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Strait of Hormuz Crisis Sparks Fears of Global Famine

The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz caused immediate shocks to the world oil market, but analysts are also afraid that rising food prices and fertilizer shortages could increase the risk of famine in struggling nations.

Vespucci Maritime CEO Lars Jensen told Fox News Digital on Thursday that the “worst-case” scenario would resemble “the eight-year closure of the Suez Canal from 1967 to 1975.”

“Best case, there is an agreement between the U.S. and Iran within the next few weeks, and the Strait reopens — and it has to be a deal where there is trust that Iran is sufficiently satisfied with the deal such that they do not suddenly close the strait again,” Jensen said.

“Even in that case, it will still take months for the supply chains to revert back to normality,” he added.

The Suez Canal was shut down by Egypt at the beginning of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The Egyptians blocked one of the world’s most important shipping lanes by laying minefields and sinking ships to create physical barriers. The canal remained closed until 1975. It was actually the second time the canal was closed by Egypt, after a much shorter shutdown in 1956-1957. (Read more from “Strait of Hormuz Crisis Sparks Fears of Global Famine” HERE)

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The Sun Has Entered a ‘Lockdown’ Period, Which Could Cause Freezing Weather, Famine

Our sun has gone into lockdown, which could cause freezing weather, earthquakes and famine, scientists say.

The sun is currently in a period of “solar minimum,” meaning activity on its surface has fallen dramatically.

Experts believe we are about to enter the deepest period of sunshine “recession” ever recorded as sunspots have virtually disappeared. . .

NASA scientists fear it could be a repeat of the Dalton Minimum, which happened between 1790 and 1830 — leading to periods of brutal cold, crop loss, famine and powerful volcanic eruptions.

Temperatures plummeted by up to 2 degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over 20 years, devastating the world’s food production. (Read more from “The Sun Has Entered a ‘Lockdown’ Period, Which Could Cause Freezing Weather, Famine” HERE)

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Signs of imminent food crisis lead US farmers to request suspension of ethanol quotas

Photo credit: CraneStation

The Obama administration was urged on Monday to stop diverting grain to gas amid warnings of an “imminent food crisis” caused by America’s drought.

US government forecasts of a 4% rise in food prices for US consumers because of the drought have sharpened criticism of supports for producing fuel from corn-based ethanol.

Meanwhile, research published last week by the New England Complex Systems Institute warned of an “imminent food crisis” because of the diversion of corn stocks to ethanol.

“Necsi has warned for months that misguided food-to-ethanol conversion programs and rampant commodity speculation have created a food price bubble, leading to an inevitable spike in prices by 2013. Now it appears the “crop shock” will arrive even sooner due to drought, unless measures to curb ethanol production and rein in speculators are adopted immediately,” the researchers warned.

In the latest move, the country’s meat, dairy and poultry producers called on the Environmental Protection Agency to suspend this year’s quotas for corn ethanol production.

Read more from this story HERE.