When you have a short-term crisis, this can be the better option for the long run. If local growers can't compete, they won't be able to normalize prices down to a point where domestic production solves the shortage, and you'll lose that farming sector entirely. Then you'll forever be at the mercy of international markets for food surety, which is typically bad (as we've seen with grain in MENA recently due to the Ukraine conflict).

Subsidizing local food is generally a security issue, not a market driven one.