.
Unwasted food is not going to save them.
flriverlivin@reddit
You already contradicted yourself. Supply chain is not food production. Fertilizer is food production, not distribution. Yes there is more than enough food created globally for no one to go hungry. Reduction of fertilizer production is no way impacts logistics of food distribution, or that people live where there is no food.
RandomBoomer@reddit
Supply chain affects EVERYTHING about food. Shut down the Strait of Hormuz and you choke off more than just fertilizer, and you raise the price of food at numerous points as it works its way through that distribution system to the people who are hungry.
Yes, there is food wastage in the U.S. Yes, fertilizer shortage will put pressure on U.S. food producers to be more careful, and on everyone to waste less food. Food will still go up in price, but we won't starve. All good... for the U.S.
My point was that other countries will not benefit from this pressure. Net importers of food will face even higher prices for the food they import because oil prices are rising, therefore transportation and distribution costs will rise.
Reducing food wastage in the U.S. does not put food on the table of the poorest people at the end of the food distribution system in other countries.
flriverlivin@reddit
Going outside the scope of the article. Fertilizer. Global food waste over a billion tonnes. That means there is over production, and not enough consumption. Supply chain for final product is not food creation, not by a long shot. Russia, Iran and Venezuela sanctioned for years... amazingly there was no impact. 🤔
loralailoralai@reddit
You’re going on stats from before this trump mess. Without fertiliser there won’t BE overproduction especially not in places that are already on the edge.
You’re either wilfully obtuse or ignorant as to what the world outside your little box is facing
flriverlivin@reddit
Apparently fertilizer isn't made anywhere else and the top 5 fertilizer producers in the world (US, Canada, Russia, China and India) will be incapable of increasing production. 🙃 Perhaps imagining that the only place fertilizer comes from is that region, is a bit over dramatic.
flriverlivin@reddit
'Oh no! Fossil fuel based fertilizers have been dramatically reduced, what will we do!' 🤔
RicardoHonesto@reddit
Go hungry?
flriverlivin@reddit
Hilarity. This sub is mostly about the damage fossil fuels do, now it's pro fossil fuels? The world wastes about 1B tonnes of food a year. If only we could figure out what organic farmers use for fertilizer...🤔.
IntoTheCommonestAsh@reddit
If thing A is causing collapse, and thing A itself collapses, then that's still obviously relevant to r/collapse. Collapse doesn't stop being collapse when it's not politically on your side.
flriverlivin@reddit
Oil isn't collapsing, though its use is highly pollutive, as are the fertilizers that come from it. You can ignore the food waste aspect and somehow imagine the only place fertilizer comes from is Strait of Hormuz and that fossil fuel based fertilizer is the only option. Doesn't make it true. Have a great one.
Known_Expression1308@reddit
Yes, we could definitely do better to waste less food, but the real issue here is we are taking food offline. Surely you could agree that it would be safer to waste less in a way that didn't involve less food being grown? In a perfect world, people would do this. But we don't live in a perfect world, and we won't focus on waste issues until we have no other choice. And to force that choice upon us, countless innocent lives will perish. Perhaps this is a necessary pain to move forward, but surely you can understand the urgent and serious concern some have of this.
flriverlivin@reddit
Food waste means over production and non-consumption. Do you imagine that even half of the 1B tonnes/year of food waste equates to amount of fertilizer coming out of Hormuz? Do you also imagine that it is impossible to manufacture fertilizer elsewhere? US, Canada, Russia, China and India are the top producers. Do you imagine it is somehow impossible for them to ramp up production?
RicardoHonesto@reddit
The issue is, without fossil fuels, we can't sustain a population of 8 billion without a 3rd world lifestyle for everyone.
flriverlivin@reddit
Woooo big goal post move. 'Without the straight of Hormuz 8B will die.' The drama is ridiculous. Russia Iran and Venezuela heavily restricted on oil distribution for years... somehow the population continued to grow.
Known_Expression1308@reddit
You didn't respond to my primary point
flriverlivin@reddit
I am unsure as to your primary point. Perhaps simply just post said point.
Karambamamba@reddit
Have a great one.
RicardoHonesto@reddit
Can you feed 8 billion people without oil based fertiliser? Do you know something we don't?
flriverlivin@reddit
Ah you are purposely ignoring my suggestion. Have a great one.
StatementBot@reddit
The following submission statement was provided by /u/Creepyfaction:
"The world has become well versed in the importance of the strait of Hormuz to the world’s energy flows, but attention is increasingly turning to its vital role in another market – the fertiliser on which harvests depend.
A third of the global trade in raw materials for fertiliser passes through the maritime choke point, which is also the route for 20% of shipments of natural gas, which is required to make it.
The waterway’s near-total shipping blockade is a “food security timebomb”, the head of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, said this week, adding: “The window to avert a massive global hunger crisis is rapidly closing.”"
As mentioned in the past, the conflict in the Middle East is not just creating a worldwide energy crisis, but a food security crisis as well.
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1sbydeo/food_security_timebomb_a_visual_guide_to_the_gulf/oe6znau/
Creepyfaction@reddit (OP)
"The world has become well versed in the importance of the strait of Hormuz to the world’s energy flows, but attention is increasingly turning to its vital role in another market – the fertiliser on which harvests depend.
A third of the global trade in raw materials for fertiliser passes through the maritime choke point, which is also the route for 20% of shipments of natural gas, which is required to make it.
The waterway’s near-total shipping blockade is a “food security timebomb”, the head of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, said this week, adding: “The window to avert a massive global hunger crisis is rapidly closing.”"
As mentioned in the past, the conflict in the Middle East is not just creating a worldwide energy crisis, but a food security crisis as well.