It is about resilience and preparing for the worst case scenario where you don't rely on the kindness of strangers
I do think this is something that deserves more attention than it's gotten. The past few years have really demonstrated how fragile the supply chain can be and that it doesn't adjust as smoothly as many of us would have expected.
The buying up subsidized stuff and storing it strategy has been used several times historically. Charles Dow used this strategy to defeat a concerted effort from the European chemical companies to undercut his prices.