OK, this has got to be said.
I’m certain most of you have heard about the curious and alarming string of fires, explosions and accidents hitting food-processing and fertilizer plants across the nation. Here is a partial list:
- Fayetteville, Illinois, 1/15/21: Deli Star deals with the aftermath of devastating fire
- Hanceville, Alabama, 7/30/21: Tyson poultry meal plant suffered total loss in large fire
- Scott Township, Pennsylvania, 11/29/21: 17 Departments Fight Fire at Maid-Rite Steak Co. Meat Processing Plant
- Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 1/31/22: Thousands flee homes near Winston-Salem fertilizer plant fire
- Mauston, Wisconsin, 2/3/22: Portion of Wisconsin River Meats a “total loss” in overnight fire
- Claypool, Indiana, 2/16/22: Louis Dreyfus reports fire at largest U.S. soy processing plant
- Hermiston, Oregon, 2/22/22: Seven injured in explosion as fire engulfs Shearer’s foods plant
- Lincoln, Nebraska, 3/1/22: Shadow Brook Farm and Dutch Girl Creamery cheesemaking facility gutted by fire
- Sunnyside, Washington, 3/1/22: Washington fertilizer plant fire forces evacuations
- Plainfield, Indiana, 3/18/22: ATF begins on-site investigation into Walmart facility fire in Plainfield
- Jonesboro, Arkansas, 3/22/22: Nestle Hot Pockets plant remains shuttered following fire
- Belfast, Maine, 3/24/22: Crews respond to fire at Belfast potato processing plant
- Maricopa, Arizona, 3/29/22: 50,000 lbs. of food destroyed after fire ripped through Maricopa food pantry
- San Juan, Texas, 3/31/22: Rio Fresh’s onion warehouse damaged in fire
- Conway, New Hampshire, 4/12/22: Crews battled fire for 16 hours at East Conway Beef and Pork
- Heyburn, Idaho, 4/14/22: Plane crashes into Idaho potato and food processing plant, killing the pilot
- Salinas, California, 4/14/22: Taylor Farms building is a “total loss” after large fire
- Dufur, Oregon 4/19/22: Fire destroys Azure Standard headquarter facility
- Leoti, Kansas, 4/19/22: Fertilizer plant fire causes evacuations in western Kansas
- Covington, Georgia, 4/22/22: Investigators comb through plane crash wreckage at General Mills plant in Covington
- Cedar Rapids, Iowa 4/23/22: Firefighters attack overnight flames at General Mills from the roof
- Lecompte, Louisiana, 4/26/22: Explosion and rire reported at Cargill-Nutrena feed mill
Most of these are not paltry fires, but catastrophic infernos with flames visible from satellites and which often require thousands of nearby residents to evacuate. The losses are not being measured in the millions, but billions of dollars, and they all put more of America’s food supply under strain.
One such accident is a tragedy. Two is an oddity. Three is a coincidence. But dozens? That starts to sound deliberate.
Of course industrial accidents are nothing unusual. What is capturing peoples’ attention is the scope and frequency of fires, crashes and explosions. According to this link, eight massive industrial accidents happened in 2017. In 2018, it was six. In 2019, it was eight. In 2021, it was 11. But in just the first four months of 2022, there have been at least 17 events that have specifically destroyed food processing or fertilizer facilities.
As if this isn’t odd enough, the U.S. rail carrier Union Pacific made an inexplicable decision to cut fertilizer shipments – why specifically fertilizer? – by 20% just ahead of the spring planting season. This was done without any advanced notice, on April 8. Union Pacific’s justification is full of weasel words and makes no logical sense. Why are they cutting shipments of a critical component at such a crucial time, when fertilizer prices are already through the roof? (It’s been pointed out that Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street are the top shareholders of Union Pacific.)
Let’s say the quiet part out loud, shall we? Are these events accidental or orchestrated? Are we seeing the beginning of weaponizing food in America? Even Tucker Carlson is asking these questions. As one Twitter user noted, starvation is a great way to control a population. Intentional or not, these industrial accidents will have an impact on America’s food availability. That is irrefutable.
Jeff Miller at The Republic Brief pointed out how food companies rarely experience fires or explosions. But right now, anyone trying to connect the dots of these events is mocked as a conspiracy theorist. But at what point do conspiracy theories cross into the realm of fact?
When Biden said we’d have food shortages, I didn’t lend him much credence. He’s a senile puppet who doesn’t know what he’s saying most of the time. But maybe, for once, the doddering old man whispered the truth about the people pulling his strings. Certainly his administration is doing everything in its power – from shutting down pipelines to diverting corn into ethanol rather than animal feed – to hamstring farmers and food processors.
As Jeff Crouere at Canada Free Press put it, “It seems as if the president and his administration are doing everything possible to exacerbate the impending food shortage instead of solving it.”
But if these attacks were orchestrated, there has to be a purpose or goal behind them. Why would anyone deliberately tighten up food supplies and make products scarce? Is this a planned situation to set up a desired future outcome for the people creating the crisis? Who or what would benefit from this?
As always, the default answer is: Follow the money. However, in this case I believe it’s a matter of: Follow the power. Consider this definition of the Cloward-Piven strategy: “A political theory … that advises activists to create radical change by crashing the system. It encourages the orchestration of various crises designed to push society to the breaking point and steer the populace into embracing an authoritarian socialist government.” Make of this what you will.
If you go down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, you’ll find people speculating that food will soon be government controlled. Henry Kissinger’s famous line is usually quoted: “Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world.”
I hate that this column sounds like it was written by a tinfoil-hat-wearing conspiracy theorist. But honestly, so-called “conspiracies” have been coming true with alarming frequency – so who knows how this one will pan out?