Facing a Main Street dotted with vacant stores, residents of Hardwick, Vt., are betting on farming to make it the town that was saved by food.

Population growth, shrinking world grain stocks and a growing appetite for meat, particularly in the developing world, has collided with a shortage of fertilizer.

Farmers say they intend to significantly cut corn acreage this year in favor of soybeans, which may help alleviate global shortages that have hit poor countries hard.