As you might expect, the midwest produces a lot of grain which gets fed to a lot of animals which get fed to a lot of people. What’s interesting is what the map suggests – crippling or disabling a few key points can have a disproportionately large effect on a region. Remember the Boston marathon bombing a few years back? Two guys managed to shut down an entire citys worth of airports, ports, tunnels, and major transportation hubs…and thats just two guys with DIY training from the internet. Get a group of dedicated, focused individuals with some more serious training, and perhaps some real backing from some source, and you’ve got the potential to cause some major mayhem.
Note that the article mentions the regions/localities that export the most food, but also the ones that import the most food as well. Its fascinating to note that some of the biggest exporters of food are also the largest importers.
Although it may not necessarily have been the intended point, I think this article demonstrates quite nicely some vulnerabilities that exist should someone get their act together enough to have the muscle and materiels to try and create a little manufactured crisis.
Interestingly, the article suggests that should something….dramatic…happen to southern California the repercussions through the national food supply would be rather pronounced.
The moral here, I suppose, is to keep in mind that relying on a ‘long tail’ for your food exposes you to a significant risk and that the smart individual might be prudent to develop closer-to-home sources for foodstuffs.
The Boston Marathon bombers did not shut down anything but the police did with undeclared martial law:area wide 24 curfew,warrantless door to door searches,threatening civilians with deadly violence and shoot on sight orders.
With over 30 years in trucking the biggest deficiency in most reports is the transport itself,no trucks/no drivers the system fails in a few days. The gov. has gone as far as threatening to put National Guard troops into trucks to force drivers to work(gun to heads) when real strikes have been threatened.
I have heard discussions about how easy it would be to shut down a city or major highway interchange.
Some people say that 3 properly placed rifle rounds would shut down power to a large city.
A hazmat spill, or something that initially tests as chem bio, would wreak havoc on a public building, highway interchange, etc as shown by Boston as you mention.
Our current system is based on trust and east transportation – lose those and we have big problems!
I am reminded of the hank Jr song “Country Boy can survive” because ya can’t starve us out and ya can’t make us run… although in truth a large enough attack force can for sure do both. Redundancy matters for sure
Specifically for food, if you can’t produce everything you need to survive, and have physical control of it, you are subject to the whims and dictates of others. With our present just in time delivery system our dependance upon it becomes even more fragile. It’s more and more apparent fewer and fewer people have a clue where their food comes from (other than the grocery store), and even how it got there. As with the dependance upon the electric grid and increasing use of “technology”, the food supply chain will be the country’s/worlds downfall.
This was one of the first considerations my wife and I had when we moved out of the big city. And when we moved, one of the first things I did was to make friends with the local farmers and since the move, we buy as much as possible locally. It is to the point where, except for coffee and tea, just about all the food we eat comes from within a hundred miles. Hell, we even make our potato chips for snacks.
I’m not sure who said it first, but one of the truest things ever said was “Amateurs talk strategy and tactics. Professionals, talk logistics.”
Gen. Robert H. Barrow, USMC
Read “Metzger’s Dog”, a novel from 1983 by Thomas Perry. Funny, and very on-topic.
I very much liked his hard-to-find book, “Island”
Not hard to find at my house!
Not hard to find at my house!
The one just before ‘Island’ , ‘Big Fish’, is also a worthy read.
Full of weaponry and intrigue, the main character and his wife are arms suppliers, and very like able characters.
thx… bought it!
If you can’t grow it – pack it and stack it!
Going hunger sucks and causes you to make poor decisions.