Will's Nuclear Winter

We work diligently on The Great Nuclear War of 1975. At this point we're writing the summer and autumn 1976 scenes. There's a sense of optimism in the air. America has held an election. There's much progress on infrastructure. Cities like Caspar, Owensboro, Evansville and Chattanooga are becoming regional centers. American credit has been reestablished and some are even using greenbacks again. There's even a bomblet in old Confederate Money down south, as it's rare. The Second Korean War is won.

But the Western White House also feels a sense of great foreboding

The attack rendered very little farmland unusable.* The Feds are no longer paying farmers to let fields lie fallow. This will more than make up the difference. There is also more than enough fuel for tractors, combines; and even surplus manpower. 

But there is one massive problem that the United States cannot yet solve. That is the complete absence of fertilizer, and more importantly, pesticides. Despite people running through the fields banging pots and pans, the bugs are gonna take their toll. The Department of Agriculture is telling President Rockefeller that American crop output could be down by as much as half. Even with the massive population loss (estimated at 1/3 or 80,000,000) there are 140,000,000 mouths to feed. And don't forget the matter of UV light.

Worse, the United States has eaten through its reserve foodstuffs; pre-war grocery store stocks, household pantries, even Federal silos are all but exhausted. Purchasing imports is unlikely. Remember, the United States was the world's number one exporter. Japan is rationing. India is looking at famine. There's the Canadian Prairie Provinces but they're facing many of the same shortcomings, though to a lesser extent. Maybe the DoA can make a few purchases from Argentina/Chile and Australia, but overall the US is on its own. 

And the National Weather Service is warning the president it's going to be a cold winter. They expect a more or less permanent Polar Vortex coming over from Siberia, which is ironic as hell.

Aside from food, the Western White House's main concern is law and order in the face of expected food riots. Federal troops are already being deployed around the new population centers ringing the ruins of the big cities. Of course, keeping the troops fed is a problem in of itself.

Also, what's with the Mexican troops gathering in Baja?

*A Federal study estimated that only 6% of farmland would be permanently damaged.