14 DAY TRIAL // We have already written about how new environmental conditions such as prolonged droughts stand to lead to a major food crisis, yet a report recently made public by Britain's National Pig Association warns us that, due to poor harvests, a global pork shortage is pretty much “unavoidable.”
To cut a long story short, eggs and bacon for breakfast could soon become a thing of the past, seeing how the farmers who are in the business of raising pigs for the food industry find it ever more difficult to come by the corn and soybean they need in order to feed their livestock.
According to Britain's National Pig Association, “Pig farmers have been plunged into loss by high pig-feed costs, caused by the global failure of maize and soya harvests.”
Therefore, “New data shows the European Union pig herd is declining at a significant rate, and this is a trend that is being mirrored around the world.”
Apparently, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland and Sweden, all of which are major pig-producing countries, have reported a shrinking of their herds from June 2011 to June 2012, primarily because farmers could no longer afford to feed as many animals as they did in the past.
Sources explain that, because of diminished herds, pig slaughter levels could go down by 10% as early as the second half of the year 2013, and that this will lead to people having to pay significantly more money whenever they wish to purchase pork or related products from supermarkets.
According to Mick Sloyan, presently working with Britain's National Pig Association, a 2% reduction in the total number of slaughterings will up pork prices by 10%.
On the other hand, if worst comes to worst, pork prices could double all across Europe, and as time goes by even in other parts of the world.