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War and climate threaten global food supply, agricultural leaders say

War and weather are putting the global food supply at risk, according to agricultural officials and executives. The conflict in Ukraine has disrupted exports from the country, one of the world’s biggest agricultural producers, and drought and bad weather have plagued key growing regions.

“We actually have two crises”, said on Tuesday (28) the CEO of Syngenta, Erik Fyrwald, during the Global Food Forum, organized by the The Wall Street Journal. “Food security crises and climate crises.”

Fyrwald said extreme climates are on the rise, with heat, drought or floods challenging farmers in the US, Europe, Australia and India. This was exacerbated, he said, by the war in Ukraine, which affected world grain markets and pushed up food prices around the world.

Rising food prices are causing unrest as disruptions to the flow of Ukrainian production add to the stress on global supplies of grain and other goods.

The head of the United Nations World Food Program has warned that an absolute food shortage is possible in 2023 if Russia continues to block exports of agricultural products from Ukraine.

Even among the richest countries in the world, higher food prices are being felt. US supermarket prices rose nearly 12% in the 12 months to May, the biggest annual increase since April 1979, according to the Labor Department.

Prices rose 7.4% at restaurants and other out-of-home eating places, also marking the highest level in more than four decades. “It’s very serious,” said Fyrwald. Food prices “will continue to rise until we are able to get the goods across the Black Sea in southern Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s wheat exports, which together with Russia accounted for nearly a third of the global total, are expected to be cut in half this year, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The Russian invasion helped push wheat prices to record levels in March, and while futures have fallen 27% since then, they are still up around 20% in 2022.

“There will not be enough supply of certain ingredients,” said Cargill’s chief technology officer, Florian Schattenmann, during the event. The war in Ukraine has jeopardized the availability of ingredients like sunflower oil used in infant formula, prompting companies to reformulate their products, he added.

On Monday, US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called for Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea to be opened to ship grain out of the country and help alleviate the global food crisis.

“Trade needs to resume from Black Sea ports that were damaged or disrupted by the Russian invasion,” he said during the event.

Bad weather, including in South America, is putting more pressure on agricultural regions that have become more important to maintaining the world’s food supply due to the conflict in Ukraine.

In the US, rains and winds in areas of the Midwest slowed the planting of many corn and soybean producers last month. Wet conditions were followed by a dangerous heat wave earlier this month. Meanwhile, drought is affecting more than 78% of the American West, according to the US Drought Monitor.

Fyrwald said Syngenta is working with farmers in Ukraine, but also continuing to supply Russian farmers with seeds and chemicals.

Some agricultural companies, including Syngenta and Bayer, and grain traders such as Cargill, continued to sell seeds and move grain in Russia despite pressure to sever ties following the invasion of Ukraine.

The companies cite humanitarian reasons for their decisions to continue operating certain parts of their business in Russia. “Snygenta looked at this and decided that it serves farmers all over the world,” said Fyrwald. “We are not politicians.”

Source: CNN Brasil

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