ASDA makeover of supermarkets: eliminates aisles of food, adds coffee and hair salons.

can't repeat it enough: massive changes coming to food retail: grocery and restaurant.

#retail

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/asda-ditch-multiple-food-aisles-20091890

Oregon leading on the reparations -- $123,000 ! but you can't just identify as black. You have to identify as black for 10 years.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/03/democrat-oregon-state-senators-introduce-bill-pay-black-people-123000-reparations/

USDA says Veterinarians will be deployed to help with FEMA's COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

“FSIS employees including veterinarians from across the agency are among those selected to assist in this federal effort, since their training and experience make them well equipped to serve in this capacity,” the agency said. “Persons deploying for this mission will be placed at any number of FEMA-coordinated vaccination clinics that are operating throughout multiple states, including Nevada and Oklahoma.”

https://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/24574-usda-veterinarians-enlisted-to-help-vaccinate

Precision agriculture via GPS-enabled livestock. New farm robots. Technocratic takeover of food.

"A farm is going to need different kinds of robots," says Prof Chowdhary. "Some of them are going to be very small... others are going to be big, perhaps even as big as combine harvester. There will be an autonomous system that is co-ordinating this team of robots, telling them what they need to do in order to get different tasks done."

(remind me to stay out of the way of the autonomous combine)

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56195288

"Fake milk will taste even better than the real thing!"

(what does that even mean? how can some fake trash taste like "better milk" than real milk? more excitotoxins?)

#Dairy

https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2021/02/24/Cutting-out-the-middlecow-Israeli-start-up-Imagindairy-on-why-lab-made-milk-will-prove-tastier-and-healthier-than-the-real-thing

Yes! The Biden/Harris Executive Orders are exploring creation of a federal Office of Supply Chain. (I don't know what it would do, but I don't like it already).

BUT DID YOU KNOW -- the 2018 NDAA already tasked the DoD (Dept of Defense!!) with evaluating how risks in this big, complex global food system could threaten the security of the United States—and the way the nation might protect itself.

Somehow they didn't get around to it. So then they escalated to DARPA, the Gates Foundation, and others:

> By early 2019, when no report from DOD had appeared, it was clear we had to up the ante. With the help of Michael Puma, the director of the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University, we convened a roundtable with representatives from NASA, USDA, DOD, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Gates Foundation, and others, in the Thompson-Reuters Board Room in New York City’s Times Square. We used that as a springboard to convene a larger meeting in May 2019, jointly hosted with the Woodrow Wilson Center, titled “Food Systems and National Security: The Science in Strategy.” We tracked down the person who was writing the DOD’s still-unpublished report, extending an invitation to present it.

One of the authors concludes: "I think that if Americans—or anyone in the world—are going to be insulated against hunger and attacks on the food system, we need to be able to make our food very close to home. Right in our homes, actually: maybe everyone should have a gizmo that can turn air and water into basic sustenance, or at least back up food systems when they fail."

That gizmo is called a GARDEN. AND EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE ONE.

-- Christian @ Ice Age Farmer

https://issues.org/global-food-security-molly-jahn-darpa

WATCH WHEAT: Important article but most noteworthy part is that we are already selling out NEXT YEAR'S WHEAT to China: "Idaho grower Cordell Kress says he...has even pre-sold some of his 2022 crop."

And note that it's because of the #soybeans shortage. Global grain shortage.

#Wheat (click hashtag to see more context)
__
U.S. white wheat growers cash in as China snaps up supplies

CHICAGO/BEIJING (Reuters) - China is scooping up supplies of U.S. white wheat to feed livestock, pushing export forecasts for the grain usually used to make sponge cakes and noodles to a 27-year-high.

The purchases are the latest disruption in commodities markets caused by Chinese buying of grains and oilseeds during the coronavirus pandemic, pushing prices of major commodity crops to multi-year highs.

China has booked more U.S. white wheat this year than any country besides the Philippines, the top buyer of the grain. While U.S. producers have long tried to woo the growing Chinese market for confectionary foods made from white wheat flour, the recent purchases reflect a need for animal feed, Chinese traders and analysts said.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) raised its forecast for exports of U.S. white wheat to 245 million bushels, the most since 1994, due to strong demand from China and South Korea.

In a sign of the varied pace of global economic recoveries, USDA lowered its export forecast for the most common U.S. wheat class, hard red winter wheat, citing lower demand to “several Western Hemisphere markets.”

While white wheat is not typically fed to animals, high corn prices - benchmark U.S. futures hit 7-1/2-year highs last month - made it a viable alternative in China.

China is scouring the globe for feed grains as it rebuilds the world’s largest hog herd, which was ravaged by African swine fever.

“Most of the imported wheat is going to the feed sector as corn prices are high and there is profit (to import),” said Li Hongchao, a senior grains analyst with trade website Myagric.com.

China signed a trade deal with the United States in January 2020. More recent trade tensions between China and Australia, which grows a slightly different hard white wheat, have also sent China seeking alternative wheat supplies.

Nine months into the 2020/21 wheat marketing year begun June 1, 2020, China’s purchases of all U.S. wheat classes are at a seven-year high of 2.9 million tonnes, according to USDA’s weekly export sales data. White wheat bookings represent about a third of the total, at 947,863 tonnes as of March 4.

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2B40IG?il=0

Fauci: more pandemics coming because global warming

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-fauci-and-chuck-todd-say-more-pandemics-coming-because-climate-change

The supply chain has huge surface area of vulnerability to the “Cyberpandemic” (as WEF named it):

Molson Coors Cyberattack Disrupts Brewery Operations

Brewing giant Molson Coors disclosed Thursday that it has experienced a "cybersecurity incident" that has disrupted operations and beer production.

The Company is working around the clock to get its systems back up as quickly as possible," Miller Coors wrote in the filing. "Although the Company is actively managing this cybersecurity incident, it has caused and may continue to cause a delay or disruption to parts of the Company's business, including its brewery operations, production, and shipments."

Molson Coors is responsible for a large portfolio of brands including Coors and Miller brands, as well as Molson Canadian, Blue Moon, Peroni, Grolsch, Killian's, and Foster's. 

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-watch-out-for-this-new-ransomware-threat-to-unpatched-exchange-email-servers/

Legume-based egg company funded by Singaporean government:

BREAKING: Plant-based whole egg startup Float Foods gets Temasek grant
March 15, 2021
Jack Ellis
Float Foods, a Singaporean startup that’s developing a plant-based egg substitute, has received an undisclosed amount of grant funding from the Temasek Foundation.
The Foundation is the nonprofit, philanthropic arm of Singapore sovereign investment fund Temasek.

Float Foods argues that the ‘whole egg’ nature of its substitute also contributes towards Singapore’s ’30 by 30′ food security goal of domestically sourcing 30% of the city-state’s nutritional needs by 2030 – up from around 10% today.

https://agfundernews.com/breaking-plant-based-whole-egg-startup-float-foods-gets-temasek-grant.html

More fall out from that contaminated compost story:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-14/toxic-garden-compost-kills-vegetables-victorian-gardeners-angry/13152164

US pork prices bolstered by China's ASF outbreak:

University of Missouri’s Scott Brown says that could tell a very positive story for the pork industry in 2021. “We’re slaughtering less hogs here on the first three months of the year,” he says. “And then, on top of that, we have a situation where exports of pork out of the United States maybe stronger than we think if ASF continues to battle the recovery of the China hog herd.”

China’s Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs warns African swine fever is still a major risk factor impacting the country’s pig production.

There are concerns that a resurgence of the virus could threaten the country’s efforts to rebuild its swine herd and raises concerns about food security

https://brownfieldagnews.com/news/us-pork-prices-could-move-higher-as-chinas-battle-with-asf-continues/

Texas Agricultural losses reach $600M to the winter storm / deliberate power cutoffs (to favor low-emissions power)

Dead chickens, frozen produce, dumped milk: Texas farmers are taking stock of an estimated $600 million in destroyed crops and livestock following February’s historic freeze. Among the hardest hit are the region’s citrus crops, which farmers said are now suitable only for juicing. Winter crops like onions, cabbage, and Swiss chard have also been significantly damaged by the disaster, while power outages and feed shortages led to the death of still-uncounted numbers of animals, including chicks and calves. The freeze may be over, but its ripple effects will likely be felt by consumers in the coming weeks, experts said, both in the form of produce shortages and higher prices.

#Texas
https://brownfieldagnews.com/news/texas-agriculture-losses-from-winter-storm-uri-reach-600-million-and-counting/