As y'all know, I'm new to this Y2K thing. I've heard concerns about the food supply. Can anyone explain the possible problems? Because plants and animals don't care what the year is, it must be something further along in the supply chain ;-)

-- Paul C. Anagnostopoulos (paul@windfall.com), May 15, 1999

Answers

A short answer;

1. Without electricity, no step in the process works.

2. If no oil/gas --- no transportation.

3. No phones --- no orders/delivery instructions.

4. Food plant/farm equipment --- possible embedded chips= shut down

These are just a few ideas --- the steps from farm to consumer are numerous and extensive, with many possible Y2K breakdowns along the way. Search previous threads for discussion and links.

-- Jon Johnson (narnia4@usa.net), May 15, 1999.

Aha, most of the problems are offshoots of other problems. Well, that makes sense. Without electricity, there certainly will be a pile of annoyances.

I can't wait to hear about vehicles that failed due to embedded systems. Certainly ain't any systems that know the year in my car, but possibly in farm equipment.

-- Paul C. Anagnostopoulos (paul@windfall.com), May 15, 1999.

Paul, please see:

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000T5E

where you'll find some notes I took from the televised Senate Y2K Committee hearings on teh food supply earlier this year. If you search on "supply" or "hearing" in the Food archive, you'll find more relevant information to help you. There's more, but this will do for a start!

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), May 15, 1999.

http://www.snowcrest.net/siskfarm/mbarnes.html

a little essay on food supply, first posted here at Yourdan.

-- Mitchell Barnes (spanda@inreach.com), May 15, 1999.

Paul - When Union Pacific merged with Southern Pacific, they thought merging their car tracking systems would be no big thing. It wasn't. Literally thousands of railroad cars were misplaced, unfindable, sent to the wrong place, etc. for months. During this mess was the midwest grain harvest. Due to the shortage of on time cars literally hundreds (thousands?) of tons of grain rotted sitting next to grain elevators since there was not sufficient storage. That's just the physical side. What about the economic? If various seed and grain companies go under due to paying around too much in the futures or derivatives market some of them could go bankrupt. This could stress the system so that the normal quantity of food processed is reduced, not to a trickle but just enough to make prices soar and cause all sorts of problems.

It all boils down to what % of systems can have what degree of problems before you get a snowballing effect? Nobody knows. I say prudent preparation will make you sleep better at night.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), May 15, 1999.

Interesting note: Due to years of natural disasters, monopolies, over-regulation and below cost pricing, there are thousands of farmers, (at a minimum,) who will belly-up this year because Congress has not passed the financial assistance they need to buy seed and inputs. According to Representative Helen Chenoweth at a recent conference in Nevada, large international grain companies testified in the Country of Origin Meat Labeling hearings that within 20 years, 90-94% of American farmers would be no more. We already import 40% of our fruits and veggies.

-- marsh (siskfarm@snowcrest.net), May 15, 1999.

Paul,

Suggest you do a tad more homework. Your recent posts indicate you think Y2Ks a non-event. You need to earn some internet research sweat equity time.

Diane

Try ...

Y2K - Food Supply Prospects Paint Frightening Picture

By Geri Guidetti

Listen to Geri on realaudio from the December 20th Jeff Rense show at

http://www.broadcast.com/shows/endoftheline/archive.stm

"Farmers face threat from new pest--Y2K bug"

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 000joc

Fairy Tales and Magical Thinking Mask Truth About Food in Y2K

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 000lD9

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 15, 1999.

There are five articles from Westergaard 2000 about Y2K and the food supply at this link:

http://y2ktimebomb.com/Industry/Agriculture/cregdex.htm

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), May 15, 1999.

An article specifically about Y2K and the food distribution network is at this link:

http://y2ktimebomb.com/Industry/Agriculture/creg9907.htm

"Y2K and Our Food Supply: Moovin' From Farm to Fork"

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), May 15, 1999.

We have a website devoted to y2k information for family farmers and ranchers and rural communities at http://www.snowcrest.net/siskfarm/millenm.html

-- marsh (siskfarm@snowcrest.net), May 15, 1999.

This is MinnesotaSmith, author of the Y2K-preparatory website http://y2ksafeminnesota.hypermart.net. Several places for you to look: the best one of all is almost anywhere on www.garynorth.com; go to the links page, and look at "Cassandra Project", or the "Shipping", "Power Grid", or "Introduction" sections. Also, the "An Introduction" article on my website, Mike Hyatt's The Millennium Bug, and Ed Yourdon's Time Bomb 2000 all are possible resources for you.

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), May 15, 1999.

Like Diane I also recommend you start with Geri Guidetti. we ahve the makings of a famine here in America if contingency planning is not the top priority in the next six months.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), May 16, 1999.

A new article about Y2K and the food chain is at:

http://www.seattletimes.com/news/technology/html98/food_19990516.html

"A vital link in the food chain"

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), May 16, 1999.

Agriculture and Food -- You Are What You Compute http://www.provide.net/~aelewis/y2ko/y2ko_425.htm

Notable/Quotable on Agriculture and Food: http://www.provide.net/~aelewis/y2ko/y2ko_030.htm

-- alan (aelewis@provide.net), May 16, 1999.