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War in Ukraine Threatens Global Food Supply

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Free hot soup for refugees who arrived from Ukraine is distributed at the main railway station in Krakow, Poland on March 22, 2022.  (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Russia and Ukraine supply nearly one-quarter of the world’s wheat which feeds billions of people around the world. The war in Ukraine has not only cut off supply to wheat and other important exports like sunflower oil, barley and fertilizer, it has also raised the price of those products. Wheat prices are now 21% higher than last month. For regions like the Middle East and Africa, which rely on Ukrainian crops, the increase in cost and decrease in supply means many could go hungry. We’ll look at the important role Ukraine plays in the global food supply chain, the impacts the war is having on it, and what is being done to prevent a deepening global hunger crisis.

Guests:

Amanda Little, professor, Vanderbilt University; columnist, Bloomberg Opinion, author, "The Fate of Food: What We’ll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World"

Bohdan Chomiak, agricultural consultant in Kyiv, Ukraine

Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute and former chief economist of the US Department of Agriculture

Scott Reynolds Nelson, professor of history, University of Georgia; author, "Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World"

Beth Bechdol, deputy director general, Food and Agriculture Organization — a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger

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