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Feed the world or feed the birds?

wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
in The potting shed
I'm just wondering if anyone else is starting to feel like feeding wheat and sunflower seeds to the birds is starting to feel a bit frivolous in light of the current situation? I've already cut right back on bird feeding just due to the time of year but I'm really not sure what to do in the run-up to winter. Does it seem like paying a premium for bird food is taking food away from starving humans who can't afford the higher costs?
I should caveat this by saying that wild forage is pretty plentiful in this area during the warmer months so birds won't struggle for food unless the weather is especially rainy. The winter though will be a different matter. Energy price rises will be eating into the bird food budget but our climate locally can be hard for birds compared to other parts of the country. Maybe an early focus on growing more wild food in the garden and providing more sheltered roosting spaces is needed, as well as thinking about more efficient ways of feeding that causes less wastage and less food being lost to pigeons and rats etc.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Not fit for human consumption can mean a lot of things but also doesn't stop it being fit for livestock feed and driving prices up for farmers in that respect. Poor quality wheat has regularly been used to bulk out some bird food mixes but probably isn't as cheap now to justify that. That wheat is often uneaten by most birds and what attracts the pests if it doesn't get thrown in the bin first.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    What makes the seeds and peanuts unfit for human consumption?
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    I remember being dropped off outside a 5 star hotel in Dehli and seeing a family of 5, including a naked toddler, gather up rubbish to burn on the pavement to keep warm. the had one sheet of cardboard " wrapped " round them.
    It went down to about 3C that night.
    Devon.
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    I'd rather birds were fed and healthy. We have much more choice and opportunity for food. 
    Cattle don't need oils and seeds.
    I don't think that's taking food from other people's mouths, we have plenty to feed everyone on the planet, but resources are hoarded, burned and wasted by those with no conscience. 
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    B3 said:
    What makes the seeds and peanuts unfit for human consumption?
    Peanuts are a special case as they need screening for toxins but mostly it's just down to the way the seeds are handled and stored.
    It's all very well saying that we should keep wild birds healthy but billions of chickens need feeding every day and the food has to come from somewhere. Keeping British birds fed now is likely to have greater impacts on rainforests and natural habitats elsewhere.

    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • Desi_in_LondonDesi_in_London Posts: 731
    edited May 2022
    B3 said:
    What makes the seeds and peanuts unfit for human consumption?
    someone better informed will correct me I hope if I am mis-speaking, but my understanding is that the quality control hoops to be jumped through for human food are meaningfully higher. Plenty of stuff that is harmless to/good for birds which is poisonous to humans ( i'm thinking of random berries here) , so my suspicion is that there is risk of environmental contaminants being present in the seed. Plenty of ( non organic) seeds for eg growing sunflowers will say something to the effect of " don't eat the seed in this packet, but if you grow the plant in suitable conditions feel free to harvest the seed from the plants and eat them". I believe it is a similar thing re bird food .

    edit to add - @wild edges put it far better than I did, didn't see the post in time.
    Kindness is always the right choice.
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    I think it was Simon Reeve on one of his travel series who described India as the most corrupt place he had ever been to.  That corruption was that the rich had no interest beyond their own self interest and, to them, the absolute poverty of large parts of the nation was nothing to do with them.
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    Not very helpful but the posts from both @pansyface and @Hostafan1 should make us realise what Poverty actually is.  The News channels here persist in showing us plump, well dressed, beautifully tanned/made up people in immaculate well furnished homes who are apparently living in poverty. 
    I'm not disputing for a minute that these people may well be suffering but nothing akin to those in many parts of the world.
    Perhaps some research into how many people in the UK have actually had their cause of death listed as Starvation may not go amiss. People in dire straits should be helped but let's get real - use what money we have more wisely to aim it in the right direction.

  • Jenny_AsterJenny_Aster Posts: 945
    Same when I worked in Saudi Arabia, utmost wealth and downright poverty. One guy built 2 marble palaces for each of his two wives next door to each other, while a poor woman was rummaging through the rubbish looking for aluminium cans to sell, she had what looked like a comatosed 10 year old child strapped to a plank which was strapped to her back. That's an image that will haunt me forever 

    Got a couple of dozen sunflowers I'm hoping to grow for the seed heads to feed the birds next winter.  

    There is massive abundancy in the world, think gardeners would know this more than most, it's just that greedy humans don't want to share.


    Trying to be the person my dog thinks I am! 

    Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Not feeding garden birds won't save a single human life but will make a huge difference to local bird populations in cities, suburb and rural areas.   There is enough food produced in the world to feed everyone but there isn't the political or social will.    Food shortages are mostly due to poor harvesting, storage and distribution systems especially in poor countries and wars such as Ukraine and in Yemen and Ethiopia don't help.

    I feed our garden birds all year so the adults stay healthy enough to produce strong broods and the cycle continues as they in turn breed.  Demand is high right now as parent birds seek energy to enable them to forage for juicy insects for their nestlings and then teach the fledglings how to feed.   It will drop off over summer and autumn but then increase again in late autumn and winter.

    I am worried about the price and availability of bird food next winter and have sown some sunflower seeds as backup.  The quality of these seeds bought for bird food is definitely not the same as the stuff I buy for our meals. 
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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