Three-Day United Nations Summit Seek To Fix 'Broken' Global Food System

Global food systems are broken — and billions of people are paying the price.

Today I urged the participants of the UN @FoodSystems Summit to accelerate action to ensure that every person has access to the safe and nutritious food they need & deserve. pic.twitter.com/LDH3FSswlX

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) July 24, 2023

AFP: UN talks seek to fix 'broken' global food system 

A three-day United Nations summit opened in Rome on Monday aimed at tackling a "broken" global food system where millions are starving, two billion are overweight or obese and the planet is suffering. 

The food systems summit comes amid growing food insecurity around the world, with UN agencies warning of an increasing number of people suffering from chronic hunger. 

"In a world of plenty, it is outrageous that people continue to suffer and die from hunger," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the opening of the meeting. 

"Global food systems are broken -- and billions of people are paying the price."  

Read more ....  

Update #1: Global food systems ‘broken’, says UN chief, urging transformation in how we produce, consume food (UN News)  

Update #2: Global Food Systems 'Broken', Says UN Chief, Urging Transformation in How We Produce, Consume Food (AllAfrica.com)  

WNU Editor: This summit is happening at the same time that India has imposed an export ban on its rice .... India's rice export ban could send decade-high prices spiking even further (CNBC).

The Food Crisis Of 2023 Is Going To Be Far Worse Than 2022

The Most Important News: The Food Crisis Of 2023 Is Going To Be Far Worse Than Most People Would Dare To Imagine 

I am trying to sound the alarm about this as loudly as I can. The global food crisis just continues to intensify, and things are going to get really bad in 2023. As you will see below, two-thirds of European fertilizer production has already been shut down, currency problems are causing massive headaches for poor nations that need to import food, global weather patterns continue to be completely crazy, and the bird flu is killing millions upon millions of chickens and turkeys all over the planet. On top of everything else, the war in Ukraine is going to restrict the flow of agricultural and fertilizer exports from that part of the world for a long time to come, because there is no end to the war in sight. In essence, we are facing a “perfect storm” for global food production, and that “perfect storm” is only going to get worse in the months ahead.  

Read more ....  

Update: Next year's food crisis will be different from this year's. Here's how it could change — for the worse — in 2023. (Business Insider). 

WNU Editor: The UN is already sounding the alarm .... 'Knocking on Famine's Door': UN Food Chief Wants Action Now (AP). 

What is frustrating is that much of this crisis is self inflicted. From the Netherland forcing 600 farms out of business .... THE NETHERLANDS: Gov’t crackdown could force sale of 600 farms (Farmers Forum). New Zeland forcing cattle and sheep ranches to cut down their herds .... New Zealand farmers protest plan to tax cow burps (DW). Same in Australia .... Australia's herd size in spotlight as countries move to reduce methane emissions (ABC News Australia). 

In Canada where I live there is growing shock on the high cost of food .... 'Everything is going up': September food inflation climbs to 41-year high in Canada (CTV News). That while Canadian government statistics say the cost of food has risen 11.4% in the past year, everyone knows that the number is significantly higher. 

I know in my case what I regularly buy has easily increased over 20% this year alone. And if you take the growth of food prices over 2 to 3 years, food inflation is easily hitting a minimum of 30%. 

What is the cause of food inflation in Canada? The government, its allies, and the media narrative wants to focus on the grocery chains .... NDP calling for probe of grocery store profits as food prices continue to rise (CBC). But some of my friends are farmers (i.e. the people who actually produce the food), and their narrative is very different. 

Their fertilizer costs have exploded because the natural gas that is needed to produce the product have been regulated and taxed by governments to levels that are not sustainable for farmers to buy and use. And don't get me started on diesel prices, and how Canadian government policies, carbon taxes, and regulations have pushed the price of diesel to levels that have never been seen before. And it is going to get worse.

At the beginning of the pandemic I was asked by some readers of this blog and others on what would be a good investment. I told everyone food. 

Today .... I am doubling down on that advice. 

You will not lose if you buy and store your favorite foods. And if you can grow a small garden and know what you are doing. Do so. It will be a win-win situation for you.

Are We About To Face A Massive Global Rice Shortage?

Zero Hedge/Economic Collapse Blog: The Stage Is Being Set For A Massive Global Rice Shortage 

This wasn’t supposed to happen. For months, I have been writing article after article about the rapidly growing global food crisis, but even though drought is devastating so many other crops all over the planet I thought that there would be plenty of rice in 2023. Unfortunately, I was wrong. As you will see below, some of the biggest rice producers in the entire world are being hit really hard, and rice production is going to be way below expectations this year. Of course rice is one of the primary staples that poor nations depend upon, and so this is a really big deal. If there is a serious shortage of rice in 2023, that is going to have enormous implications for all of us.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: To put everything into perspective on why India is an important rice producer. India accounts for over 40 percent of all worldwide rice shipments. And 150 different nations are dependent on rice from India. 

 World Facing A Massive Global Rice Shortage  

World’s largest rice exporter India restricts shipments after below-average monsoon rainfall -- CNBC/Reuters  

India, the world's top rice exporter, just slapped a 20% tax on some rice exports. It could further fuel food inflation. -- Insider 

India's decision to restrict rice exports could worsen global food inflation -- Quartz

Will The Price For A Loaf Of Bread Hit $10?

Bread prices have soared this year, pushing more premium options to an unheard-of $10 a loaf and beyond https://t.co/ZLgEknNmfG

— Bloomberg (@business) July 19, 2022

Bloomberg: Bread for $10 Is the New $5 Gas as Demand Wanes for Basics 

(Bloomberg) -- People really begin noticing inflation when it shows up in things that they regularly buy. That’s why gasoline and milk get so much attention. Add bread to a growing list of basics that are rising in price and crushing consumer sentiment. 

Amid the highest US inflation in four decades, bread prices have soared this year, pushing more premium options to an unheard-of $10 a loaf and beyond. 

“It’s kind of like a punch in the nose,” said Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia University. These are prices “nobody has seen before” and have the same impact as gasoline hitting $5 a gallon, he said.  

Read more ....  

Update: Bread causing $10-per-loaf sticker shock as inflation surges (NYPost)  

WNU Editor: I enjoy rye bread. In the past two months the price has gone from $3.50 a loaf Canadian to $5.00. Regular White Bread is now $4.00 (from $2.50).

As shocking as these prices are, it is an even bigger shock in countries like Egypt and elsewhere where bread is a major staple of the country's diet.

I think the bigger shock will be happening in the middle of September. That is when the U.S. government's agriculture department releases its data on this year's harvest. If it is going to be bad as predicted, expect even greater price shock-waves in the coming months.

Record Grain Harvest Predicted For Russia

© Sputnik  

RT: Bumper grain harvest predicted for Russia  

This year’s production is expected to reach record 138 million tons, market researcher IKAR says  

Russia is expected to reap its largest grain harvest ever this year, according to the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR). 

“The forecast for wheat crop has been increased from 88.7 million to 90.5 million tons, the estimate of gross grain harvest – from 133.5 million to 138.5 million tons,” IKAR CEO Dmitry Rylko told Interfax on Thursday.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: Russian wheat prices have decreased, a badly needed break for its customers .... Russian Wheat Prices Down as New Crop Arrives, Export Tax Falls (Asharq Al-Awsat).

Global Crop Problems Point To Years Of High Food Prices

John Lepp seeds wet spots in a field with canola by airplane, while daughter Cassandra Lepp plants the crop with a tractor, near Rivers. © Reuters/Stefanie Lepp  

Reuters: From war to wild weather, global crop problems point to years of high food prices 

(Reuters) - Eric Broten had planned to sow about 5,000 acres of corn this year on his farm in North Dakota, but persistent springtime rains limited him to just 3,500 in a state where a quarter or more of the planned corn could remain unsown this year. 

The difficulty planting corn, the single largest grain crop in the world, in the northern United States adds to a string of troubled crop harvests worldwide that point to multiple years of tight supplies and high food costs. 

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a major agricultural exporter, sent prices of wheat, soy and corn to near records earlier this year. 

Poor weather has also reduced grain harvests in China, India, South America and parts of Europe. Fertilizer shortages meanwhile are cutting yields of many crops around the globe. 

Read more ....  

Update: ‘It is clear further inflation is still to come’: Higher food prices expected beyond 2023 (Food Navigator)  

WNU Editor: President Biden has been warning of global food shortages .... Biden warns of global food shortages as Russia-Ukraine war upends wheat supplies (NYPost), and the UN Secretary General has been voicing the same thing .... UN chief warns of ‘catastrophe’ from global food shortage (AP). We all have been warned on what to expect in the coming months and years.

African And Middle Eastern Leaders Pressuring The West To Help Bring The Ukraine War To An End

Ukraine was a major food exporter before the Ukraine war, feeding some 400million people around the world 44milion of whom now face starvation - with those in the Middle East and Africa being the most at risk  

Daily Mail: How Africa and the Middle East could tip war in Putin's favour: Ukraine grain blockade is creating food crisis as 44 MILLION face starvation and regions' leaders pressure the West for peace deal 

* Russian invasion of Ukraine has blocked grain exports, and will likely cause food shortages for years to come 

* 44million at risk of starvation while another 395million will see shortages, World Food Programme warned 

* Africa and Middle East will be hardest-hit regions, as leaders pressure the West to help bring war to an end 

* African Union leader Macky Sall and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa have joined likes of Turkey's Erdogan and Saudi Arabia's Bin Salman in calling for a peace deal, which experts say would favour Russia 

Ukraine believes its fate will be decided in the mud and blood of Donbas - where its troops are trying to grind Russia's army into the dirt using skill, courage, and a fearsome arsenal of Western weaponry. 

But it seems increasingly likely that its destiny could be decided on another frontline, thousands of miles away: In the deserts of the Middle East and drought-stricken farmlands of Africa, where 44million people who relied on the country for food are now facing famine unless the conflict can be brought to a swift end. 

Blockades of Ukraine's main Black Sea ports have placed a stranglehold on grain supplies which previously fed 400million, threatening starvation and riots from Libya to Liberia, and Syria to South Sudan.  

Read more ....  

Update #1: EU Warns Ukraine War Pushes Middle East, North Africa Deeper into Famine (Asharq Al-Awsat)  

Update #2: War in Ukraine Is Destabilizing the Middle East and North Africa (National Interest)  

WNU Editor: You can write-off Ukraine exporting grain this year. And probably also next year.

African Union Head Macky Sall Meets Putin In Sochi To Discuss Food And Grain Shipments

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, listens to Senegalese President and the chairman of the African Union Macky Sall during their meeting in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Friday, June 3, 2022 [File: Mikhail Klimentyev/AP Photo] 

 

France 24: African Union head Sall 'reassured' after talks with Putin on food shortages  

African Union head Macky Sall said on Friday he was "reassured" after talks in Russia with President Vladimir Putin on food shortages caused by Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine. 

Putin hosted the Senegalese president, who chairs the African Union, at his Black Sea residence in Sochi on the 100th day of Moscow's offensive in Ukraine. Global food shortages and grain supplies stuck in Ukrainian ports were high on the agenda.

"I found Vladimir Putin committed and aware that the crisis and sanctions create serious problems for weak economies, such as African economies," Sall told journalists, adding that he was leaving Russia "very reassured and very happy with our exchanges".  

Read more .... 

African Union Head Macky Sall Meets Putin In Sochi To Discuss Food And Grain Shipments  

Senegal leader says Putin showed willingness to free up Ukrainian grain exports -- Reuters  

Kremlin denies blame for food crisis as Putin meets AU leaders -- Al Jazeera  

AU head tells Putin Africans are 'victims' of Ukraine conflict -- RFI  

Senegalese president buys into Putin’s promise to free Ukraine’s grain -- Politico  

Senegal supports sanctions’ lifting for grain and fertilizers — President -- TASS  

Russia ready to support grain export via ports under its control — Putin -- TASS  

Russia not to blame for global food crisis – Putin -- RT

UN Says The World Is Facing An ‘Unprecedented’ Wave Of Hunger

 

 Independent: World faces ‘unprecedented’ wave of hunger as Ukraine harvests worse than feared 

The world faces an unprecedented wave of famine and hunger triggered by a further “explosive” increase in food prices, experts have warned, after new figures revealed the extent to which the war in Ukraine will decimate global supplies of wheat. 

Forecasts supplied exclusively to The Independent suggest that Russia’s brutal campaign, including its blockade of vital Ukrainian ports, is likely to cause even deeper disruption to food supplies than was previously feared. 

Wheat production is now expected to be halved this year – a significantly worse outcome than previous forecasts predicted, said MHP, one of Ukraine’s largest exporters.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: The U.S. is blaming Russia for the global food crisis .... US accuses Russia of weaponising food in Ukraine crisis and holding global supplies ‘hostage’ (The Guardian). Russia is saying it is not their fault .... ‘We are not the source of the problem.’ Kremlin says the West is to blame for global food shortage (Fortune). 

More News On The Global Food Crisis  

Ukraine war has stoked global food crisis that could last years, says UN -- The Guardian  

U.N.: Ignoring global food crisis would be 'horrific' -- Reuters  

Global food crisis looms as fertilizer supplies dwindle -- National Geographic  

Ripple effect of conflict in Ukraine deepens pandemic woes and worsens hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean -- Relief Web  

Russia's Black Sea Blockade Will Turbocharge Global Food Crisis -- Foreign Policy  

Will Russian invasion of Ukraine spark a global food crisis? -- Illinois.edu  

Apocalypse now? The alarming effects of the global food crisis -- Simon Tisdall, The Guardian

Is A Global 'Wheat War' Coming?

A harvester gathers wheat from a field near the Krasne village in Ukraine's Chernihiv area [File: Anatolii Stepanov/FAO via AFP]  

RT: Global ‘wheat war’ is coming – media  

West could be forced to ask Russia for grain in exchange for lifting sanctions  

Wheat prices have surged to record highs over the past two months as major producers like Russia, Kazakhstan and India scrapped exports to protect their domestic markets. This has sparked fears of food insecurity and hunger around the world. 

According to experts who spoke to Russia’s Izvestia newspaper, since the beginning of the year the cost of wheat has risen in price by more than 60%. They say the surge was caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which provide nearly a third of the globe’s wheat exports.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: The global wheat stockpile is not as big as many like to believe .... A food insecurity expert predicts that there's only 10 weeks of wheat supplies left in the world as Russian invasion disrupts production (Insider).

Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Medvedev Says Russia Will Not Export Food To Detriment Of Own Market

RT: Russia will not export food to detriment of own market – top official  

Dmitry Medvedev blamed the looming global food crisis on the “cosmic cretinism” of the West 

Russia will not export food to the detriment of its own market, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council and former president Dmitry Medvedev said, adding that the West has to blame its own “cosmic cretinism” for the looming crisis.

In a lengthy Telegram post, Medvedev commented on recent statements by Western leaders about food security. As Russia and Ukraine are major wheat suppliers, accounting for some 30% of global exports, the prices have significantly grown since the launch of the Russian military offensive in the neighboring state and the subsequent sanctions imposed on Moscow by the US, the EU, the UK and some other Western nations. On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that fertilizers and food products from Russia should be available to the world markets without obstacles.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: The consensus on Russian media is that major parts of the world will be facing famine later this year .... Global famine likely this year – Putin aide (RT).  

Update: The U.S. is accusing Russia of using food as a weapon .... Blinken accuses Russia of using food as a weapon in Ukraine (Reuters).

Wheat Prices Hit Record High After India Export Ban

 

CNBC: U.S., Europe race to improve food supply chains after India bans wheat exports 

* Ukraine has been unable to export grains, fertilizers and vegetable oil, while the conflict is also destroying crop fields and preventing a normal planting season. 

* Some nations have imposed restrictions on exports. 

* This is the case in India, for example, which announced Saturday a ban on wheat sales “to manage the overall food security of the country.” 

PARIS — The United States and the European Union are looking at how to improve food supply chains with export restrictions from India and other nations accentuating global problems, the EU’s trade chief told CNBC. 

G-7 foreign ministers warned over the weekend that the war in Ukraine is increasing the risk of a global hunger crisis. This is because Ukraine has been unable to export grains, fertilizers and vegetable oil, while the conflict is also destroying crop fields and preventing a normal planting season.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: Expect the coming storm later this year .... War-fueled food inflation will cause social unrest, UN official says (CNN). 

Wheat Prices Hit Record High After India Export Ban  

Ukraine war: Global wheat prices jump after India export ban -- BBC  

Wheat Soars in Risk to Food Inflation as India Restricts Exports -- Bloomberg  

Wheat Prices Hit Record High After India Export Ban -- AFP  

Global wheat prices hit record high -- RT  

Wheat prices surge to highest in more than 2 months following India’s ban on exports -- Market Watch

World Hunger ‘Exploding’

Bloomberg: World Hunger ‘Exploding’ After 25% Spike Before Ukraine War 

(Bloomberg) -- The global hunger crisis is “exploding” as the war in Ukraine sends prices of key staples even higher, following a 25% spike in food insecurity last year. 

The comment from the chief economist at the World Food Programme came as the Global Network Against Food Crises warned that the hunger problem is expected to “deteriorate further” this year. A gauge of world food prices has soared to a record as the Ukraine war disrupts harvests and exports from one of the world’s top grain and vegetable-oil suppliers. 

“The world is exploding with food insecurity,” the WFP’s Arif Husain said Wednesday at a press briefing. 

Almost 193 million people across 53 countries or territories suffered acute food insecurity in 2021, meaning their lack of meals posed an immediate threat to their lives or livelihoods, the network said earlier. That’s up from 155 million in 55 countries for the prior year, and a record in the six years since the report began.  

Read more ....  

Update: World Hunger to Worsen After Spiking 25% Before Ukraine War (Time)  

WNU Editor: The Global Network Against Food Crises report is here (link here)

Impact Of The Ukraine War On Fertilizer Supplies And Global Food Security 'Will Be Dramatic'

Bloomberg: Can the World Feed Itself? Historic Fertilizer Crunch Threatens Food Security 

(Bloomberg) -- For the first time ever, farmers the world over — all at the same time — are testing the limits of how little chemical fertilizer they can apply without devastating their yields come harvest time. 

Early predictions are bleak. 

In Brazil, the world’s biggest soybean producer, a 20% cut in potash use could bring a 14% drop in yields, according to industry consultancy MB Agro. In Costa Rica, a coffee cooperative representing 1,200 small producers sees output falling as much as 15% next year if the farmers miss even one-third of normal application. In West Africa, falling fertilizer use will shrink this year’s rice and corn harvest by a third, according to the International Fertilizer Development Center, a food security non-profit group. 

“Probably farmers will grow enough to feed themselves. But the question is what they will have to feed the cities,” said Patrice Annequin, a senior fertilizer market specialist for IFDC based in Ivory Coast. When you add increased hunger across West Africa on top of existing risks like terrorism, “this is absolutely dangerous for many governments in our region.”  

Read more .... 

Impact Of The Ukraine War On Fertilizer Supplies And Global Food Security 'Will Be Dramatic'  

Economist: Loss of Ukraine's exports may be felt worldwide for years -- 60 Minutes 

Impact of Ukraine war on global food security 'will be dramatic' -- SKY News 

Russia’s war is threatening the Middle East’s food security — sparking warnings of riots, famine, and mass migration -- CNBC  

The Food Crisis Can't Handle Ukraine War and Climate Change -- Time  

War in Ukraine having 'catastrophic effect' on global food supply, prices: USAID administrator -- ABC News 

War in Ukraine: Vulnerable nations face food insecurity and political instability -- France 24  

Ukraine: From breadbasket to breadcrumbs. The war in Ukraine could lead to a global food crisis. -- Gabriela Bucher, Al Jazeera

World Bank Warns Of 'Human Catastrophe' Food Crisis

BBC: Ukraine war: World Bank warns of 'human catastrophe' food crisis 

The world faces a "human catastrophe" from a food crisis arising from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, World Bank president David Malpass has said. 

He told the BBC that record rises in food prices would push hundreds of millions people into poverty and lower nutrition, if the crisis continues. 

The World Bank calculates there could be a "huge" 37% jump in food prices. 

This would hit the poor hardest, who will "eat less and have less money for anything else such as schooling". 

In an interview with BBC economics editor Faisal Islam, Mr Malpass, who leads the institution charged with global alleviation of poverty, said the impact on the poor made it "an unfair kind of crisis... that was true also of Covid".  

Read more ....  

Update #1: As war in Ukraine threatens global wheat supply, Washington farmers 'pray for rain' and good harvest (Yahoo News)  

Update #2: Rising Fertilizer Costs are Catching up to Rice Farmers, Threatening Supplies (Bloomberg)

WNU Editor:The World Bank is preparing to face multiple crisis .... World Bank plans $170bn financing to ease ‘multiple crises’ (The Guardian).

UN Food and Agriculture Organization: Ukraine War Driving International Food Prices To ‘New All-Time High’

Food Prices Jump Most on Record as War Sparks Supply Chaos

The war in Ukraine is compromising global food security.

Supporting agricultural resilience in Ukraine & around the world has never been more important to avert a global food crisis.

🔗 https://t.co/okzr0oQn4c pic.twitter.com/aYSShSD83E

— FAO (@FAO) April 8, 2022

UN News: Ukraine war drives international food prices to ‘new all-time high’ 

Global food prices have reached “a new all-time high,” the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday, “hitting the poorest the hardest.” 

“It is now more than two years that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to negatively impact our lives, our health and our economies,” said FAO chief QU Dongyu. 

Explaining that the neediest “face greater exposure to the pandemic and are the most affected by rising food and fuel prices,” he pointed out that prices for staple foodstuffs such as wheat and vegetable oils have soared, “imposing extraordinary costs on global consumers, particularly the poorest”.  

Read more .... 

UN Food and Agriculture Organization: Ukraine War Driving International Food Prices To ‘New All-Time High’  

Food prices soar to record levels on Ukraine war disruptions -- AP  

World food prices hit record high over Ukraine war: FAO -- France 24  

Food prices hit record high in March, U.N. agency says -- Reuters 

Food Prices Jump Most on Record as War Sparks Supply Chaos -- Bloomberg  

Global food prices rise to highest ever levels after Russian invasion -- The Guardian  

Ukraine war causes 'giant leap' in food prices -- BBC  

World food prices surge 13% to record high over Ukraine war -- NYPost  

Ukraine war disruptions send food prices to their highest ever -- Al Jazeera  

World food prices hit record high on impact from Ukraine war -- Yahoo News  

Russian invasion of Ukraine fuels record food prices -- Axios

Russia - Ukraine War Creating A Global Food Crisis

 

Politico: ‘We see the storm coming’: U.S. struggles to contain a deepening global food crisis  

Biden officials are scrambling to limit the damage from fast-spreading food shortages sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine, but they face an array of complex political and logistical challenges. 

As Russian forces refocus the brunt of their military assault on Ukraine’s food-producing southeast, U.S. officials and lawmakers are struggling to help ward off a deepening crisis both inside Ukraine and for fragile economies around the world already reeling from climate disasters and Covid-19. 

Russia’s military is pushing further into Ukraine’s wheat fields, which could jeopardize millions of tons of grain set to be harvested in July — threatening sustained shortages in countries across Africa and the Middle East that rely on Ukraine as a major source of their grain and sunflower oil to feed millions of people. 

The crisis has also contributed to sky-rocketing grain prices, which has made it harder for humanitarian organizations like the United Nations’ World Food Program, to respond; the agency says it needs an additional $16 billion to feed a record 137 million people for the rest of the year.  

Read more ....  

Update #1: How the War in Ukraine is Creating a Global Food Crisis (New York Times)  

Update #2: How war in Ukraine is affecting food supply in Africa and the Middle East (The Guardian)  

WNU Editor: Here is the data on how the Russia - Ukraine war is creating a global food crisis .... How could the war in Ukraine impact global food supplies? (Our World Date).

President Biden Says Expect 'Real' Global Food Shortages

 

Daily Mail: Biden warns food shortages are 'going to be real' across the globe because of Putin invading the world's 'breadbasket' Ukraine 

* President Joe Biden said there will be food shortages around the globe because of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine 

* 'It's going to be real,' he said. 'Because both Russia and Ukraine have been the breadbasket of Europe in terms of wheat, for example' 

* The United States, through the Feed the Future initiative, will provide over $11 billion over the next five years to address food security threat 

* Russia and Ukraine jointly account for around 25% of world wheat exports and 16% of world corn exports, leading to surging prices for the grains 

President Joe Biden on Thursday said there will be food shortages around the globe because of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. 

 'It's going to be real,' he said. 'Because both Russia and Ukraine have been the breadbasket of Europe in terms of wheat, for example.' 

Food security, along with general humanitarian assistance, was one of the main topics of conversation in Biden's trifecta of emergency meetings with NATO leaders, the European Union, and the G7. 

The summits were called to deal with the invasion of the Ukraine. 

Read more ....  

Update #1: Biden Says to Expect ‘Real’ Food Shortages Due to Ukraine War (Bloomberg)  

Update #2: Biden warns of 'real' food shortage following sanctions on Russia (FOX News)  

WNU Editor: President Biden is not the only one who is issuing this warning .... Get ready for ‘hell,’ UN food chief warns amid Ukraine shockwaves (Politico).

Russia's Navy Is Blocking Ships Carrying Grain Exports From Leaving The Black Sea

A combine harvesting picks up the wheat on a field near the Krasne village, in the Chernihiv area, 120 km north of Kyiv, in 2019. © Anatolii Stepanov, AFP (file photo)  

DW: Ukraine war: Russia blocks ships carrying grain exports 

Up to 300 ships have been stopped by Russian forces from departing the Black Sea, leaving one of the key global trade routes for grain virtually blocked. 

The fertile region is known as "the world's breadbasket." Wheat exports from Ukraine and Russia, which make up a vital part of the world's food supply are still being blocked by Russia from leaving the Black Sea, Germany's largest agricultural trader BayWa said this week. 

"Zero [grain] is currently being exported from the ports of Ukraine — nothing is leaving the country at all," Jörg-Simon Immerz, head of the grain trading at BayWa, told dpa news agency. 

He added that the export activity on the Russian side is "very limited." Immerz's assessment was backed up by the Panamanian Maritime Authority, who said on Wednesday that the Russian Navy was preventing 200-300 ships from leaving the Black Sea — most of them were carrying grain. Other reports suggest around 100 vessels are blocked.  

Read more ....  

Update #1: War in Ukraine sparks concerns over worldwide food shortages (France 24) 

Update #2: Ukraine war is causing a commodities ‘super cycle’ and likely global food crisis (Responsible Statecraft)  

WNU Editor: If this war continues I can foresee a situation where global grain shipments will be diverted from those who are hungry to those who are starving.

Russia - Ukraine War Has Brought The World To The Brink Of A Food Crisis

 

CNN: War has brought the world to the brink of a food crisis 

London (CNN Business)Svein Tore Holsether says the world is careening toward a food crisis that could affect millions of people. 

Record high natural gas prices have forced the company he runs, fertilizer producer Yara International, to curtail its production of ammonia and urea in Europe to 45% of capacity. 

With less of those two essential agricultural ingredients, he expects knock-on effects for global food supplies. "It's not whether we are going to have a food crisis. It's how large that crisis will be," Holsether told CNN Business.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: This food crisis is quickly trending into a national security crisis .... Ukraine War Could Put Food Security on Pentagon’s Plate (Defense One). 

Russia - Ukraine War Has Brought The World To The Brink Of A Food Crisis  

Ukraine conflict prompts countries to hoard grain, endangering global food supply -- Politico  

Russia’s invasion to have ‘enormous impact’ on world food supplies -- Financial Times  

Ukraine's farmers stalled, fueling fears of global food shortages -- Reuters