August 14th, 2023
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on China’s efforts to expand farmland in a bid to reduce its reliance on foreign food: In the western Chinese city of Chengdu, once popular hotpot restaurant Star Shining in the Clouds has closed its doors for the last time, one of several businesses to shut as the[…]
Read more »Buying the Heartland
August 10th, 2023
Courtesy of The Wire China, a look at whether the U.S. needs to protect its farmland from China: Dana Sande sat slumped in his chair an hour into the Grand Forks city council meeting on February 6. With his tie strewn to the side, Sande, the president of the city council, looked fatigued and even[…]
Read more »July 25th, 2023
Via Fortune Magazine, commentary on Russia’s weaponization of global food security in its war: The food crisis that occurred last year could be re-ignited. Russia has decided to withdraw from the UN-brokered deal that allowed Ukraine to export since August about 33 million metric tonnes of grains across the Black Sea and launched major attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure. If that[…]
Read more »Wagner Aside, Russia Exerts Soft Power Through Fertilizer
July 25th, 2023
Via The Africa Report, a look at how Russia exerts soft power in Africa through fertilizer: Already a key security player in Africa via the Wagner Group, Russia is also leveraging its fertiliser exports. The Wagner group, active in the security and mining sectors, spearheads Russia’s presence on the continent, particularly in West Africa. But[…]
Read more »July 22nd, 2023
Courtesy of Foreign Policy, a report on how Moscow used to bang shoes to get attention, but now it blows up grain warehouses: Russia escalated its war on Ukraine’s grain exports again this week, sending wheat prices soaring and threatening to exacerbate global hunger as it seeks to blockade one of the world’s foremost breadbaskets.[…]
Read more »Indian Ban on Rice Exports Stokes Fears of Global Food Inflation and Insecurity
July 21st, 2023
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a look at the impact that a recent Indian ban on rice exports – in light of the expiration of the Black Sea wheat deal – could have upon global food inflation and security: India has banned exports of non-basmati white rice, stoking fears of further global food inflation just[…]
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