Will The U.S. Face A Food Shortage?

The war between Russia and Ukraine is putting a massive strain on the global food supply. Food prices in the U.S. soared to record heights along with other commodities like wheat, corn and fertilizers. So how exactly does the conflict in Ukraine pose a threat to the global food supply and can anything be done to stop it? Watch the video find out.

The war in Ukraine is putting a massive strain on the global food supply.

Ukrainian grain exports last month were a quarter what they were in February. Also as a direct result of the Russian invasion, the cost of fertilizers, with prices soaring for raw materials like ammonia, nitrogen, and nitrates, are up 30% since the start of 2022.

“This is going to be another major test of the food supply system,” said Diane Charlton, assistant professor of agricultural economics at Montana State University. “We will have to watch very carefully what’s happening in other parts of the world and consider ways to reduce risks of food shortages and conflict.”

Meanwhile, food prices in the U.S. are rising at historic rates, while prices for commodities like wheat and corn are at their highest levels in a decade. What’s more, the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that food-at-home prices will see an increase of up to 4% by the end of 2022.

“It’s particularly severe because we are just coming out of a recovery from a two-and-a-half-year pandemic that had severe implications on the prices of goods and services as well as the price of commodities,” according to Johanna Mendelson-Forman, adjunct professor at the American University in the School of International Service.

Despite the prospect of continued rising prices, however, experts don’t expect food shortages to occur in the United States.

“It’s important to realize that the U.S. doesn’t import very much from Ukraine,” explained Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute.

“We may see some shelves that are empty for various kinds of food products like we have for a while now as we recover from the pandemic,” said Scott Irwin, chair of agricultural marketing at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “But I can say with some real confidence that in the United States, the average consumer is not going to see a shortage of bread because of what’s going on in Ukraine.”

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Will The U.S. Face A Food Shortage?

[madbug]

I don't think these inflated prices will ever come down. Companies will just consider them the new norm.

[redfoxrunfarmhouse]

People need to pay attention to the food and fertilizer factories, warehouses and processing plants that have caught fire recently in the United States. Could this be a coincidence or a supply chain disruption to cause this problem?

[Alejandracamacho]

Courage taught me: that no matter how bad a crisis gets, any sound investment will eventually pay off.

[MichaelSmith-rirb]

It's almost as if getting your food from very far away, via ridiculously complex and fragile supply chains, that are completely dependent on the constant availability of cheap energy, is a bad idea. 🤔

[HI-PER]

My fertilizer cost for 250 acre of corn went from $34, 000 to $82, 000 not 30 percent like you stated
Fuel cost is almost doubled as well 😩😩😩

[suegreer]

I like how it's all blamed on the pandemic and war. How about all the recent fires in food manufacturing plants??? What's really going on here???

[degummybear]

Let's also not act like we didn't build a delicate system which was 1 disaster away from breaking down. Efficiency at the expense resiliency. We could mitigate the suffering when stuff like this happens.

[dipro]

Not a word on food wastage. Even in this so called crisis, the world will waste 1/3 of all food. The US will waste more than 40% of all its food. We have no shortage. We have poor managers and so called experts like these who work without accountability.

[ligbzd]

The world should stop fighting and just focus on developing land and food on their own soil. Stop trying to take other people's land and just focus on making the most of what you've got!!

[Ascension]

Stop blaming this on Ukraine. This was all by design. Everything from the pandemic to this is all a major distraction. Keep prepping and brace yourselves

[ADHD]

I remember when US farmers were destroying billions of crops, corn, Wheat, milk, greens.. now they face a food shortage irony

[esinger]

I notice over and over that instead of putting produce items on sale when they are starting to get over ripe, Whole Food just keeps the prices high and lets the fruit rot - does that make any sense at all????

[adrianocavalcanti]

The struggle and food inflation are real over here In Brazil. I live by myself, but I have noticed that the prices of pretty much everything has increased, especially in the g-stores. Every week that I need to swing by to buy my veggies, the prices have been modified to MORE!!! Can't imagine the frustration of some people trying to keep up with the bills and still having to feed their whole family. Where are we going with all this?

[heidirexin]

It's crazy depending so much on a huge system for food. Those of us who can need to grow more of our own. More local farms and support them.

[pacu]

Every day it feels like we are closer to the end

[el_chavez]

We in the US throw away 50% of the food we have by way of waste and mismanagement at home. More impactful yet is the food industry here tosses the majority of that to keep prices artificially high. How many reports have we seen about grocery stores dumping thousands of pounds of food a day and hiring security to keep the poor from taking it.

[CoordinatedCarry]

Even if we (The United States of America) face a food shortage. I’m confident most of us have some extra calories in our mid section.

[Herrera_]

The plane crash at a food processing plant and the fire at another plant might be more relevant to the "food shortage" than "Ukrainians not being able to plant anything". Look inside people, see what's happening in your backyard and stop focusing on the outside.

[warningsirensofmichio]

This is why I started growing my own vegetables and fruits.i also make my own bread at home.and biscuits from scratch

[johnjohnson]

We can’t eat soy and corn oil and live. Being a 7th generation California farmer, my farm is now surrounded by new lennar homes. I am being pushed out like all farmers. We used to be called the bread basket of the world now we’re called a woke joke..