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NickB79

(19,113 posts)
Sat May 21, 2022, 10:39 PM May 2022

A food insecurity expert predicts that there's only 10 weeks of wheat supplies left in the world as

Source: Insider

The world has about 10 weeks of wheat supplies stored as Russia's invasion of Ukraine enters its fourth month, a food insecurity expert told the UN.

Sara Menker, the CEO of agriculture analytics firm Gro Intelligence, told the UN Security Council that the Russia-Ukraine war was not the cause of a food security crisis but "simply added fuel to a fire that was long burning."

Ukraine is considered the world's "breadbasket" and Russia and Ukraine combined account for almost a third of the world's wheat exports.

Read more: https://www.insider.com/world-has-10-weeks-of-wheat-supplies-left-in-storage-food-expert-warns-2022-5



Well hell.
70 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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A food insecurity expert predicts that there's only 10 weeks of wheat supplies left in the world as (Original Post) NickB79 May 2022 OP
Flour hoarding begins in 3... 2... 1... truthisfreedom May 2022 #1
I stocked up months ago. Igel May 2022 #11
You sound well-prepared Marthe48 May 2022 #41
It'll be temporary. Igel May 2022 #57
Thank you for the reassurance Marthe48 May 2022 #59
same here gay texan May 2022 #56
25 lb. bag of wheat was added to my CostCo shopping list. n/t aggiesal May 2022 #15
We will be using six dollar gas to drive to buy ten dollar bread. Chainfire May 2022 #2
I've got 6 million 1923 Deutsche marks Marthe48 May 2022 #43
I have a $100T Zimbabwe note. roamer65 May 2022 #65
Is that 100 trillion? Marthe48 May 2022 #67
Yup 100 trillion dollars. roamer65 May 2022 #68
Here are the 10 countries with the most wheat production: DURHAM D May 2022 #3
I believe India dweller May 2022 #4
Since they are not in the top ten exporters, Mr.Bill May 2022 #5
#2 dweller May 2022 #7
#2 of producers, yes, but not even in the list of exporters, which was the point being made. Rabrrrrrr May 2022 #27
India is going through an extreme heat drought wnylib May 2022 #31
Why India Just Limited Wheat Exports DURHAM D May 2022 #6
Climate change is killing their wheat crop IronLionZion May 2022 #8
Just for clarity, that 2nd list is value in dollars muriel_volestrangler May 2022 #21
+10 Thanks nt reACTIONary May 2022 #48
I think Canada produces, and exports, more wheat per capita than any other country Bernardo de La Paz May 2022 #24
lol Lets do the Macaroni DURHAM D May 2022 #34
Apart from Lithuania and Latvia, from the list in #21 muriel_volestrangler May 2022 #50
Cool! Bernardo de La Paz May 2022 #55
K n R ! Thanks for posting another... JoeOtterbein May 2022 #9
Last time this happened (winter of '47), all the celiacs marybourg May 2022 #10
+1. You found the positive in all this. Hoyt May 2022 #13
Corn and rice flours might become more important now. wnylib May 2022 #32
Farmers are planning on planting more soy than corn womanofthehills May 2022 #63
Plant corn the way that Native Americans did it. wnylib May 2022 #64
"exports" is the key consideration. Running out of exported wheat doesn't affect all countries. Pobeka May 2022 #12
They will export it if they can get a higher price ToxMarz May 2022 #14
But the price of wheat will skyrocket in the US Kablooie May 2022 #17
We could regulate that if we had a functional Congress... NullTuples May 2022 #19
About 70% of US wheat is winter wheat radical noodle May 2022 #30
Yes, the headline is extremely negative, wrong and must have been designed to be click-bait. machoneman May 2022 #44
Admittedly, it won't be a devastating situation for most of the world. 70sEraVet May 2022 #49
"Wrong"? No, that's hasn't been shown , at all muriel_volestrangler May 2022 #51
145 countries are net importers of wheat muriel_volestrangler May 2022 #52
While wheat scarcity is a real issue in parts of the world, this smacks of market manipulation. Fiendish Thingy May 2022 #16
I tend to agree with you Farmer-Rick May 2022 #29
I am heading out to buy toilet paper. twodogsbarking May 2022 #46
I'm guessing that as soon as there was a threat Igel May 2022 #58
You can bet McConnell and his rats are meeting, and talking about how to make this worse. C Moon May 2022 #18
and blame Biden Demovictory9 May 2022 #26
And Clinton, then Obama, then Pelosi.................................... machoneman May 2022 #45
This message was self-deleted by its author luvtheGWN May 2022 #60
No. They're meeting to figure how to luvtheGWN May 2022 #61
I'm just glad Big Oil does not control wheat production. KY_EnviroGuy May 2022 #20
Only if you think that oil prices have no bearing on wheat production and delivery costs... Ford_Prefect May 2022 #22
Or the planting and harvesting thereof. callous taoboy May 2022 #23
Also, many pesticides are petroleum based and making fertilizer uses lots of natural gas Hugh_Lebowski May 2022 #40
I posted this a month ago regarding what is a bit of a distortion of reality BumRushDaShow May 2022 #25
As the son of a farmer, this post really doesn't understand farming at all NickB79 May 2022 #28
You can't be serious. twodogsbarking May 2022 #33
Shocking, right? NickB79 May 2022 #35
'Shocking, right?" BumRushDaShow May 2022 #37
"this post really doesn't understand farming at all" BumRushDaShow May 2022 #36
No, I understand all that NickB79 May 2022 #38
We are on the same page BumRushDaShow May 2022 #39
The Biden admin. seems to be leveraging a cash incentive here. Akoto May 2022 #70
Russia is not in Europe. luvtheGWN May 2022 #62
"Russia is not in Europe." BumRushDaShow May 2022 #66
We do not import Ukrainian wheat. No need to hoard anything. Just please stop Lettuce Be May 2022 #42
Just please stop thinking that if the USA is OK, then the USA can't talk about a world problem muriel_volestrangler May 2022 #53
I'm more worried about the millions of poor in Third World nations that will starve to death NickB79 May 2022 #54
I bought a bunch of pasta, rice, and beans imavoter May 2022 #47
Funny flour story: I ordered from Kroger last night Marthe48 May 2022 #69

Igel

(35,197 posts)
11. I stocked up months ago.
Sat May 21, 2022, 11:25 PM
May 2022

Unbleached wheat flour. And the parallel foodstuff called "pasta".

Cooking oil. Which I cut with some beef fat and whatever schaltz (including turkey fat) I produce. (The rest of the beef fat goes to making bar soap.)

Even masa harina. Many countries will see a shift from wheat to maize. Both are global markets.

Sadly, usually have a large bag of atta flour in reserve, but haven't hit up the Indo-Pak market since January and I've eaten far more corn tortillas than chapati recently. That trip's next Thursday--need mustard seed and methi for my summer batches of chili pickle. Don't know if India's blocking grain imports includes atta or just bulk unprocessed grain. I like my chapati, but have my price point for atta flour.

Marthe48

(16,692 posts)
41. You sound well-prepared
Sun May 22, 2022, 12:33 PM
May 2022

Hope the story is temporary, and we don't add famine to the galloping horses of war, pestilence and death.

Igel

(35,197 posts)
57. It'll be temporary.
Sun May 22, 2022, 05:35 PM
May 2022

I'm assuming that's the stuff that's sitting in silos unallocated and waiting to be shipped to other countries.

https://www.machinefinder.com/ww/en-US/faq/when-is-winter-wheat-harvested gives probable winter wheat harvest dates for the US.

It's 6 months later for the grain producers like Argentina and Australia, assuming they have good conditions.

The Ukraine winter wheat crop sown last fall should be ready in June. It won't be able to get out unless they can ship it long way 'round through the Baltics or maybe the Balkans, but the country will easily harvest, pending some huge turn in how the war goes, a large portion of its crop. More worrisome is the Russian theft and in fact one nearby Russian oblast's claim that it has a right to any wheat or crops in Ukraine as sort of "spoils" of war.

Locusts, they are.

gay texan

(2,404 posts)
56. same here
Sun May 22, 2022, 05:10 PM
May 2022

I put it in my deep freezer. I have a feeling all of the cotton farmers around me are going to be switching to wheat pretty soon.

Marthe48

(16,692 posts)
67. Is that 100 trillion?
Mon May 23, 2022, 09:29 AM
May 2022

I bet you feel rich The Duetsche marks aren't worth that much. Face value $100,000.00 each, worth about $6 each.

DURHAM D

(32,595 posts)
3. Here are the 10 countries with the most wheat production:
Sat May 21, 2022, 10:54 PM
May 2022

China (134,254,710 tons)
India (107,590,000 tons)
Russia (85,896,326 tons)
United States (49,690,680 tons)
Canada (35,183,000 tons)
France (30,144,110 tons)
Pakistan (25,247,511 tons)
Ukraine (24,912,350 tons)

I did not realize India was number 2.

Edit:

Here are the largest exporters of wheat:

1 Russia 7,918,294
2 United States 6,318,111
3 Canada 6,317,889
4 France 4,528,591
5 Ukraine 3,594,217
6 Australia 2,698,498
7 Germany 2,105,865
8 Argentina 2,029,494
9 Kazakhstan 1,137,140
10 Poland 1,047,399

Mr.Bill

(24,104 posts)
5. Since they are not in the top ten exporters,
Sat May 21, 2022, 10:59 PM
May 2022

looks like they were not exporting much to begin with. With their population, that stands to reason.

Rabrrrrrr

(58,347 posts)
27. #2 of producers, yes, but not even in the list of exporters, which was the point being made.
Sun May 22, 2022, 07:33 AM
May 2022

India doesn't look to have exported much before deciding not to export any.

wnylib

(21,146 posts)
31. India is going through an extreme heat drought
Sun May 22, 2022, 09:01 AM
May 2022

which is reducing their ability to produce enough wheat for their own people. They will want to import, but there will be none available on the world market.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,154 posts)
21. Just for clarity, that 2nd list is value in dollars
Sun May 22, 2022, 02:07 AM
May 2022

In tonnes (metric, which the first list is too), it's:

1 Russia 37,267,014
2 United States 26,131,626
3 Canada 26,110,509
4 France 19,792,597
5 Ukraine 18,055,673
6 Australia 10,400,418
7 Argentina 10,196,931
8 Germany 9,259,493
9 Kazakhstan 5,198,943
10 Poland 4,689,130

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wheat_exports

And I reckon (from my own calculation of FAO 2020 figures) for net exports, and percentage of net positive exports in the world, those above 1% are:

Russia 37076972 20.28%
Canada 25928340 14.18%
USA 24221731 13.25%
France 19529386 10.68%
Ukraine 18044733 9.87%
Argentina 10196913 5.58%
Australia 9918181 5.43%
Germany 5260125 2.88%
Kazakhstan 4564789 2.50%
Lithuania 3865755 2.11%
Poland 3819798 2.09%
Bulgaria 3194554 1.75%
Romania 3092623 1.69%
Hungary 2845397 1.56%
Czechia 2425652 1.33%
Latvia 2248323 1.23%

And the biggest net importers, in tonnes:
Japan -5373862 (* no export figure given for Japan in FAO figures, so this might be less)
Morocco -5521519
Brazil -5599048
Nigeria -5902504
Bangladesh -6014979
Philippines -6150374
Algeria -7053563
Italy -7933352
Egypt -9042575
Turkey -9534543
China -9569878
Indonesia -10299702

Bernardo de La Paz

(48,788 posts)
24. I think Canada produces, and exports, more wheat per capita than any other country
Sun May 22, 2022, 05:38 AM
May 2022

Canada and Ukraine have comparable population sizes, at least until the putz in Moskva started killing and dispersing Ukrainians.

Hey, Durham D, most Canadian wheat is Durum.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,154 posts)
50. Apart from Lithuania and Latvia, from the list in #21
Sun May 22, 2022, 03:16 PM
May 2022

Populations 2.7 million and 1.9 million respectively, which pulls them comfortably ahead of Canada in the per capita listing.

marybourg

(12,540 posts)
10. Last time this happened (winter of '47), all the celiacs
Sat May 21, 2022, 11:18 PM
May 2022

got better and the cause of it, which had eluded humankind for thousands of years, became apparent.

womanofthehills

(8,584 posts)
63. Farmers are planning on planting more soy than corn
Sun May 22, 2022, 11:24 PM
May 2022

Because there is a shortage of fertilizers/herbicides. Corn needs more fertilizer than soy.

wnylib

(21,146 posts)
64. Plant corn the way that Native Americans did it.
Sun May 22, 2022, 11:41 PM
May 2022

They planted beans and squash with it, in little mounds. The 3 plants provide nutrients for each other. The corn beans could "climb" the corn stalks.

Not practical in large scale farming, at least not in mounds. But they could do it like my father did in our backyard city garden. He planted squash between the corn stalks and alternated a row of corn with a row of beans.

Smaller scale farms could do that.

Pobeka

(4,999 posts)
12. "exports" is the key consideration. Running out of exported wheat doesn't affect all countries.
Sat May 21, 2022, 11:25 PM
May 2022

USA for example, won't run out of wheat.

Of course if the great plains sees a major heat wave this summer all bets are off.

Kablooie

(18,571 posts)
17. But the price of wheat will skyrocket in the US
Sun May 22, 2022, 01:12 AM
May 2022

because wheat marketers will have the option of exporting US wheat at exorbitant prices.

US consumers will have to compete with that.

NullTuples

(6,017 posts)
19. We could regulate that if we had a functional Congress...
Sun May 22, 2022, 01:47 AM
May 2022

Last edited Sun May 22, 2022, 02:28 AM - Edit history (1)

But we don't thanks to Addision "Mitch" McConnell & friends who would much prefer chaos because it makes it easier to profiteer and plunder.

machoneman

(3,952 posts)
44. Yes, the headline is extremely negative, wrong and must have been designed to be click-bait.
Sun May 22, 2022, 12:43 PM
May 2022

We and a dozen plus other countries won't run out. Sure, other countries will be hurt but it's not a world-wide event by any stretch.

70sEraVet

(3,430 posts)
49. Admittedly, it won't be a devastating situation for most of the world.
Sun May 22, 2022, 02:59 PM
May 2022

But the poor will suffer.
But the poorest of the poor will starve.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,154 posts)
51. "Wrong"? No, that's hasn't been shown , at all
Sun May 22, 2022, 03:18 PM
May 2022

This is a major analyst of world agriculture, testifying at the UN, and you're just saying "they're wrong"?

Get real.

Fiendish Thingy

(15,369 posts)
16. While wheat scarcity is a real issue in parts of the world, this smacks of market manipulation.
Sun May 22, 2022, 12:20 AM
May 2022

The world is not going to run out of wheat in 10 weeks.

Farmer-Rick

(10,072 posts)
29. I tend to agree with you
Sun May 22, 2022, 08:52 AM
May 2022

It sounds like sensationalism.

Do you really think McDonalds, Wendys, Taco Bell, Subway and all those hundreds of other fast food joints that depend on cheap wheat bread are going to go out of business for lack of wheat? I seriously doubt it, but I kind of hope so.

Anyway sounds like my low carb diet is going to do just fine.

When above ground crops become scarce, mankind has historically turned to below ground crops. Here's to potatoes and beets. Even my sheep enjoy sweet potatoes and turnips.

Igel

(35,197 posts)
58. I'm guessing that as soon as there was a threat
Sun May 22, 2022, 05:37 PM
May 2022

countries locked in their purchases of wheat that they'd have otherwise said, "Eh, later" about.

Response to C Moon (Reply #18)

 

Hugh_Lebowski

(33,643 posts)
40. Also, many pesticides are petroleum based and making fertilizer uses lots of natural gas
Sun May 22, 2022, 12:08 PM
May 2022

Fossil Fuel prices are a very significant part of the cost of damn near all agricultural products.

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
25. I posted this a month ago regarding what is a bit of a distortion of reality
Sun May 22, 2022, 05:54 AM
May 2022

- https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=16633596

As much as the media has touted everywhere else in the world as a supposed "breadbasket"

The U.S. (including all of its territory, both CONUS and OCONUS) can grow and raise almost anything in the world - and that includes tropical plants. For example neither Ukraine nor Russia can grow oranges or lemons or limes as a sustainable crop, and the same pretty much applies to a degree to sugarcane. But the U.S. can and does.

The U.S. consistently ranks in the top 10 for wheat for export.



(and I do "bake" and know about the different types of wheat thanks to King Arthur Flour, recently renamed "King Arthur Baking Company" )

And we are top for corn -



It's not like there is no one to step up but I think aside from (corporate) farms here converting to biofuels, the pandemic ended up having many of them with completely full silos of product that they could not process and thus that surplus not only meant no profit, but in many losses. So the reticence is there.

And with meats -

Beef -



Poultry



Pork



And in the top 10 for seafood -



I won't even go into the orchards...

But just like fuel oil is a "commodity" that gets traded and has "futures", so too are "beef" and "pork bellies", and "corn" and "wheat", etc. And the potential for a whole lot more $$$$$$$$ for the corporations is just staring them in the face.


And I also posted a follow-up of that here - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=16633992

"Supply and demand"

The U.S. can "fix the supply" but will it? Or better, will the corporate farm owners step up to do it or will they sit it out in order to make up for the losses during the pandemic? I expect the latter.




Simon Kuestenmacher
@simongerman600
Size of Ukraine compared to the US. Just in case that might help you to put things into perspective. Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe (Russia being the biggest).
Image
12:05 PM · Mar 10, 2022





Wheat


Corn


Soybeans


ETA this ditty - https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-us-land-use/

NickB79

(19,113 posts)
28. As the son of a farmer, this post really doesn't understand farming at all
Sun May 22, 2022, 08:36 AM
May 2022

Last edited Sun May 22, 2022, 09:59 AM - Edit history (1)

For example, most farms are so specialized in the US that they do not even have wheat-planting equipment, or enough extra seed if they wanted to grow more of it. You can't plant wheat with a corn planter, and you can't build out the equipment supply overnight. You also don't buy $100,000 of new equipment on a hunch. AND, wheat requires a different combine head than corn or soy at harvest. That alone is another $100,000. There's already a hot market for used farm equipment, because manufacturers like John Deere are encountering the same parts disruption issues auto makers are. Modern tractors and combines use a crap load of computer chips.

And most farmers lock in their prices a year before, signing contracts for product, ordering seed, ordering fertilizer. You contract X bushels of corn last fall? You plant corn this spring, or take a serious hit economically.

Crop production isn't something you flip a switch on. It takes years to move the needle outside the typical soy/corn rotation in the Midwest, where we still have land that's not drought-ridden. And by then, Ukraine may be free again, and flooding the market with wheat. US farmers would lose their farms in the commodity crash

NickB79

(19,113 posts)
35. Shocking, right?
Sun May 22, 2022, 09:53 AM
May 2022

Seriously, when I saw that graph overlaying the Ukraine on the US, I knew that guy knew zilch about farming. That's not how farming works. Hell, the area he overlayed it with is in large part dependent on irrigation, and the Ogallalla Aquifer is already tapped out in a lot of the south central US. In 50 years it will be dead, and so will that farmland.

And the biggest irrigated expanse of "crop" land in the US? It's not corn, wheat or soy. It's lawns. Maybe we need to bring back victory gardens instead.

https://www.salon.com/2019/05/05/lawns-are-the-no-1-irrigated-crop-in-america-they-need-to-die_partner/

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
36. "this post really doesn't understand farming at all"
Sun May 22, 2022, 10:47 AM
May 2022

The purpose of the post wasn't leaving out what you are indicating.

It is saying that the way that the world food market is being described is distorting the capacity and actual reported exports and sales as of the time the data posted, was collected.

I.e., it is over-inflating the role of Ukraine's contribution to "worldwide" production although it is obviously a huge contributor to that region and offered easy access of distribution.

I remember during the pandemic, when there were tariffs put into place, resulting in retaliatory counter-tariffs that caused a disruption of the movement of OUR goods, that coupled with with worker shortages, lead to artificial surpluses and running out of places to store product.

https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2020/09/24/americas-farmers-resilient-throughout-covid-pandemic

There was research looking at the impact of pandemic on farming and moving foodstuffs - https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-00211-7



And that was BEFORE the invasion cut off a major market from getting product out.

NickB79

(19,113 posts)
38. No, I understand all that
Sun May 22, 2022, 11:22 AM
May 2022

The real issue right now is that our global food economy has been fundamentally unstable for some time now, and even a small disruption can create dangerous ripple effects. And the Ukraine war and climate change induced global droughts and heatwaves hitting all at once are BIG disruptions.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016323038

So here’s what sends cold fear through those who study the global food system. In recent years, just as in finance during the 2000s, key nodes in the food system have swollen, their links have become stronger, business strategies have converged and synchronised, and the features that might impede systemic collapse (“redundancy”, “modularity”, “circuit breakers” and “backup systems”) have been stripped away, exposing the system to “globally contagious” shocks.

The food industry is becoming tightly coupled to the financial sector, increasing what scientists call the “network density” of the system, making it more susceptible to cascading failure. Around the world, trade barriers have come down and roads and ports upgraded, streamlining the global network. You might imagine that this smooth system would enhance food security. But it has allowed companies to shed the costs of warehousing and inventories, switching from stocks to flows. Mostly, this just-in-time strategy works. But if deliveries are interrupted or there’s a rapid surge in demand, shelves can suddenly empty.

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
39. We are on the same page
Sun May 22, 2022, 11:42 AM
May 2022

and I understand you can't flip a switch and suddenly make up for such a significant loss and you also have Russia currently blockading ports there keeping product out of the market (limiting "supply" ).

MY point was that the way the media has characterized it with the distorted use of the term "breadbasket of the world" for Ukraine - this is actually exasperating the futures markets that are already ripe with speculation because it gives the appearance that Ukraine actually exports MORE grain (and other products except maybe sunflower seeds) than the U.S. or Russia or other countries and it doesn't.

ETA - I can't leave out "climate change" as killing much of the ability to "plan" due to weather extremes (like the excessive heat going on in the south and cold snaps in some of the areas where a number of grains are grown with snow even this late in the season in the high plains and upper midwest).

Akoto

(4,261 posts)
70. The Biden admin. seems to be leveraging a cash incentive here.
Mon May 23, 2022, 03:14 PM
May 2022

I don't know where this went, but in April, they asked Congress for $500m to put toward the farming sector in order to bolster wheat production. Farmers get money to grow wheat in one season that they might not have otherwise, while still being able to grow soybeans or whatever else they grow during the other part of the year.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-seeks-500-mln-farmers-grow-more-wheat-pay-market-loans-2022-04-28/

Some other more number crunchy stuff above my head:

"In addition, $400 million would be routed through USDA's marketing assistance loans, which provide interim financing to growers and buy them more time to sell their crops at a higher profit.

The Biden administration is seeking a two-year increase in these USDA loan rates for food commodities including wheat, rice and edible oils such as soybean and sunflower oilseeds. Under that proposal, wheat loan rates would go up 63%, oilseed up 40%, and rice and pulse crop up 21%."

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
66. "Russia is not in Europe."
Mon May 23, 2022, 05:59 AM
May 2022

"Europe" is part of a continent called "Eurasia" the last time I had (elementary) school geography so both "Europe" and "Asia" are in "Eurasia".

But geographically, Russia extends across both "political" entities that are called "Europe" and "Asia", with the "Asian portion" extending east to the Pacific and the "European portion" extending along its western border to the Black Sea.



"Traditionally", the Ural Mountain range became the artificial "separator" between the political entities of "Europe" and "Asia".



So if you consider Finland as "Europe" then it's idiotic to suddenly declare that adjacent portions of Russia are "not Europe". The majority of the populated areas of Russia are on the "European" side of the Urals (notably all around Moscow, St. Petersburg, etc).



"Europe" is generally a "political" entity that over the past 30 years, decided to "formalize" a "political region" known as the "European Union".

Here is an "elementary school" style description of Russia and their "place" on that continent - https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/is-russia-in-europe-or-asia.html



What is interesting about Russia is that because it spans that much territory, it is peopled by ethnicities that range from eastern European to north Asian (which includes indigenous peoples).

But then the way Europeans have "defined" maps, political entities, "race", and "ethnicities" over the centuries, we have had and continue to have nonsense such as considering "North Africa" including Egypt, as completely disconnected from the rest of the continent of Africa. Just. Because. Where only "sub-Saharan Africa" is considered "Africa".

Lettuce Be

(2,336 posts)
42. We do not import Ukrainian wheat. No need to hoard anything. Just please stop
Sun May 22, 2022, 12:40 PM
May 2022

These headlines are always misleading -- world wheat shortage. No, not the entire world, but many countries, yes. If you like to bake, your wheat needs are going to be just fine. Assuming of course we don't get some new horrible wheat killing thing here in the USA. Anything is possible.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,154 posts)
53. Just please stop thinking that if the USA is OK, then the USA can't talk about a world problem
Sun May 22, 2022, 03:25 PM
May 2022

It's so insular. Do you really want Americans to be ignorant of world problems? If not, then why tell a DUer to stop posting world news?

NickB79

(19,113 posts)
54. I'm more worried about the millions of poor in Third World nations that will starve to death
Sun May 22, 2022, 04:01 PM
May 2022

Sorry that you can't be bothered to care about the deaths of people beyond the US border.

imavoter

(646 posts)
47. I bought a bunch of pasta, rice, and beans
Sun May 22, 2022, 01:14 PM
May 2022

with the Ukraine invasion.

My husband passed last August, so
It's just me. I don't need a lot.

But then on the other hand, although my job
is stable. I obviously realize one can't know what might
happen and to be prepared.

Other things will be more expensive like pet food and meats because of feed requirements.

I just spent $400 on items to freeze. Except the pet foods
and cat litter, of course. I can't imagine what families are doing right now. It must be scary.

Marthe48

(16,692 posts)
69. Funny flour story: I ordered from Kroger last night
Mon May 23, 2022, 02:03 PM
May 2022

for curbside pickup today. I wanted to get 2 5 lb. bags of unbleached flour. I bake a loaf of bread for myself about every 10 days, and I bake cookies at Christmas. While I was ordering, I saw that the app had made the flour for delivery, so I deleted it, and the app then said it wasn't available for pickup. So I ordered 2 bags of bleached flour. When I picked up my order, I had 2 bags of unbleached and 2 bags of bleached flour. By accident, I have enough flour to last the rest of the year. If there is a shortage in my area, I'll share my accidental bounty.

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