Read time: 3 minutes 27 seconds
The Lord has often used famine when dealing with a nation or people who are under His judgment. From the ancient Egyptians under the watch of Joseph to His own people who had turned their back to Him, famine is a sign that a nation has turned from the Lord.
Now, farmers across America are sounding the alarm for food shortages and higher costs of agricultural goods due to multiple factors in 2023.
With over-regulation, food inflation rising at a higher rate than overall inflation, supply-chain issues, fertilizer and fuel shortages and various inclement weather events affecting crops, food shortages are a very real possibility for millions in America.
Stephanie Nash, a fourth-generation dairy farmer in Tennessee and an agriculture advocate, discussed this scenario with Fox News because she believes 2023 is going to be a tough year for many across the country.
“I definitely think we have a food security threat,” Nash said. “I believe 2023 is going to be rough. Worse than this year.”
As homebuying dominated the headlines the past year, and how the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes affected potential homebuyers and sellers, few discussed the effects the rate hikes have on farmers and the price of their products.
With short-term, variable-rate loans increasing right along with mortgage interest rates, farmers who rely on these loans will have to make their money back and pass that along to the customer.
“2022 was a really hard year,” Nash continued. “I think there’s going to be a lot of shortages next year for sure.
“We’re going to have a supply chain shortage, we’re going to have an increase in our food [prices] at the grocery store,” Nash added. “I don’t think it’s going to go down anytime soon, and I think Americans are really going to be hurting in their wallet.”
And if farmers are in danger from rate hikes, rising costs and supply chain shortages, then the American consumer is at just as much risk for having their wallets drained getting basic supplies and necessities.
If Americans want to see their future, they need look no further than what has happened in countries like Venezuela, one of the most natural-resource rich countries in the world yet are in bondage to a socialist system.
In no small stretch of the imagination, should farmers across America continue taking financial hits and be unable to simply afford to farm the land that has sustained this nation, it will open the door for land-buying and the centralization of American crop production.
“Look at Texas, how big they are in the beef industry,” Nash said. “It’s a really sad situation to be in when farmers have to sell off their cattle so aggressively.
“We have to be able to get paid more to make it and stay in the family farming and ranching community,” Nash concluded.
The federal government has shown time and again why the American forefathers put so much importance on the autonomy of the states and the restrictions of the government to control the lives of the people. With revelations such as the Twitter files exposing propaganda campaigns unlike the U.S. has ever seen, the conspiracy theorists are no longer fringe, tin-hat wearing, mountain dwellers, they are those opposed to the authoritarianism of the federal government.
America has a chance to recover from this season of judgment, however, if her people pay attention. Just as God gave the Israelites many opportunities to turn back to Him with repentant hearts, so too has America been given the chance to repent of her sins.
Even with an increasingly “non-religious” citizenry, Christians can demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit to the world. The question is, will they? Will they stand up to the godless forces trying to take America away from the Lord and replace it with a pagan society hostile to their Creator?
Because if not, socioeconomic issues such as food shortage and inflationary issues America is facing will only increase and the people of America will suffer in a culture that has rejected God.
But there is hope for that culture. As the Word of the Lord went to Israel in 2 Chronicles 7:14, when Jesus bridged the gap for humanity to received God’s grace, love and mercy at the cross He made this promise applicable to all people who trust in His name, “if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Bring Charisma magazine home with a subscription today!
James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
See an error in this article?
To contact us or to submit an article
