Unless you have a farmer in your family, or in your circle of friends and contacts, chances are that you are among the millions of people in the United States that seldom give thought to how the food you buy and eat is produced.

Ask the typical American where the food on their table comes from, and probably 99.9% of them will answer: the grocery store.

The grocery store is a modern-day retail outlet that most of our forefathers did not enjoy. Prior to the industrial age post WWII, most neighborhoods had local businesses and farmers who supplied the bulk of that community's food, from the milkman who delivered dairy products, to the town butcher who processed meat, to the town baker who produced products from grains, etc.

There was no one-stop shop where one could pick up multiple products called "groceries." Few understand that the modern day grocery store is dependent on a highly technical system that is interdependent on many inputs into the supply chain, and can easily be ground to a halt.

If you have lived through local natural disasters, like a hurricane, or an earthquake, you probably have had a taste of what it can be like when everyone all of sudden needs to buy groceries all at the same time, and then learn that the grocery store shelves are bare.