Is it wise to assume that food will always be available if you can afford it?



“If It’s not viable, if you can’t make it work during the good times, for crying out loud, it wont work when the country’s economy is falling apart”

About what people “whish” will happen when the economy goes down, and what’s more likely to happen when there’s an economy crisis.There’s people out there that hate their jobs, probably hate their lives, and think “Yes, SHTF , then quickly comes TEOTWAWKI and everything will be ok, I wont have to work anymore, just grow food in my small piece of land, and people will drop by paying with gold coins for a few tomatoes”Maybe you think I’m exaggerating but you should see what some people out there think.We joke about it with some internet buddies at Minion Report (linked in the upper left corner).Ended up in a terrific warlord parody thread, lots of keyboards died that day because of coffee or sodas :) , but there are places were people SERIOUSLY think they’ll become warlords, shooting zombies all day, and have several nubile girls at their disposal…A poster asked;In most cases yes. Other than war and planned genocide, people die of hunger around the world because they can’t afford to buy food.When food is cheap, everything is ok, when food becomes expensive, only those that can afford it will stay fed.I’m hearing right now as I write this a radio program that’s talking about starvation and food problems in the country. Yes people STILL starve to death in this country, a country with 44.000.000 in habitants, that produces food for more than 300.000.000.Problem is, most of that food gets sold to foreign nations. I repeat, the problem you face with an economic crisis, is not that food just disappears, but that due to inflation it’s only something fewer people can afford.Now, rice, pasta and flour is still relatively cheap. The problem most people are having regarding nutrition is affording protein rich food ( meats) and fresh vegetables. Both of these are just easy to grow in an orchard that people can set up in their backyards. No need to run to the hills and start growing wheat.It was and still is pretty common here for people (specially in the suburbs) to have a chicken coop, and some veggies in the back yard. My grandparents did this, my wife’s parents did this too.And they did it without moving to the sticks or quitting they day jobs. My grandfather worked all day in his carpenter shop and my grandmother had a rather successful bakery. (closed because of robberies)If farming is your trade and that’s what you’ve been doing your entire live and you are doing well, by all mean, continue doing what you are good at.All I can advice you is to google up “Farmer’s crisis Argentina” and read about the many problems they had. It’s best to know these things because with an economical crisis it’s very likely to expect this to happen in USA too.Farmers with small lots suffered the most. Basically anyone with less than 400 hectares or so was sooner or later out of business. You need a critical production mass to stay on business.Maybe this will happen in USA, maybe not, but it DID happen here already and it’s definitely something you should think of.You have some land, a job that pays well, and as someone mentioned here, you enjoy working on your orchard and it produces food for free, but of course, do so and enjoy it!What I mean is don’t sell your home and move to 12 acres and think that living out of what you’ll be able to grow is a good idea because it’s definitely not. Again, some people already know, this but many others that are very serious about survival think this way, and many actually did it and found out on their own that after a few years they where broke.Guys, now the important part, as a general rule.Another big mistakes is thinking that for some reason cities will just go up in flames. Why do people think this? Because Katrina?Do people living in the sticks stay when there’s floods, hurricanes , forest fires or volcano activity? You never know when you’ll be forced to bug out, nothing guarantees you wont no matter where you live.Rioters destroying the city.. when was the last time that happened?Riots start, there’s looting and life just goes on. I’ve watched riots and even some looting while eating a burger in my lunch brake maybe 20 meters away from the rioters.Sooner or later peace is restored and life goes on.Problems living in the city? Of course.Air sucks, a city without power is a grave within a couple of weeks, and if there’s diseases they spread much quicker.What you average doom worshiper doesn’t know and I do: When resources are limited, any mayor, any governor will concentrate those where the population is greater ( larger towns and cities) . Meaning if crime goes nuts, they’ll post 3 cops per block in the nice parts of town, and let the rest be damned, like in Roman times were the roads are full or throat cutters and the cities are kept safe.If the power goes down, there’s already a grid, it’s not as if power plants will suddenly disappear.We have a nuclear power plant here that’s been operational since the 60’s in spite of all the troubles, in spite of minimum maintenance. When there’s a need, people find a way to keep things going.When dengue disease turned into a serious problem and resources where limited, guess where they fumigated first?When yellow fever became pandemic at the northern border with Brazil in Misiones, the first ones to be affected where the ones living in some of the most isolated places you can think of.There’s pro and con to both living in the city and the country. The best thing in my opinion is to live in between but closer to a city large enough to ensure health care and job opportunities.Guys, there's some questions in the replies on the previous post, I'll answer those tonight.Take care.FerFAL