Posted on 01/14/2010 10:58:57 PM PST by blam
A Seed Shortage May Come In 2010
By SUSAN REIMER THE BALTIMORE SUN
Jan. 11, 2010, 10:39AM
Will there be a shortage of vegetable seeds for gardeners in 2010?
It is possible, says Barbara Melera, owner of the oldest seed house in the country, D. Landreth Seeds, formerly of Baltimore and now of New Freedom, Pa.
After back-to-back good years — 2008's salmonella scares and 2009's poor economy send homeowners into the garden to grow their own food — you might expect a backslide in seed sales, Melera said. New gardeners get discouraged or bored.
But, she said, “In 2009, we had the worst growing season in 50 years.” Rain and disease destroyed crops and with them, the seeds for next year's garden.
“Onion sets. And a cucumber seed shortage,” she predicted. “We are being told that the cucumber harvest was catastrophic, attacked late in the season by woolly mildew. There was fruit, but no viable seeds inside.
“We are being told that many, many varieties simply won't be available.”
Likewise, Europe had a terrible harvest this year, and Europeans purchased much of their produce from the United States, taking with it the seeds.
And, as further proof that we are in a global marketplace, Europeans and Australians have taken a fancy to eating sprouts — tons of sprouts.
“When you grow vegetables just to get the sprouts, nothing gets to fruit. And they are consuming gigantic quantities of seeds just for the purpose of sprouts.”
Word of possible shortages must be leaking out, Melera said, because retailers are telling her they had their best December in years.
It is certainly true that vegetable gardeners are ordering seeds earlier and earlier, but Melera said she thinks it is more likely that gardeners are acting out of fear
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Thanks for the informed/educated input.
Did you see the article about the 4,000 year old bean seeds that sprouted?
Yes, I did. Nature always wins in the end. We live. We die. And in-between we garden. :)
Thanks for the ping I’m a bit behind on news lately that article has excellent information and links. With the severity of the weather and seed shortages, etc. at best we will see skyrocketing prices.
There is also BO’s other stupid plan in the works to take farmland and plant trees to consider.
http://thecomingdepression.net/main-street/poverty/forests-instead-of-food/
and Oil is rising which will drive up the costs as well. I hope you all prepare stock up as much as you can.
Yes, have done so except for gasoline. I normally store 55-110 gallons of gasoline for hurricane season...I will be doing this next week.
Yes, I use Sta-bil, stabilizer.
Jim Rogers: Brace Yourself For Food Shortages, Thanks To The Banks Hoarding Cash
http://www.businessinsider.com/jim-rogers-buy-ahead-of-the-food-shortages-2010-1
One of the keys to saving seeds is to save types that will thrive in your climate, whether your growing season is short and coolish, or long, hot, and humid.
What I’ve stored is primarily grains such as hard red wheat, tricale, rye, brown rice, and barley which I have bought from bulk bins. Dry beans goes well with grains and the amino acids are complimentary, meaning the total protein content of both are better utilyzed by the body. Milk also boosts the available and usable protein of grains and legumes, and it can be stored in dry form.
None of these items have to be purchased in huge lots. I buy an extra few pounds of two or three items every month from the bins in a special section of my supermarket - very economical. The items are stored in large plastic buckets with snap on lids that originally contained kitty litter.
Purchasing a few extra cans of canned chicken, salmon, or beef when they are on sale, and cans of tomatoes, eventually adds up.
It is possible to do this with food stamps. There are online sites that can offer advice on this but most of it is common sense.
It’s good to be appreciated in my own time. ;’)
Are you positive that this is safe?
I'm certain that I've read many times that one is ONLY supposed to use food grade plastic buckets for any type of food storage, much less the long term variety.
That's why lots of people ask bakeries to safe the big buckets that frosting comes in.
It is safe to re-use, because it is FOOD GRADE.
I”ve read online that brand new food grade plastic buckets are very inexpensive at Home Depot and Lowes.
Bump.
Link entered in the survival thread.
This is a GREAT website- (can’t say that I have ever traded with them), but they have all sorts of survivalist stuff, including seeds, and tons of info.: http://waltonfeed.com/category/70
<<<<<<<<<<<<
I have traded with them, several times, as have my friends and many Freepers.
For me they are the only company to do business with, they spoiled me for the common supplier.
The product is fresh and it is priced for the common man.
I can buy from them, have UPS deliver it to my living room and still beat the local market prices in Kingman Arizona.
That is on the larger orders, would not be true for a single item.
I buy bags of grains/flour/beans/sugar etc and also the dehydrated canned products.
Thanks for the endorsement. I have a friend asking me for this sort of advice. Now, I won’t hesitate to recommend these people.
It depends what you put in it.
I have food safe buckets for bulk items such as wheat, rye and triticale. Those buckets have metal bag liners and seal tightly. I purchased them from a food storage specialty company. Items like macaroni and beans bought in plastic bags go in the empty kitty litter buckets because the lids do not fit tightly and the main idea is to protect the items from light and moisture damage, not airtight seal them. Dry milk comes in individual envelopes within boxes - I buy that off the supermarket shelves.
I have steal shelving that keeps the items up off the floor.
My grandparents, who lived through the depression, always had a closet or entire room devoted to food storage. They survived the lean years, so can anyone.
Thanks for claritying.
My pleasure, you will find folks who have ordered from Walton Feed.com, are all quick to say they will again.
Well except for my friend Don, for awhile he was upset that after all the years of ordering from them, his last order was so big, that it came by truck on pallets......LOL and they did not deliver it into his living room, dropped it and said it is all yours now.
He should have read the site, for it is there some place.
Walton has one valuable feature that many miss, on the order page is a link that is for “Read my label”, take time to check it, for it will tell you the vitamins, minerals, etc in the product.
Until I read it, I thought beans were beans....they are all different, some contain more than others.
I found them on the internet, then checked the Mormon food lists and even asked Mormons about them, they order there and that was all I needed to know that it would be safe to deal with them.
I had been warned that all cans of dehydrated foods were not the same.
The real convincer for me, was the sacks of grain and flour come from local mills, you smell the freshness when you open the bag. Beans that I bought 5 and 6 years ago, are still plumper today, than the fresh bulk beans sold in the markets of Kingman.
Check them out, they are not just for storage, most of my purchases from them were to use now, and of course it helps to have some for the feared emergencies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.