National Geographic published an article that explained the plight of farmers in Ukraine. The article said if they don’t succeed, experts warn, not only will many Ukrainians go hungry, but so will hundreds of millions around the world, perhaps triggering the greatest food crisis since World War II.
Ukraine and Russia together produce nearly 30 percent of the world’s traded wheat and 12 percent of its calories. Without them, soaring food prices and shortages could touch off a wave of instability the world hasn’t seen since the Arab Spring of 2012. The two nations (along with Russia’s sanctioned ally Belarus) supply vast amounts of fertilizer, and the conflict could affect every farmer on earth this year, and into the foreseeable future. “We’re not just losing six million tons of grain,” from last year’s harvest in Ukraine, says senior research fellow David Laborde, “but potentially 60 million tons. Losing the next harvest will be a critical short that no one will be able to make up. The biggest threat the food system is facing is the disruption of the fertilizer trade,” Laborde says. “Wheat will impact a few countries. The fertilizer issue can impact every farmer everywhere in the world, and cause declines in the production of all food, not just wheat. I don’t want to paint a bleak picture. If the planet will be generous to us this year, we should be okay. But a bad shock right now could bring us to the verge of a major food crisis.”