Famine by Design

“and there shall be famines”—Matthew 24:7

That is one of the responses Christ gave to his apostles when they asked the question, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” in verse 3.

There have been famines throughout history. Somewhere in the world at any given time, there’s probably a famine going on. But maybe it’s worth wondering whether upcoming famines portend something foretold.

We’ve done a fair amount to mitigate the famine threat in the past century or so. We have better farming equipment, irrigation, and fertilizer.

We get food transported from around the world. Things we used to be able to get only seasonally are now always in season somewhere. More food is grown on less land. Sometimes we forget that a lot goes into getting the produce we buy weekly, to get it grown, harvested, and shipped to our neighborhood grocery store for our convenience. One thing goes wrong, and that food isn’t there.

That also means that the market is worldwide, not just local. So when a crop fails, the loss is felt in a worldwide ripple.

Lack of rain has been the presumed cause of famine in most cases. Sometimes it’s war, which interrupts the planting of crops, or the harvesting. Sometimes it’s other weather problems, like an untimely freeze. Or it could be pestilence—bugs that eat the crop, or infect it, maybe a fungus that ruins it.

But sometimes it’s government interference.

Back in the previous century, the Soviet Communists under Stalin starved some 4 million (I’ve also read estimates of 7-10 million) people in Ukraine, their most productive farmland, and also in Russia. It was policy that caused the famine. They vilified the middle-class landowning farmers, called kulaks—anyone who owned 8 acres or more. They confiscated land from the kulaks and imprisoned or killed them—eliminating their expertise along with them. They also made it illegal for people to partake of any harvest before the government had come in and taken all they wanted for export. People on the richest farmland in the Soviet bloc starved—without any natural cause.

newspaper photo found here

This year Ukraine is suffering war conditions, so that is likely to cause a famine in that land—and affect supplies to the places usually receiving exported grain from Ukraine.

The Netherlands is a small, densely populated country in Western Europe with surprisingly high agriculture production. Their government has recently implemented a policy prohibiting the use of nitrogen in fertilizer. While nitrogen can be chemically produced, it is also the result of natural fertilizer, as from cattle waste. Farmers in The Netherlands are among the most skilled in the world, to produce as they do on so little land. But they can’t produce without fertilizer. So they’re protesting.

Roman Balmakov, of Facts Matter for The Epoch Times, traveled to The Netherlands to do some interviews. (If you can’t get behind the pay wall, try the free trial.):

·       “Manufactured Food Crisis: Elite’s ‘Great Reset’ Plan to Take Farmer’s Land, Convert It to Housing: Dutch MP” Facts Matter, July 8, 2022.  

·       “Exclusive: On the Ground with the Farmers Blockade; True Reason Why Elites Plan to Confiscate Land” Facts Matter, July 11, 2022 

Speculation is, the Dutch government is counting on the farmers’ failure. If they can’t produce, they lose their farms. And that land is what the government covets, for the purpose of building housing for new immigrants. Doing away with farmland has the added “benefit” of causing the people to rely on imports; i.e., food supply controlled by the government. A government that controls the food supply controls its people.

Farmers in The Netherlands protest farm-killing regulations.
screenshot from here

In the US, people have been noticing that Bill Gates has been buying an unusual amount of farmland. No purpose stated. But I doubt the pro-limited-population guy is just planning to make sure we have adequate food. He does support “sustainable” farming, which does not mean sustainable in the normal sense, but something related to climate change policies.

Meanwhile, there has been the pushing of “green” policies that fail to understand how food is produced.

Last week I saw the post below on Facebook. The Facebook friend who posted said, “I was raised on a farm, my daddy used to run a mobile combining outfit that went from state to state. John Deere is being pressured to go GREEN.” Then he introduced the post below from a friend. So I don’t have a source name, nor can I verify. Nevertheless, it’s an anecdote I find concerning: 

A close friend farms over 10,000 acres of corn in the mid-west. The property is spread out over 3 counties. His operation is a "partnership farm" with John Deere. They use the larger farm operations as demonstration projects for promotion and development of new equipment. He recently received a phone call from his John Deere representative, and they want the farm to go to electric tractors and combines in 2023. He currently has 5 diesel combines that cost $900,000 each that are traded in every 3 years. Also, over 10 really BIG tractors.

JD wants him to go all electric soon.

He said: "Ok, I have some questions. How do I charge these combines when they are 3 counties away from the shop in the middle of a cornfield, in the middle of nowhere?" "How do I run them 24 hours a day for 10 or 12 days straight when the harvest is ready, and the weather is coming in?" "How do I get a 50,000+ lb. combine that takes up the width of an entire road back to the shop 20 miles away when the battery goes dead?"

There was dead silence on the other end of the phone.

When the corn is ready to harvest, it has to have the proper sugar and moisture content. If it is too wet, it has to be put in giant dryers that burn natural or propane gas, and lots of it. Harvest time is critical because if it degrades in sugar content or quality, it can drop the value of his crop by half a million dollars or more. It is analyzed at time of sale. It is standard procedure to run these machines 10 to 12 days straight, 24 hours a day at peak harvest time. When they need fuel, a tanker truck delivers it, and the machines keep going. John Deere's only answer is "we're working on it." They are being pushed by the lefty Dems in the government to force these electric machines on the American farmer. These people are out of control. They are messing with the production of food crops that feed people and livestock... all in the name of their "green dream."

Look for the cost of your box of cornflakes to triple in the next 24 months...”

A John Deere electric tractor
screenshot from here

If you’re wondering whether someone fully thought things through, the answer would likely be no.

On Tucker Carlson earlier this week, he showed video of a GM spokesperson in Lansing, Michigan, talking about their electric vehicle. A news reporter asked her, “So, what’s charging the batteries right now? What’s the source of electricity?”

She answers, “Here,” directing his attention to the plug. “It’s coming from the building.”

He asks further, “I mean, is it, um— What’s our mix of power?”

She answers, “Oh, actually Lansing feeds the building.”

“What’s that?”

“Lansing feeds power to the building.” Then his question seems to dawn on her. “So, I don’t know. I bet you they’re a bit of coal. I think they’re heavy on natural gas, aren’t they?”

The news guy goes on to ask a representative of Lansing Board of Water & Light, saying, “Right now the car is charging off of your grid—”

“Right. It would be charging off our grid, which is about 95% coal.”

It reminds me of people who think we should get rid of cows, which produce gaseous emissions, since most of us can just get our milk from the grocery store. Face palm.

I heard also today that, while we’re looking at how strained the electric grid is during the height of summer with its accompanying air conditioner needs, for a typical family to charge its cars would quadruple the amount of electricity the household uses for air conditioning.

That means going electric would increase four-fold the need for fossil fuels and other reliable sources.

Someone has not thought this through—except as far as to impose on you some crushing regulations that are designed to make you feel helpless.

Food, shelter, transportation, electricity, water—if they can control those things, they control the people.

It’s famine by design.

It is designed by “experts” who are too myopic to understand the basics, like how you need to plant a seed in fertile ground and nurture it through harvest time.

Maybe you should do what you can to be self-sufficient. Plant a garden. Get acquainted with the local farmers' market. Maybe pay attention to some of those off-the-grid preppers. Because you can’t trust someone whose interest is in having power over you, who has no interest in making sure you can get your needs met.