U.S. Food Production Has Taken A Very Dangerous Turn In The Wrong Direction

https://michaeltsnyder.substack.com/p/us-food-production-has-taken-a-very?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1520363&post_id=125416225&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email

If farmers and ranchers don’t produce enough food, we don’t eat.  So we should always be very thankful for our hard working farmers and ranchers.  Unfortunately, farms and ranches all over the United States have been hit by a string of disasters in recent months, and as a result food production has taken a turn for the worse.  So does that mean that we should expect that there will soon be shortages of certain items?  Unfortunately, it appears that is likely to be the case.  For example, it is being reported that approximately 90 percent of Georgia’s peach crop for this year has been destroyed…

Summer is around the corner, and in Georgia, summer means peaches.

But horticulturists at the University of Georgia say roughly 90% of the Peach State’s crop has been destroyed by bad weather and a warming climate.

The last time things were this bad was 1955, according to Lawton Pearson of Pearson Farm in Fort Valley, Georgia.

I really love a good peach.

But if you want to sink your teeth into some fresh peaches in the months ahead, they won’t be coming from Georgia…

So don’t count on sinking your teeth into a peach from the Peach State anytime soon.

“Not Georgia peaches,” Pearson says. “I don’t think you’ll see Georgia peaches in the grocery store.”

Perhaps you are thinking that we will just eat more oranges instead.

Unfortunately, it is being projected that a combination of factors will cause Florida’s orange harvest to be 56 percent smaller this year…

Florida’s citrus industry posted its worse harvest since 1937, which should give orange fans some pause at the supermarket.

Damage from the 2022 hurricane season, combined with the impact of citrus greening disease, is ravaging the Sunshine State’s orange crop.

This will likely cause citrus prices to skyrocket nationwide, as Florida farmers recorded its smallest orange harvest in 90 years, according to the state’s latest agriculture report.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in January that only 18 million boxes of Florida oranges would be on the market in 2023, a 56 percent drop from last year.