According to a press release issued by the British Nation Pig Association last Thursday, the world’s supply of pork is shrinking fast, and threatening to double prices as early as next year.

The world’s pork sow herds saw drops across the map. This is fueled by a worldwide drought which has caused pig-feed prices to skyrocket to the point where it’s simply not affordable for farmers to feed so many pigs.

The droughts hit the United States particularly hard with huge sections of the country being declared drought disaster areas. President Obama has started a program of government buying of livestock to help farmers and stem the shortages.

“A lot of food prices have gone up, pork is already kind of a high priced item,” says Steve DiSalvio, Food Service Director at Bucks. “Even chicken is going up because of the feed shortages.”

How will this affect our college and the way we eat?

“We’re just going to stick with our food program and adjust when we need to. If it truly does double we’ll have to either drop it or make a swing towards substitutes like turkey bacon,” DiSalvio said.

What about the students? Can you live without bacon? “I’ll definitely still enjoy bacon now and again even if the prices do go up, I’ll definitely eat it less, but I’m not dropping it,” says Zach Snyder, 20, a fine arts major and former Bucks student.

“It probably won’t be a thing that gets eaten every morning anymore,” says Rich Rechlau, 20, an engineering major from Penn State. “That’s terrible.”

Farmers are the ones taking the biggest hit, however. They have to either keep their herd and take a hit because of the grain prices or thin it and hope they’ll last until the prices are normal again. As farmers quickly sell off their herds they also break prices in the rush. The government’s assistance doesn’t look like it came in time to change much.

Worried about your own bacon supply? Buy bacon, buy a fridge, lock it tight, and guard it with your life. Just to be safe, don’t let your neighbors know that you’re packing pork.