•  cecilkorik   ( @cecilkorik@lemmy.ca ) 
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      2810 months ago

      Yeah even the article admits they’re not even trying to produce as much durum wheat as they have been in the past, yeah, there’s some drought and stuff but it’s not really to blame for this because our agriculture system knows the risks of drought and should be able to compensate. What’s happening is artificial scarcity. Our whole agricultural system is broken. Its priorities are fucked by quotas and subsidies and its in large companies interests to keep things fucked so they can profit. The days of the family farmer are gone, the whole food supply chain has just turned into yet another oligopoly that wants to bleed everyone of as much money as they possibly can.

      •  Auli   ( @Auli@lemmy.ca ) 
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        410 months ago

        The drought has screwed a lot of things. Expect meat prices to skyrocket next year. Hay crops have been really bad I have been hearing 50% and lower for hay yeilds. I imagine other crops are similar, I know the wheat was insanely short this year.

      •  Rocket   ( @Rocket@lemmy.ca ) 
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        10 months ago

        even the article admits they’re not even trying to produce as much durum wheat as they have been in the past

        Who is supposed to try? Durum is quite picky about climate. Western Canada has the right climate, at least historically, but yields have plummeted (perhaps because the climate is changing). That’s how we got into this situation.

        Our whole agricultural system is broken.

        Or perhaps it is the consumer demand is broken? As the article notes, you can use softer wheats in durum’s place. It’s doesn’t quite give the same texture, but it’s still pasta at the end of the day. Softer wheats are far less picky about climate, and have been crashing in price of late. The traditional hard and soft wheats are down in price by ~25% in just the last month!