This author needs a better understanding of economics. It is entirely a political rant. To equate the consumer price of certain commodities with the effects of global trade is hogwash.
The major reason for the increase in US food prices is the unintended consequence of the ill conceived renewable fuel ethanol mandate. It has increased the price of feed for every farmer, and as a result, herd sizes of all types of livestock have been decreased, resulting in higher food prices. This is a gross oversimplification of a complex system, but it is a good basic overview.
In almost every market, it is government interference that distorts and subverts true market forces. It is an unseen tax on every activity, product, and facet of daily life. In their wildest dreams, no monarch that ever reigned would have been able to crush their producers the way we do now.
This is another reason for true conservatives to support Cruz. He gets the regulatory state, and he wants to bring it down for real. Trump has played the system his whole life, why should we think that he wants to change it.
Maybe, but remember the goal was never understanding econ, his goal is getting his copy published. He's obvously pretty good at it...