I still don't see food shortages in the US as a problem and really don't see significant shortages in the future here. What I do see is global prices rising causing more conflicts, more foreign than domestic, but certainly some increase in communities where money is already tight. It's the belt tightening that concerns me. It's the people who live on frozen food and fast food for the majority of their diets that don't have a clue how to prepare a meal with raw, whole foods that are truly on the bubble. Those are the folks that have the fewest options in their own eyes. They have to eat, but they also perceive that they have to make a car payment, car insurance, cell phone bill, utility bill, rent or mortgage, etc., without recognizing there are other places to save and their are other ways to put food on the table.
As Jack has brought up in recent shows, now is the time to consolidate and secure your positions. If you want to hang on to a middle class way of life and you see food prices doubling or more in the next couple of years while energy prices also rise, you make decisions with that lens. When choosing your next vehicle, you assume gas prices are going to rise. When you buy a new furnace, you assume energy prices will continue to rise. You plant that garden, you plant those trees, and you create new sources of productivity in your lives. When you think about that new flatscreen, you consider what else could the resources be going toward. If you choose to make the purchase anyway, you buy the size you need with the best energy efficiency rating.
Prepping for the zombie apocolypse by storing food you'll eat if you must vs. creating production capacity and storing food you want to eat tonight for dinner (but will put away for tomorrow) is a risky proposition. If you eat beans and rice, great. But if it's the food of last resort for your family, think carefully about how much you put up, learn new preparation techniques you like today, and also store things you enjoy with a passion. Heck, macadamia nuts are a part of my preps. Why? Because they make the best breading for trout I've ever had. Otherwise, I hate trout, but it's all that grows in the local streams. Prepare accordingly.