Can anyone verfiy this for me. Thank you.

British Virgin Islands local newspaper. This article was printed in the Nov. 4th edition. Y2K Food Plan Taking Root Since funding for the government\'s Y2K Agriculture Contingency Plan was approved last month, the Department of Agriculture and Ministry for Natural Resources have been working overtime to get the project off the ground. Land a Paraquita Bay has been plowed and planting there was to start this week. Staff have been working on the project and two \"brooder\" units what will house 2,500 chicks each have been purchased. Two delivery trucks and seedlings have been purchased and two marketing specialists will soon be on board. Experts fear that the millennium bug will affect farmers\' ability worldwide to produce food and distributors ability to bring it to the BVI. In August the US Agriculture Department reported that they estimate there is a 60 percent chance for shortages of fresh fruits and vegetable, milk and flour in America. The shortages are expected the end of January 2000 when supermarket supplies are exhausted. Ms. Gibson, head of the Y2K project, said several US food suppliers to the BVI have already warned that they will not be bringing food here starting in December to prepare for shortages closer to home. The Y2K coordinator said critics should have faith in the agriculture sector\'s ability to produce the necessary food. \"No, we\'re not going to produce enough food for every resident and tourist, but we\'re going to make a very good effort\".

-- stinky (stinkmyer@aol.com), November 19, 1999

Answers

this is horrifying. it is scary enough to think about our issues domestically but when you look at folks who live in remote areas like this--it is so worrisome.

-- tt (cuddluppy@yahoo.com), November 19, 1999.

I wish someone could verify it. I've posted a couple of times from Bermuda,which,near as I can tell,is an island of 60,000 DGI's. Any news like this would really help to convince at least a few of the sheeple.

-- walter (on de rock@northrock.bm), November 19, 1999.

And how about those "shortages closer to home"? CNN interviewed several S. Florida farmers about the hurricane damage to their fields. Expect very limited fresh vegetables until at least February.

We're used to being able to buy fresh anytime. Fresh meat and milk, bread and vegetables. What will the reaction be when the local grocery has bare shelves?

-- chairborne commando (what-me-worry@armageddon.com), November 19, 1999.

I remember the bakery truck and the produce truck coming through the neighborhood (sometimes twice a week) in the 1930's in St. Paul. They'd stop for any housewife who came out on the street to buy. And many did.

Maybe there's an opportunity for something like this "afterward". Modified for current circumstances, of course. A bicycle with a trailer, for instance, could carry fresh greens or vegetables into outlying suburbs from truck gardens a little farther out. Depends on the status of civil order, and the available medium of exchange, too.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), November 19, 1999.