Food security is national security

By Matt Reese

I recently saw an old tin sign hanging in a friend’s house that said: Farm — a piece of land and the buildings upon it used for the production of crops and the rearing of livestock.

This simple definition is the base layer building block of our society. Law, order, entertainment, fashion, art, music, organized religion, politics, sports, events, education, and pretty much everything else all falls apart pretty quickly in the absence of food. This makes each farm, and the agricultural industry as a whole, greater than the sum of its parts.

With this in mind, over the winter the U.S. Department of Agriculture released some unsettling numbers. In fiscal year 2023, the United States was a net importer of agricultural products, meaning the country imported a higher value of agricultural products than were exported.

While the United States typically exports more agricultural goods by value than it imports, the value of imports has grown more rapidly than exports over the past decade, contributing to a negative trade balance in some years.… Continue reading