Global Food Shock

The Lempert Report
October 06, 2022

Phil: What we're seeing that came out of the IMF, the international monetary fund, is a warning that food insecurity is gonna get worse even though prices are down. What are the factors, factors that we've been talking about here, for months? Supply chain challenges to Ukraine's crops, high prices of fertilizer and energy. They're saying, and predicting about $50 billion is gonna be needed to eradicate the acute food insecurity for 2022. In the longer term, chronic food insecurity and incidents of malnutrition will boost the cost significantly. You know, this is on top of all the climate, the conflict, the covid 19, just everything is pointing to the fact that we're gonna see higher prices in foods continue for quite a bit. 

Sally: Yes. And, and you know, it is exhausting that we are talking about this so much lately because it is just the top of the news all of the time that people are facing this. And in this particular report, there are 48 countries that have been identified that will probably be in the most crisis. And, and I think most of those are in Africa. But this food insecurity that's global or here in our own country, affects us all. And, you know, with the way that the climate has been behaving, and also like you talked about fertilizer prices and with supply chain issues, the war in Ukraine, there are so many factors contributing to this. And so we've got to be, as retailers and those dietitians, we've got to help people learn how to shop in a way that they can still eat healthy and they can feed their whole family. 

Phil: Absolutely.