Summary
Modern life depends on electricity, food systems, communications, and other critical infrastructure most Americans rarely think about—until something fails. As the power grid, food supply, and other essential systems face growing pressure, self-reliance remains one of the most effective ways families can reduce their dependence and build resilience.
America Runs on Systems We Rarely Think About
Flip a switch. The lights come on.
Walk into a grocery store. The shelves are full.
Pull out your phone. It works.
These things happen so reliably that most Americans never think about what's behind them.
Until one of them stops working.
America's Power Grid Under More Strain Than Ever
AI data centers are now one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand in the country, and the grid wasn't built for it.
According to Deloitte's Research Center for Energy & Industrials, U.S. power demand from AI data centers could grow more than thirtyfold by 2035—from 4 gigawatts in 2024 to 123 gigawatts. [1]
That's not a distant projection.
It's already reshaping the grid today.
According to Consumer Reports, citing Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, data centers could consume up to 12% of all U.S. electricity by 2028. [2]
These facilities also draw heavily on water for cooling—another resource your household depends on, now competing with a new, around-the-clock demand.
But new demand is only part of the problem.
Much of America's electrical infrastructure was built in the mid-20th century—designed for a different era, long before today's digital load existed.
Aging equipment is harder to defend and slower to recover.
A severe storm can knock out transmission lines serving entire regions.
A targeted cyberattack on a substation can cascade across interconnected systems faster than anyone can respond.
And the grid doesn't just power your lights.
Banking. GPS. Phones. Hospitals. All of it runs on the same strained, aging system.
When it's stretched thin—or deliberately targeted—everything connected to it is exposed.
America's Food Supply Is Under Attack
Disease and drought are hitting American agriculture at the same time, and the impact is showing up at the grocery store.
The New World screwworm—a flesh-eating livestock parasite eradicated from the U.S. in the 1960s—has returned to American soil, threatening cattle herds and driving up treatment and containment costs. [3]
That outbreak landed on top of a herd already shrinking for other reasons.
According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the U.S. cattle herd has now fallen to a 75-year low after years of drought-driven herd liquidation. [3]
According to the USDA's Economic Research Service, beef and veal prices are projected to rise 7.5% in 2026. [4]
Beef isn't the only thing under pressure.
According to USDA's May 2026 Wheat Outlook, U.S. wheat stocks are down 18% from last year, with winter wheat production at its lowest level since 1965. [5]
Drought is named directly as the driver.
Fewer cattle. Less wheat. A food supply chain that was already stretched thin before any of this started.
Concern Over the U.S. Being Targeted by Foreign Adversaries
U.S. infrastructure is facing active, ongoing probing from foreign actors—and it's not a hypothetical.
According to Cybersecurity Dive, CISA's acting director recently warned that major infrastructure disruptions are "inevitable," and that the country is already facing adversarial disruption of critical infrastructure from foreign threat actors. [6]
He didn't call it a possibility. He called it the current reality.
And interdependence makes it worse—a disruption in one system cascades into the next.
Foreign interest in America isn't limited to cyberattacks.
According to USDA's most recent AFIDA report, foreign investors hold an interest in more than 46 million acres of U.S. agricultural land, including holdings tracked specifically for China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. [7]
That's 3.6% of all privately held agricultural land in the country—and it's grown by an average of 2.4 million acres a year since 2017. [7]
Why Self-Reliance Still Matters
Long before preparedness had a name, it was simply how families lived.
- Grow what you can.
- Store what you grow.
- Take care of your own.
That instinct didn't disappear—it just got buried under a few generations of convenience.
The systems holding up modern life are more capable than anything that came before them.
They're also more interconnected, which means more fragile in ways most people never see until something breaks.
Self-reliance isn't a reaction to fear…
It's a return to something that's always worked.
How Do You Build Resilience Before You Need It?
You don't control the power grid, the weather, or what foreign governments decide to do next.
You do control how ready your household is when something goes wrong.
Start with food. A long-term emergency food supply removes your dependence on a grocery store that runs on the same strained systems as everything else.
Secure your water. A gravity-fed filtration system works with or without power.
Add backup power. A solar generator keeps food cold and devices charged when the grid can't.
None of this requires predicting which threat hits first. It just requires being ready for the disruption they all have in common.
America has weathered uncertainty before. The families who came through it best weren't the ones who guessed right.
They were the ones who were already prepared.
What worries you most about the systems we depend on—the grid, the food supply, or foreign threats? Let us know in the comments.
In liberty,
Elizabeth Anderson
Preparedness Advisor, My Patriot Supply
Sources
[1] Deloitte Research Center for Energy & Industrials.Can US Infrastructure Keep Up with the AI Economy?
June 24, 2025. https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/power-and-utilities/data-center-infrastructure-artificial-intelligence.html
[2] Consumer Reports.AI Data Centers: Big Tech's Impact on Electric Bills, Water, and More.
March 20, 2026. https://www.consumerreports.org/data-centers/ai-data-centers-impact-on-electric-bills-water-and-more-a1040338678/
[3] American Farm Bureau Federation.Smaller Cattle Herd Creates Market Volatility.
January 2026. https://www.fb.org/market-intel/smaller-cattle-herd-creates-market-volatility
[4] USDA Economic Research Service.Food Price Outlook — Summary Findings.
June 2026. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-price-outlook/summary-findings
[5] USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board.Wheat Outlook.
May 2026. https://ers.usda.gov/sites/default/files/_laserfiche/outlooks/114142/WHS-26e.pdf
[6] Cybersecurity Dive.Major Critical Infrastructure Disruptions Are Inevitable, Acting CISA Chief Says.
June 2026. https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cybersecurity-resilience-critical-infrastructure-cisa-nick-andersen/823166/
[7] USDA Farm Service Agency.Foreign Holdings of U.S. Agricultural Land Through December 31, 2024.
January 2026. https://www.fsa.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/AFIDAYR2024ReportWithPageNumbers.pdf
