Food Concerns

Corn Zea mays (Andrew Butko)

There are several food concerns in the news. The following two on corn hopefully will get some people’s attention:

One of the nation’s most widely planted crops — a genetically engineered corn plant that makes its own insecticide — may be losing its ability to kill a major pest, and scientists fear potentially risky farming practices are spurring the rise of insects immune to the hybrid’s sophisticated weaponry.

When it was introduced in 2003, so-called Bt corn seemed like the answer to farmers’ dreams: It would allow growers to bring in bountiful harvests using fewer chemicals because the corn naturally produces a toxin that poisons western corn rootworms. The hybrid was such a swift success that it and similar varieties now account for 65 percent of all U.S. corn acres…But over the last few summers, rootworms have feasted on the roots of Bt corn in parts of four Midwestern states, suggesting that some of the insects are becoming resistant to the crop’s pest-fighting powers.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2103226,00.html#ixzz1hvuHbdnc

Seed maker Monsanto Co. created the Bt strain by splicing a gene from a common soil organism called Bacillus thuringiensis into the plant…The Environmental Protection Agency recently chided Monsanto, declaring in a Nov. 22 report that it wasn’t doing enough to monitor suspected resistance among rootworm populations. The report urged a tougher approach, including expanding monitoring efforts to a total of seven states, including Colorado, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The agency also wanted to ensure farmers in areas of concern begin using insecticides and other methods to combat possible resistance…If rootworms do become resistant to Bt corn, it “could become the most economically damaging example of insect resistance to a genetically modified crop in the U.S.,” said Bruce Tabashnik, an entomologist at the University of Arizona. “It’s a pest of great economic significance – a billion-dollar pest.” http://www.leadertelegram.com/news/daily_updates/article_5202a6d2-3196-11e1-b287-0019bb2963f4.html

Over a decade ago, I started to get published for my positions against genetically-modified foods (Thiel R. Labeling of genetically modified foods should be a fundamental consumer right. HealthKeepers, 2000; 2 (3):16-19; Thiel R. ANMA’s official position on genetically-modified foods. ANMA Monitor, 1999;3(4)5-8).

The increased dependance upon genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) for the American food supply is putting the USA at tremendous risk for famine and pestilences (cf. Matthew 24:7-8). This is a food concern for 2012.

In more recent times I warned:

In the “Great Depression” most Americans and Brits had skills in growing food. This is no longer the case. Furthermore, modern crops have gotten more complicated as so many seeds are hybrids that they will not actually grow the type of foods most in the USA and UK are used to having. The coming food problems will also get worse once one or more genetically-modified crops suffers from some type of pestilence. The USA, to cite one example, could lose virtually all of its wheat or corn because of the dependence on genetically modified versions (which is especially true for crops like corn and soy). Prophecy for famines will be fulfilled (Matthew 24:7-8). (From China Buying USA Food, In Depression Will Chinese Eat While Americans & Brits Starve? May 21, 2010)

Notice something that Ezekiel was inspired to write:

15 ‘So it shall be a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you, when I execute judgments among you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken. 16 When I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread. 17 So I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken.’” (Ezekiel 5:15-17)

Notice that this shows famine, then pestilence, and then the sword. The above sequence seems to be slightly different than that Jesus listed as part of the “beginning of sorrows” (Mathew 24:7-8) as the sword comes afterwards. But since the sword should begin the Great Tribulation, the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7), this may be part of how the beginning of sorrows ties into the Great Tribulation–this also may suggest hunger and disease problems for the Anglo-nations prior to the start of the Great Tribulation.

The increasing use of genetically modified organisms for many of the grain crops in the USA is putting parts of humanity at major increased risk of unintended consequences such as famine and disease pestilences. Most of the corn and soy beans produced in the USA are genetically-modified. Soon, much of the wheat will be. Directly and indirectly, the USA and its Anglo-allies will cause most of the problems that it will be experiencing in the next several years.

As Jesus said:

37 And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch! (Mark 13:36-37)

Tougher times are coming. And for some parts of the world these tougher time may be here now. People who can prepare, should: both spiritually and physically. (From Super Wheat: Solution or Disaster Awaiting? June 10, 2011)

So, it may be that the Anglo-nations will experience some real hunger as well as disease and/or other pestilences (that could possibly at least partially be triggered by excessive reliance on genetically-modified organisms as part of their agricultural production) that will weaken them enough so that the USA and its Anglo-allies will then be considered attackable by some of their enemies…

Because of sin, greed, and ignorance, America has been into producing genetically-modified foods. These “foods” are genetically identical which makes them susceptible to total elimination via famine-causing pestilential organisms. I have long suspected that the time will come when some type of pestilence will hit America’s genetically-modified grain crops like corn and wreak havoc on the land. Enough so, that this may embolden its enemies to attack Britain and/or the USA to begin the Great Tribulation. (Can the Great Tribulation Begin in 2011, 2012, or 2013? Spring 2011)

Basically, I have long suspected that likely crop failures associated with GMO grains are putting the USA at extreme risk of being destroyed economically and otherwise. Most Americans do not like to accept this, but it is nonetheless true.

Notice also the following news items:

Food security to be concern in 2012

China Daily – Dec 28, 2011

China to rely more on foreign food suppliers to feed population

BEIJING – The year 2011 began with fearful memories of the 2008 global food crisis. That was a time when surging food prices swept the world, giving rise to riots, trade bans, and panicked hoarding. Millions of people standing on the verge of poverty fell back into the pit. To many, the threat of hunger and malnutrition once again loomed on the horizon…Worryingly to some Chinese observers, foreign companies continue to expand. In September, Monsanto Co, the US-based crop-biotechnology company, and Sinochem Co, China’s agricultural-chemicals conglomerate, invested 500 million yuan ($77 million) in a factory that processes corn seeds in Northwest China’s Gansu province, according to reports by domestic media…

In 2011, China surpassed Canada to become the largest importer of US agricultural goods, according to the US Department of Agriculture. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/epaper/2011-12/28/content_14342004.htm

Wheat Records Longest Rally in Four Years on Dry U.S. Weather

Bloomberg – Dec 28, 2011

Wheat rose, capping the longest rally in four years, as dry weather persisted in the U.S. Great Plains, depleting soil moisture and eroding prospects for dormant winter crops.The southern Plains may be mainly dry with above-normal temperatures over the next 10 days, according to a Telvent DTN forecast. Much of Texas, western Oklahoma and southwest Kansas is suffering from “extreme” to “moderate” drought after months of below-average precipitation, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln said…

Wheat gained today on speculation that demand for U.S. exports will increase for use in livestock feed as a lack of rain threatens corn and soybean crops in South America.

Dry weather “is going to hurt corn and soybean crops down there, so that could cut into world production and world grain supplies,” Tom Leffler, the owner of Leffler Commodities LLC in Augusta, Kansas, said in a telephone interview.

Wheat is the fourth-largest U.S. crop, valued at $13 billion in 2010, behind corn, soybeans and hay, government data show. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-28/wheat-records-longest-rally-in-four-years-on-dry-u-s-weather.html

Food prices will continue to rise in 2012, says USDA

Dec 23, 2011

Get ready for more high food prices going into 2012 –- the USDA is projecting that next year will bring an overall spike of 2.5% to 3.5%…Whole food prices could reach their strongest annual gains in more than three decades, National Restaurant Assn. economist Bruce Grindy wrote earlier this year. What comes next will depend on weather conditions, fuel prices and the value of the dollar, the USDA said. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/12/food-prices-will-continue-to-rise-in-2012-says-usda.html

Food prices may well rise much more than 2.5% to 3.5%. Chinese need for food and imports from the USA is a concern for 2012.

The time is coming when the USA will have severe food shortages. And at that same time, the USA may have to provide grain to China and other creditors that it owes when some Americans will be starving. The reliance on genetically-modified grain crops will likely contribute to disaster in the USA. It may even contribute to food inflation later this year.

The corns provides further secular proof that my long-held beliefs concerning the risks of genetically-modified foods are getting more current scientific validation.

While we are not there yet for total crop failure, this time is coming soon (and is likely to be the result of weather and other factors as well). Famines and pestilences are part of what Jesus called “the beginning of sorrows: (Matthew 24:4-8).

Physical Preparation Scriptures for Christians. We all know the Bible prophecies famines. Should we do something?
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