The Preppers Were Right All Along
Once the domain of end-of-timers and right-wing radicals, the survivalist mindset is pushing into the mainstream thanks to rising climate-change disasters and civil unrest.
Preparing for the worst.
Photographer: Nicholas Kamm/AFP
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.
To meet the demand, founder Mark Augason simplified his production, knocking his 60 products down to the core best sellers 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. And it hasn’t yet ended.