{"id":427595,"date":"2026-05-14T17:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T17:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/427595\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T17:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T17:04:16","slug":"how-the-world-can-avoid-millions-going-hungry-when-supply-chains-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/427595\/","title":{"rendered":"How the world can avoid millions going hungry when\u202fsupply chains collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Millions more people will face hunger in the coming months if the conflict in the Middle East is not resolved soon, the UN has warned<\/a>. The price of energy, which instantly affects the cost of producing and transporting food, has risen sharply due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The price of fertiliser, much of it made in the Gulf states and exported via the same stretch of water<\/a>, has also soared. So it seems inevitable that the cost of food around the world will increase<\/a>, just as it did after Russia\u2019s full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 (both countries were big exporters of food and fertiliser). <\/p>\n

Back then, some governments responded with expensive taxpayer funded subsidies for producers and consumers<\/a>. But the situation in the Middle East highlights how consumers everywhere remain vulnerable to such geographically concentrated production of energy and fertiliser. <\/p>\n

Here are four ways that the world could attempt to build a food system that would be far more resilient to future shocks. <\/p>\n

1. Grow greener<\/p>\n

The current situation is surely a sign that the time has now come for agriculture to make the transition to \u201cgreen ammonia\u201d \u2013 ammonia produced using renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels. (Ammonia is a key ingredient in nitrogen-based fertiliser.)<\/p>\n

Instead of depending on certain countries or regions for fertiliser production, it would be possible to produce home grown fertiliser when the sun shines and the wind blows. <\/p>\n

The first green ammonia plants are now being constructed in sunny places such as Chile, Morocco and Australia. It\u2019s an expensive switch, but the declining cost of renewables combined with wildly fluctuating gas prices could soon make it a more competitive and secure alternative<\/a>. <\/p>\n

A successful transition will depend on sustained commitment (and investment) from governments \u2013 especially when the Strait of Hormuz eventually opens again.<\/p>\n

2. Stockpile<\/p>\n

Governments should also rethink the way they stock food. Modern logistics and slick supply chains<\/a> mean that many countries store certain products to last a few days or weeks, with the assumption that those stocks can be swiftly replenished. <\/p>\n

Some places (Sweden, China and India for example) take a longer term approach, seemingly driven by a stronger sense of the importance of self-sufficiency. Other countries should follow their lead, and think beyond stockpiling things like grains, to other essential farm supplies like fertiliser and pesticides. But they need to do so gradually to not distort already tight markets in the short term. <\/p>\n

This kind of change would also align with broader national security ambitions that are emerging across Europe and elsewhere. Food stocks to cope with periods of uncertainty and disruption would be an essential part of that. <\/p>\n

3. Grow more plants<\/p>\n

A demand change towards reducing waste and healthier diets \u2013 specifically by eating more plant proteins \u2013 could swiftly improve food security and resilience. <\/p>\n

Animal farming requires large amounts of fertiliser for the crops providing their feed. Plant proteins<\/a> such as legumes (beans, lentils, peas) require much less fertiliser (they can even \u201ccreate\u201d their own fertiliser in their roots through nitrogen fixation). <\/p>\n

\"Raw<\/p>\n

Beans mean green.
\n Lukas Gojda\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/p>\n

They also have other advantages<\/a> including improved nutrition<\/a>, and much reduced carbon emmissions<\/a>. <\/p>\n

4. Electrify transport<\/p>\n

Biofuels, such as ethanol and bio-diesel, are often portrayed as sustainable fuel alternatives. But the crops used to produce these fuels (such as corn and rapeseed) now occupy an area at least the size of Italy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a lot of land being used to deliver not very much fuel (in the UK, biofuel powers less than 7%<\/a> of the country\u2019s transport needs). <\/p>\n

Instead, building solar or wind farms to provide energy for electric vehicles is a much more efficient use of land<\/a> when it comes to fuelling transport needs<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Accelerating the electrification of transport and rapidly phase out crop-based fuel would release tens of millions of hectares globally for things like food production, rewilding and carbon storage. <\/p>\n

Towards resilience<\/p>\n

Building a more resilient food system will not happen overnight. Changing diets and switching fuels and fertiliser dependencies takes time. It will involve trade-offs as well as considerable political and commercial will. <\/p>\n

None of that is easy to achieve, and previous global spikes in food prices (in 2007<\/a>, 2010<\/a> and 2022<\/a>) did not led to significant changes.<\/p>\n

Yet the alternative is to remain exposed to repeated shocks. Climate change and geopolitical tensions will continue to disrupt global supply chains.<\/p>\n

The current crisis is not only yet another warning about the fragility of today\u2019s food system, but also an opportunity to accelerate the transition towards one that is much better able to withstand future disruption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Millions more people will face hunger in the coming months if the conflict in the Middle East is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-427595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}