Of wheat production, The America Annual said: “The world production of wheat was 300,489,000 metric tons of wheat in 1972, down from 323,188,000 tons in 1971.”

But the demand for food did not drop in 1972. It kept increasing, relentlessly. And the higher food production of 1973 was not enough to build up reserve stocks.

Indeed, world grain stocks are getting lower all the time. U.S. News & World Report notes that in 1961 world grain reserves were 222 million metric tons, enough to feed the world’s population then for 94 days. But by mid-1974 reserves are said to be only an estimated 105 million tons, enough to feed the world’s population for only 29 days.