The Bible warns us that famine is one of the signs we will see during the birth pangs period:
- Mat 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
- Mat 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
I’m sure many people who monitor current events for signs that the End Times are approaching are drawn to news reports about the rapidly rising food prices, the United Nation’s warning that food prices are nearing crisis levels, and the emerging social unrest in countries that are most sensitive to the rapidly rising cost of food.
- Monitoring these recent developments is wise because this rising food prices situation can lead to much greater instability in the world if it continues. However, I would not yet say that what's going on is unprecedented since there was also a major food crisis in 2007-2008 (which quietly died down by the end of 2008). It’s still too early to determine whether we have something unprecedented now…
As news reports focus on rising food prices, a disease that may be capable of becoming a future driver of famine is very quietly spreading...
Today I want to alert people about a dangerous disease that is destroying wheat fields in several regions of the world called Ug99, a strain of stem rust.
- Ug99 is capable of infecting 80-90% of the varieties of wheat in existence.
- Ug99 can kill an entire week crop within a few weeks after it infects a crop.
- Ug99 is a major concern for scientists because it is capable of traveling long distances via wind. Wind has enabled Ug99 to spread from Africa to the Middle East and perhaps soon to Southwest Asia.
The following short videos should be sufficient in providing you a solid background about what Ug99 is and how formidable it can be:
The more Ug99 spreads the likelier it is that we could see grain shortages eventually. Imagine what could happen if stem rust managed to spread to the Midwest of the United States, Europe, and Russia, three of the world’s most important wheat growing regions…
I heard about Ug99 while listening to a podcast interview about global weather conditions during the summer last year. I did not mention Ug99 on the blog then because I thought the disease would quickly become common knowledge as it continued to destroy wheat crops.
I was very surprised by how few views these videos have received since they were produced last year. It’s an indication that very few people are aware that Ug99 exists and the danger that it can potentially pose someday soon. Hopefully, a lot more people are aware about stem rust/Ug99 after today…
