God Save the Bacon: Turns Out the Global Bacon Shortage is Now ‘Unavoidable’

I wonder if this is what the Mayans were talking about. According to Britain’s National Pig Association, a “world shortage of pork and bacon next year is now unavoidable,” thanks to this year’s shoddy weather and subsequent withering corn and soybean crops.

The story goes like this: fewer crops mean higher prices for pig feed, higher prices mean pigs are more expensive to raise, and more expensive pigs mean “shrinking sow herds” all across the European Union, a trend which the NPA argues is “being mirrored around the world.”

Unless British supermarkets are willing to pay more to support their pork suppliers — as the NPA press release suggests — consumers can expect pork prices to as much as double next year, as farmers struggle to find new sources of bacon to pay for their bacon.

Luckily, the shortage doesn’t appear to have hit us stateside yet, at least according to the LATimes, which reported that “pork supply soared to a record” and rose 31% last month in U.S. warehouses. Still, if these the British banger blokes are to be believed, it might only be a matter of time.

At this point, only one thing’s for sure. If I have to live in a 2013 without bacon, I don’t think I want to live at all.