What is the cause

The idea of a food shortage has become more prevalent recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic and issues with supply chain and product distribution. Food prices in America are going up, which is readily available to see for anyone when they go to the grocery store. Meat prices are up near double what they were last year post-recession, and the idea that demand is outpacing food supply is becoming much more apparent in people's minds. But how would a full-on general food shortage happen?

Population in the world is increasing at a near exponential rate since the 1960s. The introduction of modern medical technologies, industrialization, and the efficiency of modern computers have allowed the global population to soar. But to maintain our high global population, there has to be enough food to feed all the new mouths that are being created. The USA is a global superpower of agriculture and food production, being the main exporter of agriculture to almost all countries around the world. However, as populations continue to rise in larger countries such as China, India, and Africa, the USA simply cannot sustain that population growth through their own agriculture production alone.

China itself has large issues with supplying water across their country, so their farming and agriculture potential is heavily limited. India has in recent years moved towards being self-sufficient in their production and actually have the capacity to export some of their agriculture production, which is a step in the right direction. According to Sara Menker, "the African continent, on the other hand, has vast amounts of arable land remaining and significant upside potential in yields" (Menker 2021) but their land is not being used to its fullest potential and is instead right now a large importer of agriculture.

Menker suggests through commercialization of agriculture in Africa, it will open up to the worldwide food market and transition Africa from being a calorie-consuming country to being one of the largest agricultural producers in the world, on par with the USA and Brazil. For the continued optimization of food production in countries like Brazil and other South American countries, it will come at the heavy cost of deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest. Along with the climate effects of deforestation, the world in general will be facing production issues as time goes on with changing rain patterns and temperature differences as a result of global warming.

With the rising demand from the increasing world population, the world's agriculture supply is at a constant struggle to keep pace. With a projected world population to be near 9 billion by 2030, the world has to sustain and keep increasing its food production to feed the people of the future. However, with changing weather patterns, areas of the USA could receive much more rain than usual, flooding large farms and causing the price of foods in America to skyrocket. With a supply shortage in food, it's good to be armed with information on how to be prepared for difficulty in getting food and what the best methods are to protect yourself.