The vainglorious shunning of gas production in Europe in quest for weather salvation will hurt the world’s poor the most. As Europe scrambles to replace the astonishing loss of 70% of their own fertilizer production they will be competing to import fertilizer from stretched markets around the world.
The price rises in gas, fertilizer and next year in food, will hurt the poorest of the poor far more than the theoretical temperature rise ever could. Thank the EU. Thank the Greens.
Click to enlarge: It’s a wipeout
Higher gas prices deepen Europe’s fertiliser crunch, threaten food crisis
Europe’s fertilizer crunch is deepening with more than two-thirds of production capacity halted by soaring gas costs, threatening farmers and consumers far beyond the region’s borders.
As Europe becomes a net importer of fertilizer, the fallout from the supply crunch will spread. The region will start competing for scarce supplies with poorer nations, especially in Africa, where food insecurity is exacerbated by persistent droughts and conflict.
These prices cause third degree burns:
Fertiliser shortage threatens farming, food security in Europe
According to the CRU Group, a business intelligence firm specialising in commodities, fertiliser producers in the EU were losing an estimated US$2 000 (about R35 448) for every ton of ammonia they produced.
Where farmers in Western Europe were paying about US$250/t (R4 431/t) for ammonia in early 2021, the same fertiliser was currently selling for about US$1 250/t (R22 155/t), which was seriously affecting crop production.
No wonder fertilizer plants are closing.
Today, chemical fertilizers contribute to about half of the nitrogen put into global agriculture
Since the decade the first factories started producing ammonia the world’s population has grown from 2 to 8 billion.
…OWID
And here we are, with plenty of gas, coal and uranium. But idiot politicians and other varieties of idiot want us to kneecap our own country in order to – theoretically – adjust the earth’s thermostat!
790
On Saturday night, Nancy Pelosi appeared at a festival called New York City’s Global Citizens music festival. She hopped on stage with some Jonas brother I’ve never heard of, and a lot of other musicians I have limited knowledge of, and thanked the assembled “Global Citizens” for their efforts in stopping the next ice age, global warming, climate change… the “climate crisis.”
We’ve gone through a lot of names for what was climate change about two days ago. We are, apparently, in the “climate crisis” iteration stage. Since the world was told in the 1970s that it was about to freeze over, “climate crisis” puts some urgency into the title. Al Gore’s predictions didn’t pan out. Manhattan should be underwater. AOC still has eight years left on her prediction that the Earth will end.
So, I don’t think it’s much of a shock that when Nancy Pelosi grabbed a mic to thank the assembled “yutes,” she was roundly and loudly booed.
She thanked the “global citizens” and talked about the Inflation Reduction Act (yeah, that spending bill that will do nothing to reduce inflation) that included a whole lot of billions for the “climate crisis.” Nancy said:
“It’s thanks to your help that the United States recently enacted historic climate legislation, which will be a game changer,” she added, being drowned out by the crowd.
“It will slash carbon pollution by 40% by 2030, it will give a historic, a historic $370 billion to fight the climate crisis.”
She also called for “better water and air for our children and better-paying jobs and lower energy bills for their parents.”
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370 Billion”
Then percent for the “big guy”? Only 37 Billion.
a bit of “spillage here, a bit of “spillage there, and pretty soon the hands will be out for 500 Billion.
And the cycle repeats, ad infinitum, until they inflate their “earnings into irrelevance.
Then the SERIOUS killing starts.
Get your affairs in order and your ducks in a row.
50
Thank God/Gaia for that non-polluting plant food, aka CO2! Lots more of it would help!
200
We’ll just have to copy the idiot from California and convert all the dead humans killed by covid vaccines into dirt. An action that according to him that will take only 60 days. 2023 will be the crunch when all these Green philosophies come home to roost! Still, according to AlBo the future is solar panels on rooftops charging your car battery overnight.
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Human composting is a gross violation of human dignity and respect for the dead. The Green Left thus love it, although presumably not for themselves.
Apart from Kaliforniastan it is being done elsewhere in the US in Leftist states as well, e.g.
Washington state and Colorado.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-26/body-composting-a-green-alternative-to-burial-cremation/100486964
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I couldn’t see any mention in the article about the greenhouse gas emissions from the composting.
Composting, whether in large scale sites such as landfill, or backyard compost heaps, emits gases such as methane.
120
Aren’t dead humans there converted into voters?
470
That’s only the brain-dead ones.
40
.. and the rest? Hmm remains? remaininG, naw, the OTHERS, are turned / being turned into COMPOST according to a recent report … California as usual being among the first to permit this.
I did pose the question before about normal(= natural) burial being more nature friendly than using fuel to cremate. Less diesel burnt to dig the hole.
00
Rumour has it that Clueless Chris Bowen has a team designing solar panel hats for each of us to wear.
150
Solar Panel Hats for daywear, and Tin Foil Hats for the nocturnal period.
10
Hopefully with a change of government in Italy today at least one EU country will change course but then again it maybe be powerless to do so.
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EU Commission Prez Threatens to Use ‘Tools’ Against Italy If Populist Right Wins Election
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has been accused of threatening Italy as polls continue to predict a victory for the centre-right coalition of Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI), Matteo Salvini’s League, and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.
President Von der Leyen spoke on Thursday on a trip to the United States just days ahead of Italy’s national election on Sunday, saying: “My approach is that whatever democratic government is willing to work with us, we’re working together,” but added: “If things go in a difficult direction, I’ve spoken about Hungary and Poland, we have tools.”
League leader Matteo Salvini reacted with anger to the statement, saying the statement sounded like a threat: “These are disgusting words, the threatening tone is unacceptable,” he said, accusing the EU Commission chief of making an attempt to influence or even blackmail Italian voters, Il Giornale reports.
“Our parliamentary group will present a motion of censure. On Sunday, Italians vote, not the Brussels bureaucrats, if I were the President of the EU Commission I would worry about the [energy] bills,” Salvini added, going on to say such statements should lead to a resignation or an immediate apology.
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I saw the BBC ‘smear machine’ in action yesterday: of course, Meloni is called ‘far-Right’ like anyone is who isn’t on the Left, or vaguely ‘centrist’.
She wants to stop the invasion of Europe from North Africa, but al-BiBeesi doesn’t like that view — the view that all previous generations would’ve supported — hence the smear.
By the way, they never call anyone far-Left, do they?
Sack the lot of them .. let Fiona Bruce, Maitlis, Gary Lineker, Vine… see what their REAL worth in the marketplace, is.
220
WEll said: we had a similar discussion over Tea, last night regarding the Far types, never Far Left. and are Fascists left or right, maybe just correct – in their own minds, or ?
and as for the Personalities? Hmm would I be allowed to say my mind here? Bad enough that I can’t even call myself a ********** since I come from Nigg,
10
Going from far left to center right, happy days.
10
This is all part of the engineered food shortage to compliment the engineered energy shortage and the war against medicine (e.g. banning freedom of choice of covid treatment, HCQ, IVM etc.).
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And you know what happens next…
INSECTS will be (ARE being!) proposed by the Left as a “sustainable” food source for non-Elites.
Leftoids are already promoting insects as both food and their waste as a substitute for “toxic synthetic fertilizers” (see REF 1).
Australia, being among the more fanatical followers of the UN and anthropogenic global warming fraud already are serving insects in 1000 Aussie schools (indoctrinate them young and they will comply) (see REF 2).
INSECTS are a poverty food for all non-Elites. They are also already on supermarket shelves. (REF 3) The Elites WILL EXPECT or force us to eat them just like they force us to use expensive and unreliable electricity plus also force their untested medical treatment upon us.
REF 1: https://www.zmescience.com/science/insects-could-replace-both-beef-and-toxic-synthetic-fertilizers/
REF 2: https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/1000-australian-schools-are-fed-insects/
REF 3: https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/810770/macro-cricket-protein-powder
(“Better for the environment^ ^Plus the way our crickets are farmed means they use less water and less land …”)
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Insects still need to be fed. They do not survive and breed on air alone. I wonder what they propose to feed them, and where they will get it.
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And would you trust what they were feeding them? It could be something completely divorced from their normal food sources.
e.g. I used to buy farmed salmon .. until I discovered they were being fed ground up chicken feathers!? I kind of lost my appetite at that point.
It’s not as bad as ‘frankenfood’, I guess — but how much of that stuff they pump into chickens to make them grow faster, accumulates in the feathers?
You can bet they’ll pull the same trick with insects. They’ll feed them on ‘sheep droppings’ or something harvested off sewage ponds in Çhιna.
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I agree with you Custer, except on one point.
At least in Australia, hormones and other growth stimulants are NOT fed to chickens. They are illegal. I assume the same in other Western countries.
Believe it or not, chickens grow to eating size in an intensive farming situation is six weeks, all due to selective breeding of fast growing animals.
I know it sounds unbelievable but it’s true.
And I have no association with the chicken industry.
(Reference for six week eating size. https://www.farmanimalreport.com/2020/04/04/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-chicken-to-grow-to-eating-size/)
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Okay point taken but they do give chickens antibiotics, don’t they? .. and vaxxines, possibly?
Admittedly it’s not my area of expertise.
I have no evidence any of that’s unsafe, but yeah I did stop eating salmon at that point.
50
There is a “vaccine” for chickens which is mandated for every chicken hatched, at least in developed countries that is. Jo ran a few articles on Marek’s disease which is the reason for the vaccine. Trouble is the vaccine is a “leaky” one in that it doesn’t always immunise the chicken or totally kill the infection and instead the “vaccinated” birds are able to pass Marek’s on to unvaccinated birds. Here are a couple of primers and even a peer reviewed paper on the issue if you are interested. You may not have to give up KFC…… just yet anyway. Cheers
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One thing about any product registered for food-animals in Australia…. It has been far more thoroughly tested than the RNA jabs that we have been abused for not taking.
50
I too no longer eat farmed salmon. Norwegian salmon has a terrible reputation as a toxic food.
Both Steggles and Inghams make a big deal of NOT feeding their chickens hormones or antibiotics.
Chinese bacon is full of growth hormones.
50
No one in Australia should be eating ANY foodstuffs from China.
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The insects are fed the meat that humans don’t eat.
50
Child: “Daddy, what did we eat before bugs?”
Dad: “Bread.”
00
Soylent Green
00
Insects as a food source will not take off until that is the only food available or the only one you can afford. At that stage you won’t buy them chocolate coated and individually wrapped, you’ll dig them up yourself or shake them from the road kill that your masters have so carefully left for you to scrounge upon.
The end comes just after the the governments ban, and enforce, the growing of vegetables in your backyard. How long before this one comes out in Vicdanistan, or have I missed the notice?
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Water and land are not the limiting factor….
A side note – be very wary WRT to claims of “water use”.
The fake calculations for many years have counted ALL the rain that falls on an acre of pasture as the water “used” to grow the livestock grazing on it. Most of the water runs off into the nearest creek, sinks into the ground, or is evaporated or transpired back into the atmosphere. .
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When the ONLY foods available in the teal and green electorates is insect based… then I will believe they are serious. 😉
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If it gets to that stage, what will the peasants be eating?
Some of us will be eating venison and other game, whilst dodging the government kill teams.
The loonies are on a roll and they mean to “adjust” the population to their own liking; enough labour and sex slaves to get their jollies and “supplies, and NO MORE
What they lack in actual intelligence, they more than make up for with pure, unmitigated criminal MALICE..
And those are their finer points.
80
With all of the Green Energy BS coming out of the EU, I would have thought that there would have been plenty of raw material (Bull Sh$te) to make plenty of Fertiliser.
181
I wonder how bad things will have to get, before “Eat the Greens” becomes both a political slogan and a survival strategy.
It’s not just Nitrogen.
Phosphorus and Sulphur are also essential plant nutrients. I mean ESSENTIAL.
Most sulphur currently comes from hydrocarbon fuels, and most phosphorus comes from phosphatic rock treated with sulphuric acid created by the de-sulphurising of the above-mentioned hydrocarbons.
Right now, we are considering changing our enterprise mix to reduce risk. That means more animals on pasture and less of the crops that both you and bugs eat. Can anyone say Unintended Consequences?
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The Left are already at war against “carbon” (sic) and “nitrogen” (sic). No doubt phosphorus and sulphur will be next.
Have you ever met anyone who promotes these “green” policies that actually understood science (I mean real science not “The Science”).
If you asked the average Leftoid in the street what gases animals and plants respire most wouldn’t have a clue.
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That only relates to North America. Most sulphur comes from burning elemental sulphur. The next largest source is processing sulphur bearing metals. China produces almost half of the world’s sulphuric acid.
50
Maybe you are right…. and all those processes , not to mention the mining of them, are on the Greens hit-list.
10
Australian-sourced coal AND oil have the LOWEST sulphur content in the world.
That is the primary reason countries with actual industries buy our coal by the mega-freighter load.
Sulphur is a VERY bad thing to find in serious steels and especially stainless steels subject to high stress.
20
“Eat the Greens” – I think it would be faster and more beneficial for the planet if we just jumps straight to “Bury the Greens”.
61
For decades the Left have been pushing the myth that modern agriculture and modern manufacturing in general are “unsustainable”.
With free enterprise (on the rare occasions it is allowed these days) nothing is unsustainable because if any commodity becomes scarce, the price goes up and that is a signal for inventors and entrepreneurs to find substitutes at a suitable price
Of course, the BS mostly started with the green policies of the National Socialists 1933-45 and their adoption of “biodynamic” agriculture, followed by the fraudulent book “Silent Spring” in 1962 by Rachel Carlson then followed by “The Limits to Growth” by the Club of Rome in 1972.
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David >”the BS mostly started with the green policies of…”
Yes, and history is not necessarily an accurate account:
The Official History of the Green Revolution
[Snip]
Population growth was considered a major problem in the sixties. Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University in his 1968 Population Bomb predicted widespread hunger as soon as the 1970s and advocated immediate action to limit population growth. The world simply could not feed a larger human population. Although mainly focused on environmental damage from pesticide use, Rachel Carson’s famous 1962 book, Silent Spring, made similar points. Human population was bound to continue to grow, and this would result in untold suffering and environmental damage.
A key and imminent danger in the 1960s was India: always on the verge on starvation, only massive imports of American wheat kept the specter of mass death away. Then, in 1965, catastrophe struck: drought across most of the subcontinent caused the Indian harvest to fail. As the drought continued into the two following years, it appeared that Ehrlich’s and the other Neo-Malthusians’ predictions had come true.
Then, a miracle happened: in stepped a man, a veritable demigod, to judge by the worship lavished on him by contemporary normies. Norman E. Borlaug, the father of the Green Revolution, […Snip…]
There is a twofold problem with this account of agricultural history: it is based on bad economics, and its connection to the actual history of Indian agriculture is tangential at best.
Continues….
The “Stunning Success” of the Green Revolution Is Yet Another Progressive Myth
https://mises.org/wire/stunning-success-green-revolution-yet-another-progressive-myth
30
We’re heading rapidly towards another dark age and anyone asking for proper data or evidence to support their lunacy are attacked in the MSM and by stupid scribblers plus an increasing number of ignorant pollies.
No doubt that the poorest countries will be hit the hardest but even wealthier countries will suffer from this barking mad net zero delusion.
So far there’s no sign that the voters are seriously waking up to this net zero madness anywhere, but we’ll know more in NOV after the USA mid terms.
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What you are seeing are the symptoms of a fossil fuel constrained future. The war hasn’t helped either. The fertiliser industry will have to adapt accordingly.
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The fertiliser industry will adapt…. and you will have to adapt to a lesser availability of food , or food choices.
In the past, bread made from grains like Barley was the common food of the poor. Keep that in mind.
201
The ONLY constraint of fossil fuels is a political agenda driven one.
They have brought this on themselves by their idiotic anti-CO2 measures.
What we are seeing the effects of CO2 ignorance and hatred under the guise of “climate”
Blaming the war is a childish, ignorant denial of the real issue.
That real issue is that places like Germany, EU, UK have plenty of their own fuel reserves which they refuse to use because of some ridiculous fairy-tale about CO2 causing harm to the planet, exactly the opposite of reality.
261
Bring back night soil.
50
It is already back. Most developed nations are using sewage sludge and off-gas in some way. This is the latest development in Germany.
https://www.recycling-magazine.com/2022/06/14/sewage-sludge-processing-at-arcelor-mittal/
Aquafin is a subsidiary of Arcelor Mittel, which is in financial strife due to energy costs but this project may get direct subsidies.
Biogas is now commonly used as the main source of energy in sewage treatment plants. That has been occurring for decades now.
142
Might be a good thing, at least in principle….. but I’ve seen some rather worrying observations regarding the levels of artificial substances – including hormones – in wastewater.
20
Or how about governments remove constraints on exploration and extraction of natural gas?
And without natural gas, urea and ammonia can be produced from coal via syngas for nitrogenous fertilisers feedstock.
If people want expensive and limited supplies of food from “organic” farming they should be free to produce and purchase them (just like expensive “green” electricity), just don’t force it on the rest of us as the Left love doing.
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Simon, if you and other Leftoids were serious you’d go exclusively on food produced on a “biodynamic” farm and also eat insects, e.g. from https://circleharvest.com.au/ You might like the mealworms for a main and crickets for a snack.
101
Let them eat crickets says Simon. And notice the word “them”.
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Simon >”What you are seeing are the symptoms of a fossil fuel constrained future”
Just binge-watched what it takes to produce Europe’s food – fossil fuel powered tractors, combines etc (similarly US AU). Lots of them and big too:
Biggest Tractors Stuck in Mud Compilation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdtAPil1gaQ
Tractors pulling tractors pulling out bogged tractors. There’s no carbon-zero “green” substitute for this. Down the side bar there’s plenty more fossil fueled heavy farm equipment videos.
Also some fossil fueled log recovery tractors in the video – you’re a forest manager aren’t you?
How will forestry “adapt” without fossil fueled equipment including log trucks, log trains, and shipping?
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>”fossil fuel powered tractors, … Lots of them”
Top 10 Tractor Companies in the World – Tractor List 2022
https://www.tractorjunction.com/blog/top-10-tractor-companies-in-the-world-tractor-list/
Biggest is Big Bud – 1,100 Horse Power
https://www.cropsreview.com/biggest-tractor-in-the-world/
It’s going to take a lot of horses to substitute all those fossil fueled tractors.
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Back to the Dark Ages B.T. – Before Tractors
50
Then, there are team engines.
Almost shade-tree technology, occasionally cantankerous, but incredibly long lived with basic maintenance
Have a look at some of the machine that companies like Case were making a hundred and twenty years ago.
Here:
https://www.farmcollector.com/steam-traction/the-legendary-150-hp-case-steam-traction-engine/
And: https://150case.com/
Then, there is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PKH_R_W5ek
Powered by wood and water…….
10
How about a round of applause & thanks to the Morrison government for ensuring that local manufacturers ( Incitec Pivot )were encouraged to increase production 12 months ago.
Let’s have an important referendum!! Should Australia continue down the road to net zero economy & maximum poverty??
261
On the nitrates subject remember the biggest producer of ammonium nitrate in the world is CHINA.
The other use for ammonium nitrate is for explosives, Anfo, the explosives used in all mining operations.
The UN & WEF are not using energy to reduce emissions, they are encouraging us to move away from fossil fuels to deprive the industrial & agricultural sectors of essential commodities to destroy our economies. Wake up folks, that tipping point into oblivion is drawing nearer & nearer!!
Wake up Albo, Bowen & Co or are you actually on the side of the UN & WEF.??
My opinion is you’re certainly not on Australia’s side!
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Wasn’t that in part because of a critical shortage of adblue for diesel fuel?
50
It was for the adblue diesel additive. That was before the EU economies started to regress.
I’m sure the nitrate fertiliser & Anfo situation was a deciding factor. I believe agriculture is either the 2nd or 3rd biggest contributor to our economy & ultimately standard of living.
20
All due to policy failure and of course the Ukraine war.
https://notrickszone.com/2022/09/25/german-industry-collapse-companies-leaving-in-droves-can-no-longer-bear-cost-explosion/
100
Left-wing governments gave the keys of their economies to the left-wing blackmailer who STARTED the war in Ukraine.
It’s like giving the keys of the kindergarten to a pedo and acting surprised when he takes advantage….
11
EU farmers warn of food shortages – Reuters
Spiraling energy and fertilizer costs are threatening vegetable and fruit production
Vegetable producers across northern and western Europe are considering halting operations, thus further threatening food supplies, as a result of the energy crisis hitting the continent, Reuters reported this week.
According to the report, skyrocketing power and gas prices are the biggest cost facing vegetable farmers employing greenhouse cultivation. Two French farmers renewing their electricity contracts for 2023 told the media outlet they were being quoted prices more than ten times higher than in 2021.
“In the coming weeks I will plan the season but I don’t know what to do,” said Benjamin Simonot-De Vos, who grows cucumbers, tomatoes and strawberries south of Paris. “If it stays like this there’s no point starting another year. It’s not sustainable.”
Johannes Gross, deputy sales manager at the German cooperative Reichenau-Gemüse, told Reuters: “We face an overall increased production cost of around 30%. Some colleagues are thinking about leaving their greenhouses empty to keep the costs as low as possible. Nobody knows what will happen next year.”
The soaring costs of fertilizer, packaging and transport have also been adding to the pain. Even in countries with abundant sun, such as Spain, fruit and vegetable farmers are grappling with a 25% jump in fertilizer costs.
As farmers across the EU warn of shortages, supermarkets may switch to sourcing more goods from warmer countries such as Morocco, Turkey, Tunisia, and Egypt, the report says.
60
France to reap worst corn harvest in decades – Bloomberg
This season’s crop is expected to fall to the lowest in 30 years due to adverse weather
French farmers are harvesting their smallest corn crop in more than three decades, following the worst drought in at least 500 years that has hit the continent, Bloomberg reported this week, citing the country’s agriculture ministry.
According to the report, France’s production of the staple grain used to feed chickens and pigs will drop 25% to 11.6 million tons, which is the lowest since 1990. The adverse weather has reportedly reduced harvests of almost all crops from last year, apart from oilseeds.
“No region is spared from the drop in yield,” the agriculture ministry said.
The smaller crops in France, which is one of Europe’s agricultural heavyweights, could drive soaring food prices even higher. Fields in Germany and Romania, other key EU producers, have also suffered from drought.
According to a report from French-based Strategie Grains, EU wheat crops will also be reduced this year. The agency estimates that the 2022-2023 wheat crop will be around 124.1 million tons, compared to 129.8 million tons in 2021-2022. It also lowered its forecasts for the total grain crop by 2.5 million tons from its August estimates, to 264.6 million tons, which is 25.7 million tons less than in 2021.
While the agency noted that grain prices have largely fallen, high production costs may render this decrease insignificant. Prices in the coming months will depend on the likelihood of an EU recession, which could lead to a further drop in demand, as well as a possible increase in grain exports from Ukraine.
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Thousands of Italian firms on brink of closure – media
Small and medium-sized businesses can’t cope with soaring energy bills, Corriere della Sera reports
Over 100,000 businesses in Italy are in danger of closing down due to soaring energy bills, the news outlet Corriere della Sera reported on Saturday, citing Carlo Sangalli, head of the Italian business association Confcommercio.
“Already today many companies are reorganizing or reducing services… Between now and the first half of 2023, at least 120,000 small businesses in the service sector are at risk… This is a cautious estimate that does not take into account the largest companies,” Sangalli told the news outlet.
According to the official, the situation could lead to the loss of more than 370,000 jobs. Sangalli noted that energy prices in Italy are much higher than in other countries, which puts a strain on small and medium-sized businesses.
“In terms of energy costs, our hotels, bars, restaurants and stores will pay 40-60% more on their bills this year than in Germany, and three times that than in France,” Sangalli said.
He noted that the energy crisis may deal the final blow to many businesses that have already been made vulnerable by the Covid-19 pandemic. The official said the country needed “good reforms and good investments” that will “make our country work better and in a simpler way,” and called for some of the support measures introduced during the pandemic to be reinstated.
Italy, along with other EU countries, has been battling record-high inflation. Annual inflation in the country reached 8.4% in August, driven largely by energy costs. Italy relies on imports for nearly 75% of its energy. At the start of this year, it was importing 40% of its gas from Russia, but in July its Russian purchases dropped to 25% due to sanctions. Earlier this month, Italy lost much of its supplies from Russia when Gazprom halted flows via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline due to technical issues.
According to a recent survey, over 70% of Italians are having difficulty or are simply unable to pay their energy bills. Nine out of ten plan to cut spending in order to pay for energy, which they intend to do by curtailing going to restaurants, bars, on holidays and buying clothing.
50
Right-Wing Coalition Wins in Italy, American Press Loses Its Mind
Italy held its national elections on Sunday, and the results already have the global left seeing red. Exit polls show that the right-wing alliance will win a sizable majority, with a government being formed behind Giorgia Meloni as Prime Minister.
Meloni will be the first woman in the country’s history to hold the position
So who is Meloni? She’s the leader of the Brothers of Italy party and a populist firebrand. Here’s a 30-second video that provides a good summation of her viewpoints.
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Don’t expect glowing appraisals of Meloni from the world’s feminists. She’s not the right politics. In fact, probably expect the exact opposite.
71
Time for Italian people to simply refuse to pat the electricity bills. Let’s see who will weaken fastest, the people or the woke government.
Time too for Italy to exit the EU overlords!! Just a mention of that subject should cause a #10 earthquake on the Richter scale. Who’s next, Poland??
80
Invest in pitchfork/tar/feathers futures!
110
So now the EU and England are not only going to freeze to death this winter, but starve to death as well.
I hope this nth hemisphere winter is the coldest on record,then maybe the moronic politicians will wake up to this ruinables madness.
140
The UK is already on the path to recovery thanks to Liz Truss taking over and stacking her cabinet with energy and climate realists. It’s a long road, though, and results won’t be apparent for at least a few months, maybe more. The UK has a tough winter ahead. The EU has a tough winter ahead too, and it will have to be seen whether they can fix things quickly. My money is on the UK getting going faster now that they have dropped both Carrie Johnson and the EU shackles.
151
..uhuh , and as a result, the £ has plummetted overnight – almost Parity with the $. Climate realists ? with their snouts still in the trough … enjoying the flavour of green taxes. Salads as side course.
No Help for the Small Acorn businesses. no one wants to be planting young businesses or bush plants – all have to be existing LARGE trees now in our society. Merit alone cannot survive the onslaught of Tax Herbicides!
10
Well the elites have dished up for the EU recently (or soon to come):
• pestilence
• medical fascism
• war (could’ve ended in April but for the Biden regime and their puppet Boris)
• famine (coming down the pipeline)
• power cuts (another treat in store for Christmas)
• digital Big Brother (a work in progress, ΚÌaüs cracking the whip so you don’t have to wait long!)
• poverty via inflation (set to get worse)
Any good news? See recent elections in Sweden and Italy, but too soon to tell.
80
Desperate people do silly things. Why isn’t Chris Bowen over there taking their money in return for a promise of green hydrogen in 5 years.
The Haber Bosch process gets credit for the real “green revolution”
https://www.instituteformindfulagriculture.org/writings-1/2016/3/24/the-haber-bosch-process-1
Demonising carbon and nitrogen demonises the abundance of human life.
120
And that, in a nutshell, is PRECISELY the objective.
151
“Just like that”
Down 70%
Seems a bit Reset … ish.
The building back better might be a little fuzzy.
81
This was all so predictable. If you sacrifice energy security you end up in this mess. No fertiliser = no food and no food = starvation. Once the starvation hits and people start dying, this moves the issue to a humanitarian emergency, most likely in 2023.
Looking at the bigger picture, the developed world has now demonstrated to the vastly bigger emitters of the developing world that RE is not a solution for low emissions grid energy and to continue down this path will lead to complete economic collapse and deaths on a very large scale. The failure of RE in Europe is effectively the death of RE in all countries except the west, where blind ideology is still pushing this flawed solution, which seeks to use the resulting collapse for a transition to Marxism, but at massive human cost.
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Australia is gradually surrendering energy security to China. Chinese manufacturing dominates world supply chains. Australia could not install a single solar panel, wind turbine, battery or supporting electronics without Chinese supply lines.
China’s manufacturing might is enabling it to acquire gradual ownership of Australian resources. Taiwan control by CCP may require armed conflict but that is not the case for Australia’s takeover.
Australia does not need atomic submarines to defend the country from China. Australia is a Chinese asset; bought and paid for. Nut Zero will accelerate that trend.
90
Yes, we’re doing with the China, what Europe did with Russia. The European experience provides a really good insight into what happens when you reach the energy tipping point, which occurs when you get to around 40-50% RE penetration. We saw this preview in June when energy price spiked up during a cold snap at a time when RE was reduced due to seasonal and weather related constraints. Australia is already at the threshold and any further removal of FF generation will push us over the cliff. You also rightly highlight the supply chain issues caused by globalisation, which reach far beyond energy and include electronic components, medical and pharma, automotive and everything else. Even the US military relies on Chinese made components and they would exhaust stockpiles very quickly if a war broke out.
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And Italy has now moved to the right, rejecting the woke climate agenda that created this unfolding disaster. The EU will most certainly break up within 1-3 years and other states will shift right and follow suit.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63029909
“Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni has won Italy’s election, according to exit polls, and is on course to become the country’s first female prime minister.”
Notice the “far right” tag, which is now placed on centre right parties by the real far left media.
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The promotion of “renewable” energy, if it involves forced purchase, or interference with market forces to artificially increase the cost of reliable energy, should be considered a crime against humanity as it leads to misery, starvation and death.
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Not sure how this will play out. European Agriculture has been heavily subsidised since WW2. Which means all food production ( animal and crop ) leans towards big inputs for bigger yields. Lower N fertiliser inputs due to higher prices may not necessarily mean lower crop yields for instance. There are many other tools in the agronomy toolbox which could be utilised to preserve at least some of those yields. Then, you have to talk about efficiency. I can only compare to Australian farming – we are super efficient with minimal inputs and no subsidies. European farming is the exact opposite. Too many small farms with inefficient yields. If high N prices continue due to either gas restrictions or those nutty Green policies then there will simply be less farmers in Europe. Farms will get bigger with better utilisation of equipment and resources. Will food supplies be less? Possibly in the short term with higher prices.
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Ross,
European farming is the exact opposite. Too many small farms with inefficient yields.
Clarkson’s Farm is a British television documentary series about Jeremy Clarkson and his farm in the Cotswolds. It was first broadcast by Amazon Prime Video on 11 June 2021. The series documents Clarkson’s attempts at running a 1,000 acres (400 ha) farm in the Cotswolds, and it has received largely positive reviews. In July 2021, the series was renewed for a second season
Zero Profit from the Farm over the year, summed up the inefficiency of small farms – I was stunned when they had a Vet for birthing Lambs, having just come past a couple of thousand Merinos on the Monaro Plains with Lambs at heel and no Vets in sight
https://www.primevideo.com/region/fe/detail/Clarksons-Farm/0SHGKA0J8D4G01ZGD647627NEJ
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Yes, I know OO. Most farmers I talked to ( who had watched that show ) thought that show was pure comedy. Mostly because of the farming practices compared to Oz. Granted, winter in Europe ( and the UK) is much harsher than Australia, so there are different animal husbandry practices for example. But overall, European farms – too small, too inefficient.
90
Harsh winters?
In 1974 I was traveling via the ACT to the kiddies snow-fields in the Snowy Region.
At one point, we drove past several kilometres of what was obviously sheep country.
The problem was that the sheep looked decidedly naked and unhappy. A lot of recently-shorn adult and many younger lambs also seemed to be quite inert on the frosty ground. Might have been the weather, or something; it was mid August, after all.
Then there are the droughts. When you cannot ride 50 metres in the scrub without encountering a dead or dying sheep and the feral pigs are gorging themselves on the carrion; sometimes showing their human side and engaging in “assisted dying”, things are crook. Do NOT go into the bush alone or unarmed if there is ANY chance of injury, closely followed by an encounter with a feral pig. I shot a LOT of sheep and pigs in those couple of weeks.
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Ozzie,
Clarkson doesn’t need to make money from the farm – he is getting paid to make a show about farming (which he knows little about ).
He is a “journalist” and media pundit and has to produce a watchable product without incurring the wrath of the media masters . He cannot “offend” the animal rights activists (PETA etc) or any other activists because they could get him cancelled . Ordinary farmers just have to survive on what they produce .
41
Two world wars with blockades on overseas food supplies.
Also much interest by politicians in the farmer vote.
But they import lots of food and have done so since WW2.
There is also the cost of fuel, not just for harvesting and delivery, but for heating “igloos” for much of the year to boost growth. Already there is some talk of farmers in the Low countries and France not running them this winter as heat & fertiliser costs are way up already.
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Ross…
From where I sit, it’s not the size of farms that is driving N-efficiency. All other things being equal, it still takes so many kilos of N to grow a tonne of grain, and just throwing more N at a crop doesn’t trump other limiting factors.
As a “smaller” farmer (1800 acres), my inefficiencies are more to do with labour and machinery, than N use.
If production drops, you’d expect prices to rise. When prices rise, farmers can afford to pay relatively more for N.
20
I’d like to comment but I have to go and put urea out. 10 tonnes of it this week. It used to be 18.
90
Don’t get bogged mate!
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Urea reactors are the nastiest bit of kit I have ever seen. Operating temperature of 170C and pressure of 190bar in a highly corrosive environment. These reactors create big bangs and kill people when they fail
41
Ironically, if we just stopped feeding the Klepto-activist class, we’d have more than enough energy and food to keep everyone safe, warm, and fed this European Winter, and for decades to come.
50
Euro fert production down = 1 week’s snow in Australia.
Your/their BoM’s alpine page has, for NSW’s Thredbo and VIC’s Mt Hotham, 7 days and 7 nights of FREEZING SNOW (emphasising not shouting). From today, Monday 26, to Sunday 2 October – when your Daylight Robbery commences – snow showers and overnight sub-zero temps from a (rare?) southeast-quarter breeze.
Klimate Aktivism in action? Nah, La Niña.
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Is there such a thing as FREEEZING SNOW?
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There is now a Monday Open Thread open for business……………………….
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Looks like we’re going to have to eat more meat PETA.
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[…] Just like that: European Fertilizer production down 70% […]
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Did they just legalize mass burial pits?
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My urea bill this year was $80k for 200ha of crop. Another $30k for Ammonium Phosphate at planting…. that’s about 25% of my projected harvest just to repay the fertiliser inputs. Add in chemicals, machinery, contractors, diesel…. I expect to make money this season, but if we’d had a dry spring combined with a drop in the market, I’d be hurting.
40
FWIW in the online UK Farmers Weekly https://www.fwi.co.uk/search?keyword=fetiliser+supply there is no mention of anything like Jo’s great informative article here with it’s derivatives.
Aye Norway, all that electricity going to waste, eh? er no – fuelling hobby cars. In school in scotlandshire, we were taught that with Norway’s great Hydro reserves, they could make cheap fertiliser / fertiliZer hence the Company name Norsk Hydro. but now ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_Hydro#Hydro_Agri –> the agricultural division was in 2004 demerged into the independent company Yara International, Aye, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkeland–Eyde_process hence the derived name “Artificial fertiliser”
So what’s Norway problem now to invoke reduced output ?
20
The really nasty, totalitarian, human-hating types who form the kernel of the Green movement find this to be very good news indeed. Whatever it takes to put down those pesky human parasites.
Energy grids, agriculture, economies, all gone. That’s the game plan, anyway.
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[…] Read the Full Article […]
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Synthetic fertilizer is the best thing to have happened for humanity’s food supply, not excluding even sliced bread. About half of global food production comes from nitrogen fertilizer. Without theses fertilizers, many may not even have bread, let alone sliced bread. And environmental Marie Antoinettes would even be able to say, “Let them eat bread.”
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Correction: And environmental Marie Antoinettes would NOT even be able to say, “Let them eat bread.”
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Lately I’ve been thinking that something was missing.
And then it hit me: A good old-fashioned famine!
Good times . . .
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Strange? A CSIRO study a number of years ago proved that a higher CO2 level promoted faster and bigger tree & plant growth. Hmm.
20
They can always use Guano which is Sea Bird Poo mostly the Boobies and such which is probibly more intelligent then the Liberal wanks
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[…] Just like that: European Fertilizer production down 70% […]
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