Five from the land, two from the sea

Here is where the revelation of the 5:2 principle first comes into play.

In the various gospel accounts, the disciples acknowledge early on that what they have in hand is five barley loaves and two fish, nowhere near enough to feed such a large gathering.

Five loaves = harvested from grain = domestic production;
Two fish = taken from the sea = imported input;

Thus the ratio for economic provision (especially food sufficiency) is two units of imported inputs for every five units of domestic production.

It may seem that having provided this formula, the discourse could end here, but as we'll see, there is so much more to what God intended.