Survivalists are having their moment

In the first seven months of 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic brought America to its knees, sales at survivalist supplier Augason Farms surged [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( [The Preppers Were Right All Along]( — Amanda Little In the first seven months of 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic brought America to its knees, sales at survivalist supplier Augason Farms surged, tripling its annual revenue. The company couldn’t make its Mylar packages of long-storage comfort foods — powdered eggs and nut butters, freeze-dried stroganoffs, casseroles and lasagnas — fast enough. Photographer: Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images To meet the demand, founder Mark Augason simplified his production, knocking his 60 products down to the core bestsellers and cutting off dozens of distributors so he could funnel his sales largely through Walmart Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. “It was like my Super Bowl — it was finally here,” Augason told me. Augason’s Super Bowl moment has lasted three years and may persist for many more. Just when Augason Farms and other major survival food brands were beginning to see a softening of demand this summer as Americans returned to pre-pandemic behavior, the worsening impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hit, along with rising fuel costs and inflation, and withering drought and heat waves in the western US and Europe. Then came Hurricane Ian, which caused nearly $2 billion in agricultural damage in Florida alone. Survival food sales have remained strong. So it's more than a little uncomfortable to confront the reality that this fringe industry is increasingly mainstream. In fact, in an era of growing environmental volatility and geopolitical unrest, Augason and his competitors appear downright prescient, maybe even pragmatic. Read the [whole thing](. [Putin’s Ukraine War Is Entering a Terrifying New Phase]( — Tobin Harshaw [Why Japan Is Gearing Up for Possible War With China]( — Hal Brands [Xi Jinping Needs to Bring Jack Ma Back Into the Fold]( — Shuli Ren [Eight Takeaways From the Midterms So Far]( — Jonathan Bernstein [Are Investors Betting on the Wrong EV Batteries?]( — Anjani Trivedi [The World May Need That Russian Oil Output Cut After All]( — Julian Lee [Big Tech Layoffs Deflate Musk and Zuckerberg]( — Parmy Olson [Biden’s Economy Is Second Only to One at Midterm]( — Matthew Winkler [Even Central Banks Are Buying Gold for the Zombie Apocalypse]( — David Fickling This is the Weekend Edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, a roundup of the most popular stories Bloomberg Opinion published this week based on web readership. Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022