What happens to the world's food supply if North American and Russian/Ukrainian food-producing regions are destroyed?
Destroying those major food-producing regions would almost annihilate the world's food supply. The rest of the world would suddenly find itself with no food or severely limited supplies, resulting in absolute famine, rationing, runaway inflation from shortages, and accompanying disease.
Les explains that the black horse indicates famine and rationing. If the great food-production areas of the North American continent—such as the Great Grain Belt to the north, or the citrus groves and vast food-producing areas like California—are knocked out, along with the great food-production area of Russia and the Ukraine, it almost annihilates the world's food supply. The rest of the world would suddenly find itself with no food, and supplies would be so limited that there would be absolute famine. The language means a worker, such as the average field worker, would have to work a full day from sunup to sundown just to earn enough money to buy enough bread to work the next day. This would involve runaway inflation caused by a shortage of goods and a tremendous decrease in the production of foodstuffs. Famine is also accompanied by disease, as seen in Africa and Somalia. The fourth horse, the pale one, ties together with these events.