This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse Blog. 

Over the past couple of years, we have been hit by one thing after another.  Whenever it seems like things may be calming down, another crisis suddenly erupts, and as a result, a lot of Americans have developed a really bad case of “crisis fatigue” at this point.

According to Google, crisis fatigue is “a burnout response to prolonged exposure to unexpected and stressful events”. Perhaps you can identify with that definition because it sounds exactly like what you are experiencing. Unfortunately, the truth is that what we have been through so far is just the beginning.  As I have been warning for years, as “the perfect storm” gets rolling it is just going to keep getting worse and worse.

This week, I was shocked to learn that we are now facing a major agricultural nightmare in the state of Florida.  According to Fox Business, it is being projected that this will be “the smallest Florida orange crop since World War II”…

Government agricultural forecasters said they expect the smallest Florida orange crop since World War II, touching off a rally in juice futures that were already at their highest level in years because of the pandemic.

The U.S. Agriculture Department said last week that it expects Florida to produce 44.5 million 90-pound boxes of oranges this year, trimming its already low expectations and predicting that the crop will wind up smaller than the one that was ruined by 2017’s Hurricane Irma. If the forecast is accurate, it will be the smallest harvest since 1945.

In 1945, there were 139 million people living in the United States.

Today, there are 329 million people living here.

So we are actually going to have less than half as many Florida oranges per person as they did in 1945.

Let that sink in for a moment.

At a time when food supplies are already getting very tight, we are being told that the orange harvest in Florida is going to be at a frighteningly low level.

The primary reason why the harvest is going to be so bad is due to a plague called “citrus greening disease”…

The big culprit this time around, the Florida Department of Citrus said, is citrus greening, an incurable disease that thins the crowns of trees and saps their vitality. Spread by invasive tree lice, greening has plagued Florida’s groves since it was first detected there in 2005. In a report on Wednesday, the Agriculture Department said a lot more oranges than usual are on the ground, and the fruit that is being harvested is unusually small.

Needless to say, this is going to impact all of us.

There will be less oranges in our grocery stores, and those that are available will be much more expensive…

“You have your classical supply-demand mismatch,” said Shawn Hackett, president of Hackett Financial Advisors, which specializes in agricultural commodities analysis. Because of that, consumers should expect “much higher prices at the supermarket.”

Orange juice is already ridiculously expensive.

I can’t even imagine what a “much higher price” for orange juice would look like.

Meanwhile, nationwide shortages of cold medicine and cough syrup continue to intensify.  The following comes from an article about what is going on in north Texas…

Shoppers in North Texas are noticing stores running out of cold medicine and cough syrup. Many stores are selling out of the items as soon as new shipments arrive.

Chains say they are still struggling with disruptions to the supply chain.

Many in the mainstream media are insisting that many of the painful shortages that we are now experiencing will begin to subside once warmer weather arrives.

You can believe that if you wish.

But the truth is that there are several factors which could soon make our supply chain headaches even worse.

For example, a strict new vaccine mandate for truckers going into or out of Canada just went into effect.

A similar mandate for truckers going into or out of the United States will be implemented on January 22nd.

And unfortunately the trucking industry was given very little time to prepare for these mandates…

When questioned about this, Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic Leblanc says the trucking industry “has had adequate time to prepare for this.”  Keep in mind, the mandate was announced 45 days ago (November 30th).  According to the Canadian government, changing the structural rules for all the logistics and commerce in cross border shipping, 45 days is enough notice.

Needless to say, this is going to cause even more supply chain problems, but at this point nobody is quite sure how bad things will get…

The truth is no one knows how bad the disruption will be.  What we do know is that there will be disruption, and there is no infrastructure for a level of rig-switching at the border crossing region that could accommodate changing rigs, drop-offs and/or pick-ups or driver transfers on the scale that is being discussed.   The logistics here are a total mess.

Personally, I think that Canada will be hit harder by this than the U.S. will.

When the CEO of Canadawide Fruits was asked about the new mandates, he said that transportation costs increased by 25 percent last week alone…

The mainstream media is finally warning that the trucker vaccine mandate will likely increase the costs of fruit and vegetables. The CEO of Canadawide Fruits told Bloomberg that the cost of transporting produce climbed 25% last week.

Another major factor which is going to make things even more difficult in 2022 is the new energy crisis which has erupted in recent months.

All traditional forms of energy are becoming more expensive, and that includes the price of oil.  In fact, the price of West Texas Intermediate just hit the highest level in seven years…

Crude prices rose to their highest level since the 2014 shale-induced oil crash, a milestone in a rally that is gathering momentum as geopolitical tensions threaten to knock supply.

Futures for West Texas Intermediate, the main grade of U.S. crude, added $1.61 per barrel, or 1.9%, to $85.43 on Tuesday. That marks the highest closing level since October 2014, when oil prices were moving in the opposite direction as a gusher of U.S. crude flooded the market.

It takes energy to produce the food that we eat, and it takes energy to transport that food to the stores.

So higher energy prices will inevitably lead to higher food prices.

Of course it isn’t just the price of food that is going to be shooting up.

Just about everything is going to cost quite a bit more in 2022, and the inflationary spiral that has now begun is going to be exceedingly difficult to deal with.

But our leaders in Washington insist that they have everything under control, and they want you to continue to trust their judgment.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com.  During this season, I would like to encourage you to send digital copies of my new book to your family and friends as gifts.  That will help to support the work that I am doing, and it will help to multiply the impact of the book.  In addition to my new book, I have written five other books that are available on Amazon.com including  “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Get Prepared Now”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream, and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and anyway that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.