ORIGINAL ARTICLEThe following are 20 signs that you need to prepare and store food.
#1 According to the World Bank, 44 million people around the globe have been pushed into extreme poverty since last June because of rising food prices.
#2 The world is losing topsoil at an astounding rate. The National Academy of Sciences has determined that cropland in the U.S. is being eroded at least 10 times faster than the time it takes for lost soil to be replaced. The U.S. is losing topsoil faster than during the dustbowl of the 1930s.
The primary causes are deforestation, overexploitation for fuel wood, overgrazing, agricultural activities and industrialization.
#3 Due to U.S. ethanol subsidies, almost a third of all corn grown in the United States is now used for fuel. This is causing an increase in the price of corn.
#4 Due to a lack of water, some countries in the Middle East find themselves forced to almost totally rely on other nations for basic food staples. For example, it is being projected that there will be no more wheat production in Saudi Arabia by the year 2012.
#5 Water tables all over the globe are being depleted at an alarming rate due to “overpumping”. According to the World Bank, there are 130 million people in China and 175 million people in India that are being fed with grain grown with water that is being pumped out of aquifers faster than it can be replaced. So what happens once all of that 
water is gone?
#6 In the United States, the systematic depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer could eventually turn “America’s Breadbasket” back into the “Dust Bowl”.
#7 Diseases such as UG99 wheat rust are wiping out increasingly large segments of the world food supply.
#8 The tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis in Japan have rendered vast agricultural areas in that nation unusable. In fact, there are many that believe that a significant portion of northern Japan will be considered unusable for agriculture for the foreseeable future. Many are now convinced that the Japanese economy, the third largest economy in the world, is likely to totally collapse as a result of the damage to their economy.
#9 The price of oil may be the biggest factor on this list. The way that we produce and transport our food is very heavily dependent on oil. When you have skyrocketing oil prices, It forces the retail cost of our foods to rise.
#10 At some point the world could experience a very serious fertilizer shortage. According to scientists with the Global Phosphorus Research Initiative, the world is not going to have enough phosphorous to meet agricultural demand in just 30 to 40 years.
#11 Food inflation is already devastating many economies around the globe. For example, India is dealing with an annual food inflation rate of 18 percent.
#12 According to the United Nations, the global price of food reached a new all-time high in February.
#13 According to the World Bank, the global price of food has risen 36% over the past 12 months.
#14 The commodity price of wheat has approximately doubled since last summer.
#15 The commodity price of corn has also about doubled since last summer.
#16 The commodity price of soybeans is up about 50% since last June.
#17 The commodity price of orange juice has doubled since 2009.
#18 There are about 3 billion people around the globe that live on the equivalent of 2 dollars a day or less and the world was already on the verge of economic disaster before this year even began.
#19 So far in 2011 revolutions have swept across the Middle East, the United States has gotten involved in the civil war in Libya. Europe is on the verge of a financial meltdown and the U.S. dollar is losing value.
#20 There have been persistent rumors of shortages at some of the biggest suppliers of emergency food in the United States. Mountain House the largest supplier of freeze dried and dehydrated food in the United States is not accepting orders for the next couple of months.