Ukrainian farmers, who produced a record grain crop last year – say they now are short of fertiliser, as well as pesticides & herbicides. Even if they had enough of those materials, it has been said that they can’t get enough fuel to power their equipment.
The Ukrainian farming crisis comes as food prices around the world already have been spiking for months amid global supply chain problems, alleged to be caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.N. food agency, last week, claimed that world food prices hit a record high in February 2022. Agriculture ministers from the world’s seven largest advanced economies were due Friday, to discuss in a virtual meeting, the impact of the “Russian situation” on global food security and how best to stabilize food markets. Furthermore, it is claimed International food and feed prices could rise by up to 20% as a result of the conflict in Ukraine.
As we covered in our previous article, Ukraine and Russia are major wheat exporters, together accounting for about a third of the world’s exports – almost all of which passes through the Black Sea. While US wheat farmers may be in a position to help buffer some of the pain from agricultural disruptions in Ukraine and Russia, they are worried about inflation of another sort — the price of fertiliser.
