Tag Archives: Food Crisis

Robot Dogs Patrolling Precious Crops as Food Crisis Deepens

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“…According to industry publication the Fence Post, Bayer is supplementing human security patrols around its 8,000 acre Hawaiian corn farm with robotic security dogs, supplied by the tech firm Asylon.

The Asylon dogs are meant to guard the company’s precious maize from vandals, wildfires, wild fauna, and other hazards around the clock. They do so with a payload of thermal cameras and electro-optical sensors, the kind used in unmanned military drones. Each robodog connects both to Bayer’s Hawaii Security Operations Centre and Alyson’s Robotic Security Operations Centre, meaning anyone trying to pull off a daring corn heist is going to have a hard time.

While that may seem like overkill, FenPo reports Bayer’s Hawaiian corn holdings represent 90 percent of the company’s international feed corn exports. At an average cost of $113.50 per acre, that represents over $900,000 worth of corn investment alone, and likely millions on the international market (to say nothing of the industrial corn system, a major economic powerhouse in the US which generated $123 billion in revenue in 2024 alone).

While references to the Netflix sci-fi anthology “Black Mirror” are old hat at this point, we couldn’t help but notice the new crop guardians are emerging at a time when a global food crisis looms over the world…”

~ Full article…

Why The War in Iran Could Trigger the Worst Global Food Crisis Since the 1970s

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“…Our modern food system is based on a foundation of natural gas, and now that foundation is cracking. It’s becoming clearer as the war drags on that the world is bound to face a historic global fertiliser shortage. With the Strait of Hormuz restricted by the Iranian military, shipments of critical agricultural chemicals have effectively stopped.

The result is a cascading failure across the global supply chain. This bottleneck is pushing food prices toward record highs not seen since the 1970s energy crisis, threatening millions of people with severe food insecurity.

(…)

Chris Abbott, chief executive of agricultural product maker Pivot Bio, told the New York Times that this crisis is striking at the worst possible moment. “This is hitting at an already difficult time,” he said, noting that the ratio of fertilizer costs to grain prices sits at a level unseen in generations.

Even before the bombs started falling, American farmers were bleeding cash. Agricultural bankruptcies surged by 46% in 2025. Before the recent price shocks, soybean farmers were already facing losses of $138 per acre, and corn farmers were losing $230 per acre.

Now, with input costs skyrocketing, farmers face an impossible choice: plant at a massive loss, switch to less nutrient-intensive crops, or plant nothing at all…”

~ Full article…