What if politicians do not have the political support to stop the one corporation because 9.99 million people like to consume the water intensive crops grown in the desert?

You have just described the fundamental reason why we will fail to do anything to mitigate the climate crisis. We have what 20 years tops, and we still can't come to consensus of what's to be done.

Typically these water intensive crops are not even consumed by people!

Much of it is alfalfa which gets exported to foreign cattle farms.

We can very much stop raising these water intensive crops in the desert and affect exactly 0 people’s access to food.

Actually, I think that localized thinking has benefits that are so much better than the status quo of globalization that that 99% the issues you describe would be vacated.

Like let's talk about food, how we get bananas from across the globe. Who the hell needs bananas when you can buy fresh, seasonal fruit from the farmer an hour away? Yeah you might not get to have banana cream pie for Christmas, but you made a new friend (the farmer) had a good time (with your family at the peach orchard) and ate something that didn't need to be coated in poison to survive a f'ing trip through the Panama Canal! (I know I'm pulling this out of my ass – but you get the gist)

People want fresh fruit and vegetables year round though.

I don't expect the lone grocery shopper will be able to weigh the externalized costs of a cheap, delicious banana so accurately as a regulator. The trick is keeping the banana merchant from turning the regulator into a shareholder of BananaCo. Tell someone if you discover how to accomplish that.

Well put! Consumers have very divergent needs and desires in our system because we built our system to reduce consumer analysis and increase consumption. It's amazing that folks come on here and place additional responsibilities on consumers when all market forces are shoving them in the opposite direction. It's essentially victim blaming.