we've succeeded in pushing the commoditization of food well beyond any reasonable threshold.
Define 'reasonable threshold.'
every system in nature has peaks and valleys, the all-encompassing sine wave that we see reproduced throughout many different systems as a means of attaining equilibrium.
I'll give you partial credit for that. However, the fluctuations in nature are not a 'means' of anything - they just simply occur.
Now we are told that our market works the same way with cylces of boom and bust but it just isn't true.
Please provide the evidence upon which you base that conclusion.
I have no 'lust for seizing control of the choices of others'. I have never said that, and please kindly refrain from putting words in my mouth.
You may not think so, but your position is an example of just that - if the only way to accomplish 'your' objectives is to block 'others' from accomplishing theirs, you will need to 'seize control' of their choices.
On a broader scale, the notion that some of us must save the rest of us from our 'folly' is an unfounded concept. I personally hold the belief that homo sapiens, being the most intelligent species on the planet, will find a way to adapt in its self-interest, without the coercive influence of some who think they know better how we should conduct ourselves. We may well need to turn this place into 'Easter Island' but, if we do, it will be due to a new ice age or some other unpredictable & uncontrollable event (one of those peaks or valleys you refer to), not due to some magic number of individuals that you or anyone else decides is some sort of golden 'threshold'.