I am asked to comment on this statement from an economic perspective.
"Over the last several months swarms of locust have destroyed 80% of almond plantations, thus dramatically decreasing the supply of
almonds in the near future. This means that for the next several years we will observe shortages not only of almonds, but of other
nuts as well."
My answer is that this statement is false. When almond plantations are destroyed, the supply will shift and drive the price up. The market will eventually reach equilibrium as people substitute the almonds for other kinds of nuts which result in a decrease in quantity demanded for almonds. This will happen until the market reaches equilibrium when marginal value of the consumers equal to the market price in the next several years and results in no shortage in the long-run.
Does my analysis answer the question successfully or is there some aspect i didn't comment on?.