White House Warns Food Shortages Are On The Way: 'It's Going To Be Real'
So far what experts expect to see the most dramatic shortages in two areas. Wheat and corn thanks to rising costs in fuel and fertilizer farmers will be hard-pressed to keep up production. This is just after facing pandemic demands and drought, so the threat is there.
The instability leaves many U.S. farmers, particularly those in the drought-stricken West, scrambling as costs soar for fuel, fertilizer and other key agricultural components.
Farmers in states that produce spring wheat such as North Dakota, Minnesota and Montana are faced with a tough decision: Should they plant more crop not knowing whether prices will hold up?
"With regard to food shortage, yes, we did talk about food shortages. And — and it’s going to be real. The price of these sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia, it’s imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country as well. And — because both Russia and Ukraine have been the breadbasket of Europe in terms of wheat, for example — just to give you one example.
But we had a long discussion in the G7 with the — with both the United States, which has a significant — the third-largest producer of wheat in the world — as well as Canada, which is also a major, major producer. And we both talked about how we could increase and disseminate more rapidly food. Food shortages.
And in addition to that, we talked about urging all the European countries and everyone else to end trade restrictions on — on sending — limitations on sending food abroad. And so, we are in the process of working out, with our European friends, what it would be — what it would take to help alleviate the concerns relative to food shortages. "
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Biden on food shortages: "It's going to be real." pic.twitter.com/QGWRCf6LiB
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 24, 2022
It seems ironic that we're facing a fertilizer shortage, right now. I say that because there seems to be a surplus of fertilizer in Washington D.C.—Just not the useful kind.