The best emergency kit is not in your closet.

The call to stock up on an emergency kit was met with a certain pity. As if a backpack with some canned goods and a flashlight would protect us against the complexity of our time: cyber threats, geopolitical tensions, climate disruptions.

But an emergency kit isn't about stuff. It's about awareness. About the realization that our daily certainties – tap water, food in the store, connectivity within reach – rely on systems that are less robust than we think.

Our food supply is simultaneously hyper-efficient and vulnerable. It is organized on a large scale, driven by logistics, and dependent on energy, transport, and digital coordination. A single disruption can suffice to tip that balance.

However, anyone living in a region with active farmers and horticulturists possesses something that no emergency kit can offer: a local, tangible, and renewable source of food production. A system that continues to produce, provided it can continue to function.

Yes, a battery-powered radio and some drinking water are sensible. But at least as important is an environment where food is locally rooted.

Farmers and horticulturists form a strategic link in our societal resilience. They shorten the chain, increase autonomy, and bring food back to what it essentially is: something that grows.

In international security analyses, food security is increasingly identified as a critical factor. Not only in developing countries, but also in highly developed economies where dependencies have become complex and therefore vulnerable.

Perhaps, therefore, we should broaden the concept of an 'emergency kit'. Yes, a battery-powered radio and some drinking water are sensible. But at least equally important is an environment where food is locally rooted. Where knowledge, production, and land are not completely disconnected from the community.

Our farmers and horticulturists are active building blocks of our future-proofing. By investing in proximity, short supply chains, and local production, we are building a form of security that no backpack can contain. And perhaps that is the most mature interpretation of preparedness: not only being prepared for a crisis, but also ensuring that the foundations of our society remain strong enough to absorb it.

Jan de Keyser

Is director Agri & Food BNP Paribas Fortis in Belgium. In his opinions he reflects on strategic developments in the agricultural sector.

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