People in some countries are already suffering from a lack of staples. Wars, government corruption, and natural disasters have brought in their wake starvation and malnutrition, often leading to unrest among the afflicted. Sri Lankans, for instance, recently toppled their government, in part because its restrictions on chemical fertilizers resulted in massive crop failures. In the Netherlands, farmers are rebelling, peacefully so far, against their government’s “green” restrictions on cows and pasturelands. Here in the United States, there’s debate over whether food shortages are looming in the near future. Some experts laugh at this idea, while others, including farmers, warn that bad weather, the rising costs of food production, particularly with higher prices for diesel fuel and fertilizer, and a broken supply chain will lead to empty shelves in grocery stores by the fall. Certain federal policies seem almost deliberately aimed at creating a crisis rather than managing one. … Given this uncertain future, we might heed that old chestnut: “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.” And there are several ways we can easily do so….
