American food shortage is “gonna be real,” very soon as President Biden claimed during his speech at a NATO summit. This comes at a time when inflation was already surging at pumps and fuel prices were skyrocketing.
The Russia-Ukraine war is now hitting the most important aspect of our daily lives, i.e., the food.
All over America, many household commodities are already in short supply and the war is a contributing reason for this crisis.
Food Supply Crisis Cooking Up in the World
Combine both Russia and Ukraine produce 25 percent of global wheat. Now as the wheat harvesting season nears and the war shows no signs of stopping, the threat to the wheat production of Ukraine is real.
As this wheat is supposed to be exported to different parts of the world, thus the shortage is likely to impact countries worldwide.
Although the United States does not import the wheat of either of the warring nation, the prices are usually decided globally which puts American buyers at risk as well.
Fuel inflation is making food prices higher as fuel is usually used in harvesting, production, and transportation of food items.
The supply chain crisis became a relevant issue in America at the later stage of the year 2021. Although the declining pandemic was one of the reasons why this Supply chain crisis was exacerbated in the first place, the reopening of the world also raised hopes about the possibility of these crises getting solved.
Democrats Message is Inconsistent Regarding Food Shortage
The worrying thing is that the Biden administration seems to be in disbelief. Just some time ago, various high profile officials claimed that food shortage would not impact America.
While they believed that the higher prices may cause temporary inflation, the food shortage was just a hoax, according to them. However, the latest claims by the President himself is ringing alarm bells regarding the availability of food in upcoming times.
The World Must Find Innovative Solutions to Avert Forthcoming Hunger
Amid all of this, the need to find an innovative solution to avert this food crisis is more than ever. A buffer zone in the areas of wheat production in Ukraine would help countries all over the world.
This way, the war would not be fought in the areas of humanitarian importance for the greater good of countries worldwide.
But as Russia has self-sufficiency in Wheat, it may not be worried about wheat disruption overseas. For them, any food shortage is a plus point as it would increase Russian leverage over other countries.
And as food is the basic need for survival, the world may have to bow down in front of Russia if this crisis gets out of control.
The west can give Russia a bit of sanctions relief to create a humanitarian policy regarding war. But in the absence of any trust between the parties in conflict, Russian allies can play a critical role in deciding the fate of food shortage across the globe.
Meanwhile, the Chinese lockdown is also causing strain on the global supply chain issues. The threat is rising as Chinese ships are unable to leave their shores due to the absence of enough manpower and the locked-down country. Eventually, this will also impact the global food supply chain crisis.
Final Thoughts
The Biden administration is undoubtedly marred with enough crisis at the moment that panic is understandable at their end.
But they need to sync their message with each other so that a single national consensus can be developed across the aisle which would help consumers in addressing the issue in a better fashion.
However, if the contradictions in messages remain, it would make matters worse when the actual food shortage hits American shores.
Considering that Democrats are already about to go into a relatively tense election, this problem will only be a concerning sign for them as a hungry voter would never like to vote for an incumbent government.
Eli is a Political Data Scientist with over thirty years of experience in Data Engineering, Analytics, and Digital Marketing. Eli uses his expertise to give the latest information and distinctive analysis on US Political News, US Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, and Racial Justice equipping readers with the inequivalent knowledge.