War Sparks Food Crisis

Blocked ports and fallow fields in Ukraine will affect an already volatile region.

Russian tanks are not only threatening Ukraine’s people; they are threatening the global food supply. Russia and Ukraine together grow large percentages of the world’s wheat, corn and other agricultural products, but Ukraine has stopped shipping their produce. Its Black Sea ports are closed until the Russian invasion ends.

Consequently, corn futures have risen 18 percent, and wheat futures have risen 40 percent—the fastest price increases in at least 60 years. More than 5 percent of Ukraine’s population has fled the country already, and supply chain problems are making it hard to get fertilizers. If Ukrainian farms are not planted this spring because the farmers are fighting and their fields are war zones, prices could go much, much higher.

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