Forwarded from Ice Age Farmer
IAE head: fuel shortages expected in Europe
“This crisis is worse than the two oil crises of the 1970s and the loss of Russian gas in 2022 put together,” Birol said.
“More than 12 million barrels per day of oil supply has been lost so far due to the Middle East crisis. The biggest problem is the lack of jet fuel and diesel, already affecting Asia and expected to reach Europe in April–May,” he noted.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/middle-east-crisis-worse-than-the-1970s-oil-shocks-and-2022-russian-gas-disruption-combined-iea-chief-birol-says-40-key-energy-assets-damaged/articleshow/129947708.cms?from=mdr
“This crisis is worse than the two oil crises of the 1970s and the loss of Russian gas in 2022 put together,” Birol said.
“More than 12 million barrels per day of oil supply has been lost so far due to the Middle East crisis. The biggest problem is the lack of jet fuel and diesel, already affecting Asia and expected to reach Europe in April–May,” he noted.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/middle-east-crisis-worse-than-the-1970s-oil-shocks-and-2022-russian-gas-disruption-combined-iea-chief-birol-says-40-key-energy-assets-damaged/articleshow/129947708.cms?from=mdr
The Economic Times
‘Middle East crisis worse than the 1970s oil shocks and 2022 Russian gas disruption combined,’ IEA chief Birol warns
The world is witnessing unprecedented turmoil in energy markets as tensions in the Middle East escalate beyond previous oil crises. With over 12 million barrels of oil gone, jet fuel and diesel shortages are currently plaguing Asia and are anticipated to…
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Forwarded from Ice Age Farmer
"You will see a massive decline in yield and acres"
Rising costs and fertilizer shortages are already reshaping planting decisions for US farmers, says one record-holding farmer growing corn and soybeans, along with barley, oats, triticale, and wheat on 650-acres in Hickory, North Carolina.
“I think you will see a massive decline in both yield and acres,” he predicted. “Some farmers are abandoning leases, some are switching crops and others are just using fewer inputs. I think [February's] yield numbers are a pipe dream at this point with even tillage being reduced with fuel prices.
“This is really going to be an exciting year to see if the USDA takes these things into consideration in future report numbers or if they keep them inflated. [IAF: Expect the USDA to mostly keep yields inflated until post-harvest downward revisions—much like gov does with GDP & employment numbers]
For fertilizer, he said, the price impact “has been immediate and severe. For many growers, fertilizer represented 40% of operating costs in 2025 and price increases in this critical input directly affect planting decisions, long-term viability, and the livelihoods of farm families.”
#fertilizer #WarOnFarms
https://agfundernews.com/nc-farmer-weighs-in-as-persian-gulf-fertilizer-crisis-widens-you-will-see-a-massive-decline-in-yield-and-acres
Rising costs and fertilizer shortages are already reshaping planting decisions for US farmers, says one record-holding farmer growing corn and soybeans, along with barley, oats, triticale, and wheat on 650-acres in Hickory, North Carolina.
“I think you will see a massive decline in both yield and acres,” he predicted. “Some farmers are abandoning leases, some are switching crops and others are just using fewer inputs. I think [February's] yield numbers are a pipe dream at this point with even tillage being reduced with fuel prices.
“This is really going to be an exciting year to see if the USDA takes these things into consideration in future report numbers or if they keep them inflated. [IAF: Expect the USDA to mostly keep yields inflated until post-harvest downward revisions—much like gov does with GDP & employment numbers]
For fertilizer, he said, the price impact “has been immediate and severe. For many growers, fertilizer represented 40% of operating costs in 2025 and price increases in this critical input directly affect planting decisions, long-term viability, and the livelihoods of farm families.”
#fertilizer #WarOnFarms
https://agfundernews.com/nc-farmer-weighs-in-as-persian-gulf-fertilizer-crisis-widens-you-will-see-a-massive-decline-in-yield-and-acres
AgFunderNews
NC farmer weighs in as Persian Gulf fertilizer crisis widens: ‘You will see a massive decline in yield and acres’
“Most of the farmers I met and spoke with over the last month are not secured for their spring fertilizer,” says Russell Hedrick.
Forwarded from Ice Age Farmer
Quercus Bio, a new startup AgTech company whose co-founders have previous funding connections with BlackRock and Google Ventures, is using AI to create "designer mini-proteins" which enter "target plants" and kill them.
They expect to replace glyphosate and other herbicides, as weeds have become increasingly resilient -- and, as they note, face too much regulatory scrutiny and consumer acceptance problems.
Rather than move to regenerative approaches and permaculture polycultures, they seek to 'fail forward' with even an more mad scientist approach on the "resistance treadmill." And as a bonus, they can do so without any regulation or oversight (as with the GMO microbes that are deploying now to replace fertilizer).
They expect to replace glyphosate and other herbicides, as weeds have become increasingly resilient -- and, as they note, face too much regulatory scrutiny and consumer acceptance problems.
Rather than move to regenerative approaches and permaculture polycultures, they seek to 'fail forward' with even an more mad scientist approach on the "resistance treadmill." And as a bonus, they can do so without any regulation or oversight (as with the GMO microbes that are deploying now to replace fertilizer).
Forwarded from Ice Age Farmer
Sony announced that it's suspending fulfillment of all orders for nearly its entire SD and CF express memory card product lines "due to the global shortage of semiconductors (memory) and other factors."
This is not random. This comes on the back of consumer memory manufacturers announcing they will shift production to big expensive chips for GPUs — in other words, the big data centers.
What is happening is a shift at the semiconductor production level away from powerful consumer devices (laptops/desktop/cameras), towards cloud-only devices.
Soon there will only be "thin" devices that interact with cloud services that, like Sam Altman openly described, will be metered like utilities — because there won't even be components available for consumer devices.
This pushes your data—your documents, photos, videos—into the hands of the technocrats, where it is surveilled, shared with intelligence agencies, and used to train their AI models — and ensures no one will be able to run powerful AI models locally.
They want to centralize and control everything.
This is how you are losing your #RightToCompute. Silently. Gradually. And Relentlessly.
Build local.
- @iceagefarmer
This is not random. This comes on the back of consumer memory manufacturers announcing they will shift production to big expensive chips for GPUs — in other words, the big data centers.
What is happening is a shift at the semiconductor production level away from powerful consumer devices (laptops/desktop/cameras), towards cloud-only devices.
Soon there will only be "thin" devices that interact with cloud services that, like Sam Altman openly described, will be metered like utilities — because there won't even be components available for consumer devices.
This pushes your data—your documents, photos, videos—into the hands of the technocrats, where it is surveilled, shared with intelligence agencies, and used to train their AI models — and ensures no one will be able to run powerful AI models locally.
They want to centralize and control everything.
This is how you are losing your #RightToCompute. Silently. Gradually. And Relentlessly.
Build local.
- @iceagefarmer
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